High pressure washers can cause blowouts

A few months after the British Automotive Association (the AA) implored aggressive car washers to be careful where they point their high pressure washers, warning that engine cleansing can cause electrical failures, the German safety group DEKRA asks that the jet washers be kept away from tires as well. Pressurized, soapy water can apparently degrade the rubber when sprayed directly at a tire sidewall, causing anything from tiny perforations to obvious shredding, both of which can cause blowouts. And even if the tire doesn't explode, the soap may remove protective chemicals from the sidewalls, shortening a tire's lifespan. Just wait, next thing you know they'll be telling us not to point a high pressure nozzle at somebody's eyeball.