Well to make a short story long, I just lost my job so Ive been thinking of taking this detailing thing a bit more seriously to get a bit of extra income coming my way.
Right now Ive pretty much just done family and friends (or friends of friends) cars. 95% of the time I use ONR. Love that stuff. I can clean a car just as well as someone doing it with a hose, the only problem is my method takes a bit longer to do this way. A 2 gallon sprayer is my best friend (or was). It allowed me to use degreaser, brake cleaners, etc just like a normal wash, but like I said, it just took longer.
Anyways, I plan on targeting the wash and wax sector. Id be fine with my method but I feel profit would be cut since I would be taking slightly longer. Thats why I decided to get a PW. It had to meet a few criteria: Small and compact (my trunk has limited space); electric (dont want to deal with upkeep just yet); and cheap (just incase this doesnt work out for me).
I did a lot of research on here and the web in general and the consensus is that electric PWs are crap. Theres a ton of negative comments, but than you gotta remember, people are more likely to post up comments when they have a bad experience than when their experience is a good one. I shopped around and even though theres a ton of cheap places to buy it online a felt a brick and mortar establishment was better since I could return it if it didnt work on startup. Whereas, if I buy online and it comes DOA, most places charge ME to ship it back. No thanks.
I checked Sears, Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, OSH, etc. Most of the PWs look very similiar, just rebranded. So it came down to price. Anyways, cut to the chase, after checking the stores it seems that Lowes had some good deals. They had 2 options, a 2000psi/1.6gpm washer for $170 and a 1600psi/1.5gpm for $100. Im the type of person that thinks bigger is better so it was hard not to choose the 2000psi one. But in the end, the 2000psi one seemed cheaply built. It felt a bit flimsy, expecially the plastic input/output.
So I crossed my fingers and bought the 1600psi one. I spent about an hour in the backyard cleaning anything I could find. It worked awesome. I dont feel its underpowered for what I plan on doing. Im not going to be cleaning people sidewalks or walls with it. It seems that for a lot of people the PW will work fine out the box, than theyll put it away for some time and pull it out again, only to find that it leaks. I figure if I could get a few months worth before it dies on me, I will have gotten my moneys worth. By than I will probably be able to decide whether I want to go further with this and purchase a gas powered unit.
As of right now the unit feels pretty sturdy. Ill keep this thread updated on the condition of it as time passes. BTW THIS is the unit I bought. If anyone has experience with it feel free to chime in.
Right now Ive pretty much just done family and friends (or friends of friends) cars. 95% of the time I use ONR. Love that stuff. I can clean a car just as well as someone doing it with a hose, the only problem is my method takes a bit longer to do this way. A 2 gallon sprayer is my best friend (or was). It allowed me to use degreaser, brake cleaners, etc just like a normal wash, but like I said, it just took longer.
Anyways, I plan on targeting the wash and wax sector. Id be fine with my method but I feel profit would be cut since I would be taking slightly longer. Thats why I decided to get a PW. It had to meet a few criteria: Small and compact (my trunk has limited space); electric (dont want to deal with upkeep just yet); and cheap (just incase this doesnt work out for me).
I did a lot of research on here and the web in general and the consensus is that electric PWs are crap. Theres a ton of negative comments, but than you gotta remember, people are more likely to post up comments when they have a bad experience than when their experience is a good one. I shopped around and even though theres a ton of cheap places to buy it online a felt a brick and mortar establishment was better since I could return it if it didnt work on startup. Whereas, if I buy online and it comes DOA, most places charge ME to ship it back. No thanks.
I checked Sears, Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, OSH, etc. Most of the PWs look very similiar, just rebranded. So it came down to price. Anyways, cut to the chase, after checking the stores it seems that Lowes had some good deals. They had 2 options, a 2000psi/1.6gpm washer for $170 and a 1600psi/1.5gpm for $100. Im the type of person that thinks bigger is better so it was hard not to choose the 2000psi one. But in the end, the 2000psi one seemed cheaply built. It felt a bit flimsy, expecially the plastic input/output.
So I crossed my fingers and bought the 1600psi one. I spent about an hour in the backyard cleaning anything I could find. It worked awesome. I dont feel its underpowered for what I plan on doing. Im not going to be cleaning people sidewalks or walls with it. It seems that for a lot of people the PW will work fine out the box, than theyll put it away for some time and pull it out again, only to find that it leaks. I figure if I could get a few months worth before it dies on me, I will have gotten my moneys worth. By than I will probably be able to decide whether I want to go further with this and purchase a gas powered unit.
As of right now the unit feels pretty sturdy. Ill keep this thread updated on the condition of it as time passes. BTW THIS is the unit I bought. If anyone has experience with it feel free to chime in.
Then that one died, brought it back, got cash refund, went and bought a REAL one for $600. Never looked back