Quick rant thread.

[kiwi535 538]

When your water blaster pulls a chunk of paint off the bonnet and you realise the previous owner scrimped on the respray. F$@$$&@&&$$ck!!!

i NEVER use water blasters on a vehicle....any vehicle,not even the underneath of my pajero

[jeffbebe 1559]

How do you remove the dirt without scratching then? Mine is not a powerful water blaster and has worked fine on lots of vehicles. The issue is with poor prep work when the car was resprayed from red to black, so the black hasn't adhered properly. A tiny stone chip has now turned into a thumbnail-sized flake. On good paint water blasting with a low power machine is fine.

[M3AN 4016]

I'd never blast mine. Not saying it's wrong, just that I wouldn't take the risk.

Hand clean with a terrycloth covered sponge is how I remove dirt, doesn't seem to scratch (although my entire car needs a clay bar and polish).

Edited March 4, 2016 by M3AN

[jeffbebe 1559]

I'd never clean a car with a terrycloth without removing the grime first with a water blaster because it'll scratch it to sh*t!! Check in with the car care experts - water blasters are essential (especially on a black car) to a swirl free finish. I've never had any problems before now with any car that has had a decent paint job.

[KwS 2425]

we use a heated pressure washer at work on every single car, and the only issues we have had were user error (too hot usually). Ive used my water blaster at home a few times to wash my cars, also without issue.

In saying that, i dont use it often and using my shaggy mitt thing hasnt caused any swirls yet. Just use the two bucket method with a grit guard.

[jeffbebe 1559]

I rinse with the water blaster to remove all the grit. Then add suds and coat with car wash. Only then do I tackle with soft mitt and 2 buckets. Has always brought my cars up beautifully. As said, this is the first time I've ever had paint issues from the water blaster and it's obvious the original red paint was not prepped properly before repainting. It's glossy underneath FFS!

[Olaf 3317]

How do you remove the dirt without scratching then? Mine is not a powerful water blaster and has worked fine on lots of vehicles. The issue is with poor prep work when the car was resprayed from red to black, so the black hasn't adhered properly. A tiny stone chip has now turned into a thumbnail-sized flake. On good paint water blasting with a low power machine is fine.

some keen folks use a SNOW FOAM gun on their water blaster, applying foam to loosen the dirt, leaving it for 5 mins or so, then hosing or blasting off with clear water, before washing by hand. I've been meaning to get a snowfoam gun for my blaster for some time... though as I have no garage, and live well above the road (Wellington Life eh), it's not been a big priority... can't generally be arsed setting up electricity, carrying down my water blaster, in addition to getting the hose down there and all the other paraphernalia.

I have changed over to using a 'noodle' wash mitt and the two-bucket method. Though I bought a fancy Chemical Brothers mitt (I think), rather than a cheap $2 shop one. The wash noodle seems to be fairly gentle.

HTH

[Olaf 3317]

A snow foam gun in action, yesterday

[Olaf 3317]

it just looks like too much fun, eh! #8 )

[jeffbebe 1559]

Yep, that's what I use though currently with a different product. I just rinse first to loosen all the grit before firing foam at it.

Edited March 5, 2016 by jeffbebe

[Olaf 3317]

come on mate, share! which product are you using?

[KwS 2425]

i want to get a foam cannon, but like Olaf im too lazy 90% of the time to set up the water blaster. Easier to just use a hose.

[Neal 544]

What happens to all that foam after ? Just asking , does it break down ?

Live in a suburb where it's now illegal to wash your car if any of the runoff gets to storm water drains

Edited March 5, 2016 by Neal

[kiwi535 538]

I'd never clean a car with a terrycloth without removing the grime first with a water blaster because it'll scratch it to sh*t!! Check in with the car care experts - water blasters are essential (especially on a black car) to a swirl free finish. I've never had any problems before now with any car that has had a decent paint job.

i never had any issues with my black e34.I always ensured that i hosed the car down well first,,and wetted each area again just before cleaning, use a sheepskin mitt and plent y of water and shampoo.I dont even use a water blaster on my mountain bike!

[Olaf 3317]

What happens to all that foam after ? Just asking , does it break down ?

Live in a suburb where it's now illegal to wash your car if any of the runoff gets to storm water drains

according to chemical guys, of their snow foam soaps:

"All Chemical Guys products are biodegradable and VOC compliant. They contain no volatile chemicals, and they dilute and break down when mixed with water."

I can imagine the neighbours though... the FIGJAM assumption that I'd not have done my homework before dumping my nasty car chemicals into the stormwater drains, which of course in turn runs to the sea. They're probably driving a Prius and burning tanalised fenceposts in their woodturners. #; )

Are you in a suburb that drains to the basin in Porirua, Neal? Genuine concerns there, understandably.

[Olaf 3317]

PS - isn't it odd, using a water blaster will usually produce less runoff, and use less water, than washing with a conventional hose!

[kiwi535 538]

What happens to all that foam after ? Just asking , does it break down ?

Live in a suburb where it's now illegal to wash your car if any of the runoff gets to storm water drains

are you allowed to wash it on say a grassed area ?

[Neal 544]

according to chemical guys, of their snow foam soaps:

"All Chemical Guys products are biodegradable and VOC compliant. They contain no volatile chemicals, and they dilute and break down when mixed with water."

I can imagine the neighbours though... the FIGJAM assumption that I'd not have done my homework before dumping my nasty car chemicals into the stormwater drains, which of course in turn runs to the sea. They're probably driving a Prius and burning tanalised fenceposts in their woodturners. #; )

Are you in a suburb that drains to the basin in Porirua, Neal? Genuine concerns there, understandably.

Storm water ends up in the inlet where I live. Driveway drainage ends up in it. I'm thinking of getting some kind of water boom or washing sump system. Unfortunately I have no grass areas and the only way to create one is to cut down well established native trees which is ironic. I typically only wash the car with water , car bush and shammy.

[kiwi535 538]

take a look at this Neal.I didnt know that .So is Aotea the same???

[Olaf 3317]

I think Aotea is the same, Paul.

It's kinda sad we don't seem to have those coin-operated 'wash-it-yerself' places down here like they do in Auckland. Or is there something I'm missing, and Vellingtonians can 'show me the way'?

Top Tip: The 'green' way to get a half-decent job at a carwash is to use the Caltex touchless carwashes, no brushes, all spray, and they recycle the water too.

cheers

[eliongater 718]

A local street that had a nice smooth finish was torn up and replaced with some chip stuff. It's worse than how it was, and I swear more of the stones are loose than not. Plus it's starting to make a mess with all the stones going everywhere.

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

Top Tip: The 'green' way to get a half-decent job at a carwash is to use the Caltex touchless carwashes, no brushes, all spray, and they recycle the water too.

I've been told to avoid the brushless / touch less car washes, because they use much stronger chemicals to shift the dirt and grime to make up for the lack of brushes?

[MattA 164]

I've been told to avoid the brushless / touch less car washes, because they use much stronger chemicals to shift the dirt and grime to make up for the lack of brushes?

Touch-less washes are only any good at keeping a clean car clean, and your right if the chem dosing or cycle duration's get out of spec you'll eat your paint.

Red is the most susceptible leaving a cloudy/chalky appearance.

Most of the water reclaim systems wind up being bypassed as they require significant upkeep, or you get oils and road film being reapplied with the first rinse. If the system is operating correctly the recycled water is only used for the initial wash down.

Generally speaking I'd avoid any machine car wash (touch-less or roll-over brush) if you want you paint finish to remain intact.

[zero 1162]

They can do both lanes without closing the road, its not like concrete you can drive on it straight away,

they only have to move the cones.

They need to let the tarseal completely dry, otherwise people would get tar on their cars and they would have to fork out to get them all clean.

Its probably also a safety thing.

[gjm 3258]

Thinking about getting a new phone - mine has done well for the last several years, but it is showing signs of being quite tired.

I like the spec of the Galaxy S7 Edge... Except for the size. OK, you can get the Galaxy S7, but that doesn't have the curved sides. Bit of a gimmick, but I like it.

The Galaxy S6 Edge was the same size as the S7, and it had curved sides... Why does the S7 Edge have to be bigger than the S7???