Power Washing the RAM?

[HotDamnGotaRam]

Well a couple years back they closed the good car wash in town. For $4 and 5 mins of your time you'd leave with a pretty clean vehicle. Now we only have the one at the BP. Not sure how good it is. Has bad reviews. I'd really like to speed up washing the RAM at home. Just wondering if any of you guys use a power washer or is it pressure washer? Are the electric ones strong enough to blow off all the crud or do I need a gas powered one? Do some of them apply soap or is it all just high pressure water?

 

[rzr6-4]

Used to use a gas powered one, got mud and debris off but never truly got things as clean as I'd like. Good "pre-wash" but I'd still finish with a brush.

Also, if you have any small paint chips, it will make them worse if you get too close.

 

[Bigskyroadglide]

I use a electric 1900 psi pressure washer to wash mine. I also use a foam cannon. It does a decent job and hasn't peeled any paint. It will get the big stuff off but the little things require hand wash

 

[Docwagon1776]

I use an electric one. It will blow the loose dirt off and get a lot of road film off. Then use a foaming wand attachment to soap it one body panel at a time, hand wash with a mitt, then rinse, then repeat with the next panel. In the cool weather I do one side at a time, but when it's hot it dries too fast. Then rinse the whole truck again at the end.

The gas ones have more power, but you could remove paint with an electric one with the wrong attachment held too closely already, so not sure what more power would gain me.

 

[Treburkulosis]

American Detail Garage F bomb mixed 1:4 trust me. I have been using this for close to a month on the special I have been running. It is excellent on wheels and tires. Wheel wells. Pre treatment for the side of the vehicle. It cleans the engine. Honestly name it does it well. I did a little side by side comparison with Superior Dark Fury and what a joke Dark Fury was compared to it. I’ll gladly pay 10 more dollars a gallon. I’m using the electric craftsman 1900 series and it’s fantastic. I wouldn’t go higher than 2000 psi as you could damage the paint.

 

[HotDamnGotaRam]

Thanks for the recommendations. Sounds like an electric @1900psi will do the trick. What is special about the Craftsman? Does it push more water? GPM? The foam cannon sounds interesting. Never seen one before. I'm looking to make it quicker to wash the truck though so that it will get washed more often. A bucket of soapy water, whatever car wash solution I got handy, seems to get 99% of the crud off. Takes a while though. I was just hoping I could spray it clean in a few minutes with a pressure washer. Maybe without soap.

 

[Pull Ya]

If you are trying to "save" time or looking for a "shortcut", I don't think you're going to be satisfied with the results. If you don't clean the surface completely (no dirt remaining) and then start to dry your truck, you are going to scratch the hell out of the paint. You might as well drive it through a "Tunnel of Destruction"(car wash). The only way to ensure that the dirt is completely off your paint is by hand washing no matter what other method you use to help, a pressure washer or a foam cannon. Sorry, that's just the unvarnished truth.
Jay

 

[Docwagon1776]

Thanks for the recommendations. Sounds like an electric @1900psi will do the trick. What is special about the Craftsman? Does it push more water? GPM? The foam cannon sounds interesting. Never seen one before. I'm looking to make it quicker to wash the truck though so that it will get washed more often. A bucket of soapy water, whatever car wash solution I got handy, seems to get 99% of the crud off. Takes a while though. I was just hoping I could spray it clean in a few minutes with a pressure washer. Maybe without soap.

It won't really do that. You can get a lot off, but the 'film' of the road grime is much faster to wash away with a mitt then it is to try and spatula it off safely with the pressure washer.

I *think* it's faster than just a bucket, but I've not really timed it. I think it does a good job, though, and you can get up under it and at angles to make sure you get salt and stuff out of the crevices.

 

[Mlarv5]

When I first get a vehicle, I wash it with dawn dish soap then clay bar it, do a two stage paint correction, then use a good ceramic wax. With all that said. I use an electric pressure washer to rinse it, then a soap cannon to soap it up. I use a sponge to wash it by had real quick, then rinse the soap off. Dry it with an electric leaf blower. I am not sure how long it takes, but it is not long. Once a year I redo the clay bar and wax. Works great on my black truck, and my silver one.

 

[Ritchie_Rich]

Car wash works for me.

 

[nlambert182]

I have 4 and use them all on our vehicles. I have 3 electrics (1700 psi Ryobi, 2300 psi Greenworks, and a 3100 psi Greenworks) and one gas (3100 psi Craftsman). All but the 1700 psi have the option to apply soap, but it isn't worth it. It wastes a lot. I prefer a foam cannon for soap application.

I've found that the 1700 psi does little to remove much. It's great for a maintenance wash where the vehicle is more dusty than dirty. The 2300 works well if you've got a little stuck on debris and works well to wash the rubber membrane roof of my camper and the nose without lifting the decals. The 3100 psi electric does a really good job at getting rid of stuck on debris on the rockers and cleaning out the fender wells. It does fine on the paint also, but I do have to be a little more careful around chips. The 3100 psi gas flows almost 2 GPM more than the 3100psi electric and will flat out cut the paint if not careful. I have on occasion used it on our vehicles but always use a wide fan tip and keep a little distance.

No matter what though... a good mitt and a hand wash is still necessary. The pressure washer just makes rinsing faster and tends to help cut the big debris that I don't want in my mitts.

 

[HotDamnGotaRam]

I want to thank all you guys for weighing in. Not the answers I was hoping for, but pretty much what I figured. I may buy a pressure washer anyway, but at least I know it's not going to be a substitute for good hand washing.

 

[Pull Ya]

The tried and true 2 bucket method has been around for a long, long time. If your truck is not particularly dirty, you can try using a rinseless wash. McKee's has a couple of different ones that actually do a damn good job and contain SiO2.
Jay

 

[MrBonez]

I'm about to start off with this kind of washing myself since I too don't really trust a Drive-Thru wash.
Been having to use one up until now but that's about to change.

I'm looking into using a foaming wash sprayer for the basic way to get it washed but already know doing it by hand is best if you do it the right way.
As for the soap I'll be using (At least for now), I grabbed this stuff:

HydroSuds High-Gloss Hyper Foaming SiO2 Ceramic Car Wash Soap | Chemical Guys

ATM I'm having to make do with a "Suds on - Suds off" wash because I've got a knee requiring surgery right now so I won't be doing alot of bending down or climbing up for getting to places like the cab's roof or under the edges of wheel wells as examples of it.
I tried to find the green stuff (Griot's) but didn't see it anywhere around, so just got this instead and it does seem to be a decent quality product and will work until I can do better later.

One last trip through the tunnel, then immediately after that (Straight from the tunnel to the wash area here) start off by handwashing with this stuff (2 bucket method) and a foam sprayer/cannon too for using the soap for what it can do.

 

[Pull Ya]

The sad thing is that the "Tunnel of Destruction" is what makes all the micro scratches in the paint with the spinning brushes. At one point you are going to need to hand wash, clay bar, and correct the paint, before you put a good quality wax on to protect the finish.
Good luck with your surgery!!!! Hope you have a speedy recovery
Jay

 

[MrBonez]

Clay bar is something I've never done before but will with this and thank you for the reminder about it.
I want it done right the first time and since I'm retired/disabled, I've got all the time I need to do it.

As said above, one last trip through to knock off any stuff that will come off easily, then straight to the basic hand wash, clay bar and so on until it's done. After that it's just a matter of staying on top of it - Like mowing grass once a week so it's not hard to cut or takes so long to do it.

Thank you for the well wishes about the surgery - It's been a "Trip" so far just to get it scheduled to be done but I think the ball is finally rolling on it.

 

[Pull Ya]

You should only need to clay bar about once every 6 months, depending on whether you garage your truck and try not to park under trees for a long period. Once you have a good coat of wax on the truck, if the truck is not "dirty," you may be able to use a rinsless wash on it. It will save time and do a good job while adding a sacrificial layer over your wax.
Jay

 

[MrBonez]

It stays under a metal carport cover so it's not just sitting out on the open at least.
I do have trees (Oak and Pecan) around where it sits and the pecan tree will be gone by the end of next month anyway. I know parking under an oak can make one become a mess but with the carport that's not an issue.
It stays clean overall and once I get my shop built that won't be an issue at all because guess where it will be parked most of, if not all the time.... I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count.

 

[nlambert182]

If you don't mind the effort, get a good consumer grade ceramic coating and apply that once you've done the paint correction. GTECHNIQ makes a pretty decent one for the money. That will last you a good while and make quick washes much easier to do. You'll get better results with a power washer than just using wax or anything else.

If you want to beef up the protection, after the ceramic coat has cured you can apply wax over it. Or... for a little easier time, after you wash you can spray on a good spray wax and then dry the truck. It'll extend the life of the ceramic and make it very difficult for things to stick to the paint.

None of this replaces a good hand wash, but it can reduce how often you need to do the maintenance washes. A foam cannon, power wash, and then spray wax and dry will handle a lot of it.

 

[MrBonez]

If you don't mind the effort, get a good consumer grade ceramic coating and apply that once you've done the paint correction. GTECHNIQ makes a pretty decent one for the money. That will last you a good while and make quick washes much easier to do. You'll get better results with a power washer than just using wax or anything else.

If you want to beef up the protection, after the ceramic coat has cured you can apply wax over it. Or... for a little easier time, after you wash you can spray on a good spray wax and then dry the truck. It'll extend the life of the ceramic and make it very difficult for things to stick to the paint.

None of this replaces a good hand wash, but it can reduce how often you need to do the maintenance washes. A foam cannon, power wash, and then spray wax and dry will handle a lot of it.

Thank you for the suggestion, I'll keep it in mind because I want it done right and although I'll be using what I bought for it at first I'll look into GTECHNIQ as well for a final choice of what to use.

I am looking to eventually get a power washer setup too, that's another detail I'll be dealing with later on as well. Right now it's a matter of what I can do with things as they are for me but once I get past the knee issue I'll be able to do more and do it better too.