Foam cannon / foam in general

luckydawg

luckydawg

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Probably gonna ruffle some feathers but I have never understood the infatuation with foam cannons & foam. I tried it a few times and have never seen the benifit or any difference from using it.

And here is the question I would like to see if i can get some responses to one way or the other---How many people can honestly say they see a significant difference when they use one?

And I could be wrong on this part but I dont see the established pro's using them. Dont recall ever seeing MP use them. How about the the pro's on here who regularly post and list all of their products & tooling-- I dont recall ever seeing a foam cannon or foaming listed.
 
It really matters what you put IN the foam cannon/gun

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It’s not the foam itself, but the lubrication a foam cannon or foam gun provides with its soapy solution. Use it in the way that I’ve been talking about and you will get great benefits
 
Bill D said:
It’s not the foam itself, but the lubrication a foam cannon or foam gun provides with its soapy solution. Use it in the way that I’ve been talking about and you will get great benefits
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Your Avatar doesn't lie...

:xyxthumbs:
 
Klasse Act said:
It really matters what you put IN the foam cannon/gun

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Precisely. If you want to use the foam cannon, or foam in general, as a prewash, you need to put something in the cannon/foamer that has sufficient bite to make a difference. Use with a product like Bilt Hamber AutoFoam, Bilt Hamber Touchless or Car Pro Lift, and you will see a difference. I only do that when needed. There are times when I will coat a car with foam for two reasons.....one is to provide additional lubrication, and two because it's fun.
 
For what it's worth I remember at least one video with MP using a foam gun on a hose

That proves nothing either way
 
luckydawg said:
And I could be wrong on this part but I dont see the established pro's using them.
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Watch Jim White of White Details or Sandro at Car Craft wash a car if you want to see a "pro" foam a car

No offense to any of the pros on here but you don't get much more "established" than that
 
briarpatch said:
Precisely. If you want to use the foam cannon, or foam in general, as a prewash, you need to put something in the cannon/foamer that has sufficient bite to make a difference. Use with a product like Bilt Hamber AutoFoam, Bilt Hamber Touchless or Car Pro Lift, and you will see a difference. I only do that when needed. There are times when I will coat a car with foam for two reasons.....one is to provide additional lubrication, and two because it's fun.
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luckydawg said:
Probably gonna ruffle some feathers but I have never understood the infatuation with foam cannons & foam. I tried it a few times and have never seen the benifit or any difference from using it.

And here is the question I would like to see if i can get some responses to one way or the other---How many people can honestly say they see a significant difference when they use one?

And I could be wrong on this part but I dont see the established pro's using them. Dont recall ever seeing MP use them. How about the the pro's on here who regularly post and list all of their products & tooling-- I dont recall ever seeing a foam cannon or foaming listed.
Click to expand...

There are two parts to this.

One is the foam cannon (pressure washer) with a pre-rinse (stronger) foaming soap meant to encapsulate and remove some dirt prior to a contact wash. That helps some but still requires a contact wash. But that contact wash will have less dirt though harder to quantify how much it helps.

The second is the extreme wash method, which uses a foam gun (hose) and is constantly foaming while washing with a wash mitt so you’re getting constant lubrication and a water/soap mixture encapsulating and removing dirt.
 
dgage said:
There are two parts to this.

One is the foam cannon (pressure washer) with a pre-rinse (stronger) foaming soap meant to encapsulate and remove some dirt prior to a contact wash. That helps some but still requires a contact wash. But that contact wash will have less dirt though harder to quantify how much it helps.

The second is the extreme wash method, which uses a foam gun (hose) and is constantly foaming while washing with a wash mitt so you’re getting constant lubrication and a water/soap mixture encapsulating and removing dirt.
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Well when a car is legitimately dirty a contact was is in order BUT a high quality pre-wash soap can virtually eliminate all the dirt and what's left behind makes it so easy a cheap ass dollar store carwash would work (just for effect, none of us even have that, well maybe Chemical Guys)

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Klasse Act said:
Well when a car is legitimately dirty a contact was is in order BUT a high quality pre-wash soap can virtually eliminate all the dirt and what's left behind makes it so easy a cheap ass dollar store carwash would work (just for effect, none of us even have that, well maybe Chemical Guys)
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I’d say that depends on a lot of variables but based on various tests I’ve seen on here, with few exceptions, a contact wash of some sort is usually required to get a car CLEAN after a pressure washer foam cannon rinse.

I guess a question is are we talking truly clean or looks clean? I certainly wouldn’t dry my car with a towel and drying aid without having first done a contact wash. If I’m just blow drying the car then maybe a foam rinse is enough but that might leave a film eventually. Hard to quantify what is truly clean or clean enough.
 
Foam is fun. The foam gun eliminates the wash bucket as you are spraying foam directly on the surface. Using multiple wash mitts reduces scratches. The foam cannon is a prewash for me. Is it necessary? Probably not, but it sure is fun.
 
dgage said:
I’d say that depends on a lot of variables but based on various tests I’ve seen on here, with few exceptions, a contact wash of some sort is usually required to get a car CLEAN after a pressure washer foam cannon rinse.

I guess a question is are we talking truly clean or looks clean? I certainly wouldn’t dry my car with a towel and drying aid without having first done a contact wash. If I’m just blow drying the car then maybe a foam rinse is enough but that might leave a film eventually. Hard to quantify what is truly clean or clean enough.
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Good point but today my car was days dusty and I didn't need a towel to dry it. I used 1 oz of Bilt-Hamber Auto-foam and 32 oz of water in my brand new Griot's Garage hose foamer and no contact wash was needed. That said, legit dirt, I don't care what it "looks like" after a pre-wash with Bilt-Hamber Touchless or Auto-foam, I'm doing a 2BM

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To completely clean your vehicle you need to do a contact wash, but if I foam it first, the rinse bucket is a lot cleaner at the end, this shows me that I've removed a lot of dirt before I even make physical contact with the paint, more than if I just do a hose rinse pre wash. That's got to be a good thing, less dirt on the surface equals less chance of damage to the paint.

In saying that, I didn't foam yesterday before my contact wash, it was 2 weeks worth of road film, virtually sprayed on by rain everyday, it wasn't very dirty and I just didn't think foaming would remove very much, so I went straight to the 2 bucket wash.

All my own opinion of course, but you have to do what works for you.

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chilly said:
I have been talking to MP this week by PM on the 3D Forum on another subject, I will be sure to write him and tell him he is a hack...
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I guess your being funny calling him a hack- at least I hope

But since your gonna be getting with him for sure this week, just ask him percentage wise, roughly, how often he uses a foam cannon when he washes a car

Then post it in this thread
 
luckydawg said:
I guess your being funny calling him a hack- at least I hope

But since your gonna be getting with him for sure this week, just ask him percentage wise, roughly, how often he uses a foam cannon when he washes a car

Then post it in this thread
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I was being VERY facetious...

I figured it showed

He has forgotten more than I will ever know

He is asking Tunch Goren a couple of questions the next time he sees him and he said he will get back to me and I will run this by him then

I respect your opinions and beliefs and hope you do the same

I doubt many of us ever take the exact same route to get to our goal and there is noting wrong with that

I am a hobby detailer and retired to boot and other than fighting sun and wind I have all the time in the world to wash a car

In my situation foaming, pressure washing, pretreating, contact washing, etc all have a time and place and although I can't show you absolute proof that foaming cuts down on swirls, rids, etc I THINK it does and foaming makes me feel better about the overall process

It costs pennies in product, a small amount of water, gives me peace of mind, and as I said my time is free so why not?

As always, your mileage may vary

Peace
 
Uh oh, my process doesn’t cost pennies in product and water but I’m saving my clear and the hours of labor to polish the car once or twice a year so I continue with my wash process which,above everything else,makes me happy.
 
Bill D said:
Uh oh, my process doesn’t cost pennies in product and water but I’m saving my clear and the hours of labor to polish the car once or twice a year so I continue with my wash process which,above everything else,makes me happy.
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And for us hobby types that’s the bottom line; saved clear coat and a happy camper

Well said sir


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