Yes, a pressure washer can inflict damage to paintwork, especially if the pressure washer lance is held at the wrong angle to the car so the water is hitting the bodywork panels head on. It’s good practice to always hold the lance at a 45 degree angle (or less) to the panels being washed to minimise the risk of damage to paintwork.
I used to work with a guy who had an Audi and he was being a little over enthusiastic with his pressure washer while cleaning the car and managed to remove a saucer sized area of clear coat! He reported it to Audi and they told him there was evidence of a substandard repair in the area where the lacquer had been removed.
@olie93. Have you owned the car from new? If not, is it possible that the panels where you’re experiencing lacquer peel have been repainted? If so, then if the repainting was in any way not to factory standard (e.g. preparation of panels before painting, poor or unsuitable environment used for drying the painted panels etc), there probably is a greater risk of lacquer peel than there is with the original paint. That being said, there have been a few instances of lacquer peel on plastic body parts such as bumpers reported by some VW owners on various forums where the affected plastic panels had never been repainted. I think plastic bumpers are more prone to this
problem then metal body panels - especially if they’ve suffered stone chip damage.
As your car’s less than three years old, you could get your Seat
dealership to inspect the affected panels to see if, in their opinion, the lacquer peel is covered under the paintwork warranty. However, I suspect they’ll say the damage is the result of an external influence rather than the result of a
problem with the factory paint / painting process.