Buy The Obsessed Garage Pressure Washer?

[snaphappy]

Noob here just looking for the best budget pressure washer to wash my car a couple time a week. I'm leaning toward this: Car Washing on a Budget, Our Best Pressure Washer Setup for $300 - Obsessed M3

But if you guys have another setup you like better please let me know, thanks!!

[Finick]

I bought one of his greenworks units he tested a little while back. For the price it was basically buying his nice accessory package, and the pressure washer was included. I’ve got nothing but nice things to say about what I got.

imo 300 is reasonable for all the things listed there. I’d say go for it. He doesn’t tend to push garbage, so I’d have peace of mind with the purchase.


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[Loach]

The setup in the link is spec'd out a little differently than Matt's setup from OG, namely the hose and foam cannon. I have the Ryobi 1700 with the Kobrajet 3/8" hose, the MTM SGS-28 gun, the quick disconnect kit, and the PF22 foam cannon from OG. I had the Ryobi for years and rarely used it because of how terrible these units are with the stock hose and gun without quick disconnects, which goes for pretty much every low end electric pressure washers. Takes too long to set everything up, user experience is terrible with the short kinking hoses and clunky guns.

The Kobrajet hose is absolutely fantastic. I would recommend 50', 25' is not enough for me to get around the entire car without needing to reposition the pressure washer. The quick disconnects are great, makes setting up and tearing down simple and fast, and swapping back to a regular garden spray nozzle for the final flood rinse very easy. The SGS-28 is a great gun upgrade, the built in swivel is really good for maneuvering the hose around, especially when I'm filming with one hand. PF22 cannon still provides great foam even though this is a low flow pressure washer.

Overall, when you get into foaming and you're working with the better hose, gun, and have the usefulness of the quick disconnects, it makes washing more fun. Without the upgrades, the Ryobi was practically useless. Matt's testing for me was invaluable, he's gone through the aggravation of buying and testing what actually works, what fittings you need depending on the model, and you can swap the hose/gun/cannon over to a different washer when the cheap ones inevitably crap out. I believe his recommendation for a cheaper unit was the Karcher K1700 with the upgrades, that's one I would look into as well and I'm sure deals can be found especially at this time of year.

[UncleDavy]

As a hobbyist, a cheap pressure washer is a good way to go. I have the Sun Joe SPX 4000 that I got from BJs Warehouse for $119.00. It's powerful enough to blast dirt off of the surface and it generates a lot of neato foam with a foam cannon. If you were a professional then you would probably want to invest in a Karcher or higher end unit.

[SWETM]

From when Matt at OG did bought up all of the available electric PW on the US market. One that he was impressed with even if he's little of a brand snob LOL. Was the Kärcher K1700 with his setups. The main thing was that it delivered the gpm it where specs at. And also that it has the M22 couplings. If you want to have a PW for the longrun I would look into a setup with the K1700. Actually the most expensive is the total cost of the spray gun handle and the hose and the couplings. As Loach mentioned the user experience gets that much higher with a great setup. You could get a PW and fittings for a foamcannon and test out if it's something that you will use in the future. Then upgrade to a great hose and spray gun handle and wands and such. You can find and get your own build of products like on the MTM. But if you want not to think about it that much Matt at OG has done the work for you. I don't wash the cars without my Kärcher K7 Full Control Premium Flex PW or before this my small Nilfisk with about the same specs as you look at now. I live in Sweden and we have 230v electric outlets as standard here. So the K7 has the specs of 2600psi and 2.6gpm. Which is the highest that you get on these electric outlets. If you want to get more effective PW. Look up those that has around 1800psi and 1.7gpm. As the higher gpm gives you much more effective cleaning ability and also the rinsing ability. I'm not agreed with Matt at OG that 1000psi is enough of pressure to wash a car. To rinse a car sure but that's also a water hose LOL. A higher psi gives you a better cleaning ability and also you get to have the nozzle tip a little farther away which gives you a better coverage with the water pressure from the PW. Then if you car don't get dirty you will be fine with the one. But if you want to use the PW as a tool to clean the paint with before you do a contact wash. Then the bigger electric PW you can get the better. Also something like the 40 degree nozzle tip I only use when I rinse off the car soap solution after the wash. Otherwise 15-25 degree nozzle tip to get the most cleaning ability from it and even 10 degree nozzle tip on a small PW. Just some rant from me LOL.

[Finick]

I'm not agreed with Matt at OG that 1000psi is enough of pressure to wash a car. To rinse a car sure but that's also a water hose LOL. A higher psi gives you a better cleaning ability and also you get to have the nozzle tip a little farther away which gives you a better coverage with the water pressure from the PW. Then if you car don't get dirty you will be fine with the one. But if you want to use the PW as a tool to clean the paint with before you do a contact wash. Then the bigger electric PW you can get the better. Also something like the 40 degree nozzle tip I only use when I rinse off the car soap solution after the wash. Otherwise 15-25 degree nozzle tip to get the most cleaning ability from it and even 10 degree nozzle tip on a small PW. Just some rant from me LOL.

Is total cleaning power not a combination of pressure and flow?

I feel like, and this is how I interpreted his entire series on pressure washers, he isn’t targeting people that clean super dirty cars. For me, just using the 40 degree tip as he recommends is more than sufficient to get everything off of my car.

But you’re talking about a car that always has some form of protection on it. Even in the time when whatever I have on there has started to die down, I’ve been able to reliably rinse my car down before I hit it with the wash mitt.

Even on the occasion when I do a real thorough wash on my gfs car that gets incredibly dirty, I’ve not seen a real advantage to using a 15-25 degree tip.

I’ve found the biggest benefit to just be foaming some power clean on to the lower parts of the car and then rinsing, which leads me to believe anything incredibly filthy would benefit a lot more from a thorough prewash as opposed to just hitting it with more pressure.

Not trying to be argumentative, just thinking about this I guess. I mean, if a garden hose on the jet setting is sufficient enough to rinse anything alarming off my paint, surely 1000 psi is more than enough to get the job done.

I’m no pro though, so take my thoughts for what they are. Just rambling.


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[SWETM]

Is total cleaning power not a combination of pressure and flow?

I feel like, and this is how I interpreted his entire series on pressure washers, he isn’t targeting people that clean super dirty cars. For me, just using the 40 degree tip as he recommends is more than sufficient to get everything off of my car.

But you’re talking about a car that always has some form of protection on it. Even in the time when whatever I have on there has started to die down, I’ve been able to reliably rinse my car down before I hit it with the wash mitt.

Even on the occasion when I do a real thorough wash on my gfs car that gets incredibly dirty, I’ve not seen a real advantage to using a 15-25 degree tip.

I’ve found the biggest benefit to just be foaming some power clean on to the lower parts of the car and then rinsing, which leads me to believe anything incredibly filthy would benefit a lot more from a thorough prewash as opposed to just hitting it with more pressure.

Not trying to be argumentative, just thinking about this I guess. I mean, if a garden hose on the jet setting is sufficient enough to rinse anything alarming off my paint, surely 1000 psi is more than enough to get the job done.

I’m no pro though, so take my thoughts for what they are. Just rambling.


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No problems mate. I just now when I got from the Nilfisk that where specs around 1500psi and 1.2gpm. To the Kärcher K7 with specs around 2250psi from the nozzle tip and 2.6gpm and it's original is between 15-20 degree nozzle tip. The cleaning ability when I used the water pressure from the PW to clean off the prewash foam. I have done testing with and without prewash foam and also if you benefit from a prerinse before the prewash foam which you don't. And also which distance between the nozzle tip and the paint that gives you the most cleaning ability from it and when it starts to degrade. It's not huge of a difference but with a white paint I see it very easy. And the loose debris you can use a garden hose to get it off. But if you want to clean most of the road film and other dirt that clinging on hard. I want as much power as possible both on the pressure and gpm. So absolutely they go hand in hand up to a certain point when it comes to cleaning cars. But also it's much of how long it takes you to do this thoroughly cleaning with the water pressure from the PW. Between the old and the new PW I save up to 2/3 of the time it takes to do this for me personally. And when you have a prewash foam dwelling on the paint it's very usefull as so it don't dries on the paint.

Then it's much of what environment you live in and what kind of dirt you have to handle. And also how long in between the washes you get it go. Which ads up to the amount of dirt you have on the vehicals. I personally like to get the vehicals as clean as possible before I do the contact wash. So the help from a great prewash foam and a specs PW gets me there. But of course you get good results from a smaller PW and maybe not useing a chemical product to aid the prewash and just prerinse before the contact wash. I just feels like I lowering the risk a lot to get wash indused swirls and scratches this way. Then I cringe of just the thought about doing WW or RW LOL. So I'm maybe to carefull when it comes to the washes. But after 2 1/2 years before I did a polishing on my Kia cee'd SW. I did see very little to no signs of wash or drying indused swirls and scratches. When I did the polishing a couple of weeks ago. The only thing I don't have any great method to be doing is taking of the snow and ice safely from the paint. That's where I needed to be doing some correction on deeper defects in the paint. Then the usually DD swirls and scratches you get during such a long time. Also since I'm doing decon washes and thoroughly cleaning. The imbedded contaminants from what the clay bar picked up was hardly showed from the claying a quarter of the hood. And even the lower side panels and the back of the car was not much that the clay bar picked up. Just a little speck here and there. Which I thought was going to be much worse from not claying or polishing from the last polishing that was done in may 2017. Just chemical decon when needed and reapply the LSP or just top it up. So I'm happy with those results I saw when doing the thorough inspection light checking after the claying and prep to be doing the polishing. And also to mention I don't use drying aid when drying with the mf drying towels. Kia is also knowned to be on the softer side of hardness of the clearcoat.

I think that even a smaller PW is better than just a garden hose. But if you want to get more effective and also cut down on the time it takes to clean with the water pressure from the PW. Then get you one that delivering more gpm from the PW. Don't know the price of them but Sunjoe 9004 and the AR I think it is that has electric PW that you get 2.0gpm and 1400psi. This is like the specs on the high end Kränzle PW has. Or the in between specs around the 1800psi and 1.7gpm on the PW. Think that the Sunjoe and AR has options like these.

[DetailZeus]

[...] And also to mention I don't use drying aid when drying with the mf drying towels. Kia is also knowned to be on the softer side of hardness of the clearcoat.

Good to know. I'm carefully getting away from drying aids myself. I'm trying to touch the paint as lightly as possible with the drying towel and let it soak up the water. Then I come back for a second pass with a spray and a low-nap towel.

[DetailZeus]

I have a cheapo ryobi that does its job well. Absolutely need to replace the hose and I'd recommend getting two swivels at the bare minimum. I don't know how many times I almost chucked the thing in the trash after fighting with the stock hose. Now I won't wash without it.

[Troda]

Started with a Sunjoe 3000. Liked the washer but the hose (20’) and the gun were useless. Bought an MTM hose (50’), stainless gun, wand and foam cannon. Quick connects all around including water hose. Can pull it from my basement a have running in less than a minute. Bought couplers for my gas PW so I can swap the long hose and water line and have it up and running in the same amount of time