Steam auto washing

[DBAILEY]

There's a Karcher unit that doubles as a hot pressure washer and steam cleaner. Its quite large and surely expensive as it puts out some forceful steam. I've seen videos of that Paul Dalton fellow in the UK using it to prep the outside of cars.

[Mike Phillips]

Is it post number #3 in this thread?


Question? Washing a car with a Steam Machine?

Wow!

You found the exact answer and post I was referencing. Considering at the time I'm replying to your post you only have 2 posts on this forum - I'm impressed. I could have found it if I had been behind a computer but I was filming with Ray Evernham and I only had my phone and it's just a tick too cumbersome to do this type of "answering" from a phone.


Here's the original questions I was asked by a guy that has long since disappeared off our forum... I've highlighted question 2 as that's the question where I answer the big picture question of using steam to wash a car.

Hi All,

My name is DJ and I detail my car purely as a hobby, but I have what equates to full detail shop in my garage (and then some). I was hoping you could point me in the right direction or answer the following question(s):

1: What steamer do you recommend? I saw Dupray in one of your threads; I have a VX 5000 currently.

2: Do you steam clean the exterior of the car and if so is that recommended?

3: Do you have a video, guide, etc. that outlines this process?

4: Does steam cleaning the exterior of the car remove the wax (I use currently either butter wet wax from chemical guys or most recently Collabrite 845).

5: What technique do you use while steaming the exterior of your car (IE single hole steam attachment then wipe, or wrapping a microfiber around the triangle attachment, steaming for a few seconds then going over the paint with a wipe afterwards?

Thanks, DJ

No.

I've read about people doing this and my thoughts were they were crazy. Then just so I could speak from REAL WORLD experience I tried it and now I know they are crazy.

Since you're new to our forum, let me share something about myself. I'm a veteran of the Zaino vs NXT Wax Wars. This means from my experience TYPING out replies on public discussion forum, I've learned to pick EACH WORD I post carefully and purposefully. Not most of the words but each and every single word is thought out before it is used.

So follow what I say here,


While "yes" it's POSSIBLE to clean a car with a steam cleaner it would be my absolutely last choice for cleaning a car if there were ANY other the below 4 options were available including,

1. Traditional wash method with a water hose, bucket and wash mitt.

2. Rinseless Wash.

3. Waterless Wash.

4. Spray Detailer.

Since I cannot fathom a real-world situation would I would NOT have one of these other 4 options available to use to get a car clean then in my opinion and experience it is crazy to use a steam cleaner to wash a car.

I answer his other questions in his thread, which I just changed the title of and gave it a blue >clickable< link.

Question? Washing a car with a Steam Machine?



Here's the big picture, besides the part about where you're NOT supposed to get clearcoat paints HOT. See my book, The Complete Guide to a Show Car Shine on page 124, it shares how other experts say to avoid temperatures over 180 degrees.








Besides that, you can buy a lot of car wash soap, spray detailers, waterless washes and rinseless washes not to mention take a trip through a coin-op car wash all to wash a car versus spending thousands of dollars for a steam machine to wash a car, which in my opinion, AFTER TRYING IT - is probably one of the least effective ways to wash a car.

But as one of my co-workers says,

Never spend another man's money


So please feel free to wash your cars with steam cleaners if that's the approach that works best for you. I can see the "marketing" side of this, kind of like the marketing side of washing a car with a foam gun but besides that, I would wash a car with a foam gun or a waterless wash every time.

[Mike Phillips]

From post number #13

Somewhere on this forum I typed out a fairly in-depth answer to this question. I’m in Charlotte working with Ray Evernham all day, don’t have a lot of forum time.

If someone can find the reply and share it in this thread I’ll send them something cool.

Ding ding ding....

We have a winner!

Is it post number #3 in this thread?

Question? Washing a car with a Steam Machine?

Send me your shipping address and I'll send you a prize!