Washing Cars: Foam Cannons

I thought learning to use two buckets (second has clean water to rinse sponge before re-dipping into soapy water) was a good idea.

Should you really use one? If so, why?

 

I don't have anything nice enough to wash myself.

 

Marketing gimmick. You’re taking a soap and infusing it with air to make foam, which is diluting the strength of soap even further than just the water. I have one in a box I’ve used twice. The 2nd usage was to confirm my thoughts about the first.

 

If you car never actually gets dirty a foamer is fine. I use one for convience becasue I don't use my bucket for anything but holding my wash tools all in one place. The two bucket method is as stupid as it gets. The first time you rinse you mit you have just contaminated the water and grit gaurds are the stupid bit of marketing to idiots I have ever seen. If you insist on wasting a second bucket. fill the first with your wash chemicals and decide how many sections you want to break the car into for washing. Then toss in enough micro fiber towels to cover that number of sections. Wash a section...toss the towel in your other bucket.

Having said that it is another industry full of snake oil and snake oil salesmen. You drive a car down the highway with crud being shit at it as 70+ mles an hour. Do you really think you are doing much amage washing it with a soapy wash mit?

Here's my process....I use a foamer after the initial rinse. I then turn that foamer at my mit and saturate the mit. I repeast that process between sections. What ever was in the mit gets blasted out with soap and pressure. No second bucket required.

 

to get thick foam you have to use hot water... with a decent soap you could wash a filthy truck in about 15 mins.
If youre serious about cleaning... get a DI water filter for spot free rinsing.

 

I just wait for it to rain - problem solved.

 

A second bucket does a great job of rinsing off a sponge before redipping. Sure it gets dirty but at least you're rinsing off the crap that you cleaned off your car. Maybe you don't wait until your car is filthy like I do though.

 

What part of my "Blasting ouy my mit" did you fail to read. A dirty mit never goes back on the car.

 

Foam cannon no, seems like a solution looking for a problem. The grit guard in the bucket is genius and cheap though. I don't buy car wash specific soaps they seem like a gimmick. Regular dish soap works great and even has additives to help eliminate water spots when you are drying.

 

Dish soap is fine if you are waxing after you are done.

 

Didn't read past you blabbering about a foam dispenser, stopped after you said a second bucket was dumb.

 

He knows me and he knows what condition my vehicles stay in. I'm not telling him anything I haven't tested.

 

I considered washing my car once.

 

So foam cannons are a gimmick except for the foaming action and the "pop" you get when the chemicals hit the car. Here where they put down a shit ton of brine in the winter cars get a film on them that's pretty much impossible to get off touch-free. I can see the foaming action breaking the surface tension of that film and helping with it's removal. Minutely.

If you're following up your foam cannon with a wash mit, it's absolutely only a method of applying chemical.

 

i use waterless wash due to hard water. 2 years later, and still not a swirl on the car. no ceramic or wax ever used.

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B003WM9RZW

foam cannon, tried a few times on my other car. too much time to setup and by time you foam the entire car, you still need a bucket with soap/water.

 

That's all it ever is. If anyone thinks they are applying a chemical and then rinsing and getting a clean car are only fooling themselves and wasting chemicals and water. Agitation is always required and that's why you want the foam...you want lubrication and soapy water is better than just water.

 

the trick to a foam cannon is the 1.1mm orifice.

 

The foam cannon seems to work for me. My problem is my pressure washer is a big damn ugly f*cker that I use on the tractor. It and its hoses are a PIA. I've thought about buying one of those cheapo electric pressure washers. Any opinions on those?

 

sorry but, no one is getting a car cleaned with foam, or touchless wash only. there, I said it. you need a wash mitt of some sort, or you are just rinsing the vehicle. you are not getting all the dirt, debris, contaminants off the vehicle, with foam or spray only... unless you are just "touching up, or dusting" a vehicle that is not really dirty. it is like a dishwasher, it is for rinsing, and disinfecting only. people that put dirty baked on cooked on, dried on foods to plates, pots, pans, silverware etc... and think they are cleaned are so wrong it boggles the mind.

use a good car wash specific soap, a good microfiber or other soft mitt, and decent rinse water, AND DRY IMMEDIATELY IN A SHADED AREA!!! NEVER WASH IN DIRECT SUNLIGHT!

Dish soap will strip off protectants such as wash, and really hurt ceramics quickly. yes, there are some snake oils... lots of them so, do your due diligence and find what works for you.

using waterless washes, or spray on/wipe off washes, for touch ups, dustings, works really well on vehicles that are really not needing a complete wash.

I am a big Griot's Garage product person, their drying towels, soaps, and Speedshine products are great for keeping cars, bikes, boats, RV's, and everything else needing a wash clean, and easy to wash, if you keep up on it... which is the real key here. Ski

 

Not quite true, do the math on how much soap. Plus it does wash away the first cost of dirt. I use a foam cannon time to time, pump sprayer with soap and water to dilute it, never bucket and mit. Buckets for rinsing