[Atomic Ed]

Just thought I would pass along my self inflected issue with washing the car and the SS hood vents.

I washed the SS last weekend with my power washer like I've done a hundred times before with other vehicles. Opened the hood this weekend to see a large white stain in the hood insulation. The stain was dried soap flakes from soapy water traveling down the hood vents and soaking through the hood insulation. It's a mess!

I've popped the insulation piece off and I'm now carefully rinsing the piece out with a hose to get the soap out. This is a problem in itself in that the piece is basically cardboard and too much water will destroy the piece. So its rinse a little bit, let air dry, rinse again. It does seem to dry out OK, but at some point I think I'll wash out enough binding glue that the piece could delaminate.

In the future, I will be taping up the vent openings before I wash the car.

[Glen e]

No need to tape up, just hand wash the hood and sheet the water off with open hose - no nozzle.....

[Atomic Ed]

Well, once burned, twice shy.

Just a warning to others that it can happen with a power washer. A minute to tape up is worth it to keep this from happening again.

[ParisTNDude]

just curious why you would ever want to power wash your car? I might do that in the wheel wells and wheels but never the painted surfaces. Just my opinion, of course.

[timmy8784]

Originally Posted by ParisTNDude

just curious why you would ever want to power wash your car? I might do that in the wheel wells and wheels but never the painted surfaces. Just my opinion, of course.

Power washing is perfectly safe on painted surfaces as long as you are using the correct pressure, and spray pattern/tips as to make sure the spray isn't too strong or concentrated.

Pressure washers use less water than hoses and can get to heard to reach places. They also give you the ability to attach a foam cannon which greatly increases the amount of suds and lubricity while hand washing.

But to each their own.

[Atomic Ed]

Originally Posted by ParisTNDude

just curious why you would ever want to power wash your car? I might do that in the wheel wells and wheels but never the painted surfaces. Just my opinion, of course.

We're not talking 5,000 psi here, just a 900 psi wand and the proper distance. Never, ever had a problem with paint.

It's quick. (Maybe not so quick now that I'll tape up the vents.) I can wash and rinse my car in less time than you can fill up a bucket. I'm set up with a quick disconnect on the water outside my shop and can be up and running in short order. I also find that a quick wash after the sliming of 10,000 bugs is best, considering we hit over 100 degrees during the summer. Baked on bug juice is tough to get off.

The point is just be careful not to get a lot of soap down the vents, regardless of how you wash your SS.

[ParisTNDude]

I don't think it would hurt the paint since, it did, there would be an awful lot of law suits against the touchless car washes, but surely pressure washing removes wax and polish you might have applied. I used a sealer on my finish back in March and haven't waxed it since then and it still looks like I just polished it yesterday.