So, Yorkshire Water has imposed a hosepipe ban on all households unlucky enough to have them as a supplier. Much easier than spending money on fixing the leaks in their network I imagine. Consequently, the pressure washer is out of action. I can wash the bodywork with the 2 bucket system but the wheels with road grime and brake dust are more problematic. I usually use Muc Off motorcycle cleaner on the wheels (less harsh than some of the acid based wheel cleaners IMO), followed by a rinse with the Karcher. My question is: is a garden type pump sprayer (10ltr) worth getting and will it do a decent job whilst the pressure washer is verboten or would it be a waste of money? Does anyone have any experience of using a pump sprayer for such a purpose?
I have an 8ltr pump up sprayer which I use to wash the car sometimes. It only works for wetting and rinsing economically.
It has no pressure worth speaking of so I can’t see it doing what you want
You are allowed to fill a bucket from the tap and you can use a Karcher from a bucket
That’s a really good point, thank you! However, I would need to use a length of hose from the bucket to supply the Karcher, would that be within the rules? The Karcher would also empty a large bucket quite quickly. I suppose I could leave the tap running to refill the bucket 
No hosepipe ban here yet, but I’ve just washed the daily via one of my waterbutts.
I use a Gardena pump, which sits in there and gives a decent flow.
Anyone wanting a “Traditional” brass garden type hand-pump sprayer can collect this one that came with the house. This pump was already ancient but worked well in 1971.
Nobody in our local Garden Club has wanted to buy it, despite it being complete with all the original fittings. 
Completely within the rules as it wouldn’t be connected to the tap
Not sure what the rules actually are (vary by area?). But it seems the practical issues are around what the neighbours think you are doing, choosing to report you to the water company and then going through the potential hassle of explaining to the water company.
Filling a bucket from a tap continuously and using a hose from bucket to pressure washer wouldn’t be in the spirit of the ban for sure 
Whatever, I think it’s poor this whole scenario is about encouraging nosey neighbours to be “hosepipe ban police”
Must get me one of those - what filtration do you use, if any? I’d be concerned I’d be sandblasting the car with the crud that comes off my guttering 
Had one of these come down our road yesterday.
Well I suppose they had to find a use for all those TV detector vans now everyone’s gone digital 
(Thank you ChatGPT.)
There’s a filter coming off the downpipe, and a filter within the Gardena pump itself.
Plus any sediment would settle at the bottom of the waterbutt.
I see that Ye Olde cable clips have survived well.
I contacted Yorkshire Wastrels today for clarification. It was clear from the reaction of the person who answered that they hadn’t actually considered the scenario. After checking with “the team” she replied that pressure washers could not be used even if not connected directly to the mains via an outside tap. Personally, I strongly suspect that they are making up the rules as they go along in response to queries.
A pump sprayer would be useful for spraying the car with a prewash or all purpose cleaner to loosen the dirt and bug splatter. I doubt it would have enough pressure to remove dirt on its own with just water.
Perhaps a prewash followed by watering can rinse would work.
Another option would be use a petrol station jet wash to blast off and rinse the car and bring your own shampoo and detailing gear with you in a sealable bucket.
Is it difficult for you to bend, or to get on your knees?
I usually don’t bother with jet washing anything car related, only the drive way/back yard. Demon wheels pre spray then it’s the kneeling pad out and some neat car shampoo on a sponge and get in there and scrub. Watering can (if hose ban) to rinse.
No, I still get down to wheel level! I usually spray Muc Off on the wheels first, leave it for 2 or 3 minutes then use the pressure washer to wash it off. It usually gets the worst of the brake dust and road grime off. Then I use a cylindrical wheel cleaner with a handle in conjunction with a bucket of shampoo & water to get between the “spokes”. A small microfibre cloth is also required to clean some of the bits missed or too small for the wheel cleaner to reach.
I cleaned the car today using the two bucket method. I reckon with all the initial wetting, the cleaning and copious amounts of water to rinse I wouldn’t be surprised if I used more water than with the pressure washer. I only ever use the PW on the bodywork on the lowest setting for wetting and rinsing and it doesn’t seem to use a great deal of water because it is always targeted on a particular part of the car at a time. A bucket is rather indiscriminate and more difficult to control IMO.
A simple watering can will do for rinsing wheels, if you keep them clean by doing them once a week you could use a rinseless product going forward such as optimum no rinse.