Foam gun and washing question

[sberk1012]

Maybe I'm over-thinking things and it might be a minor detail, but I'm curious. When washing my car: I jet-rinse all the big debris off my car with water first, then soak it with water, then cover it with soap (Honeydew) using a foam gun. Then, I let it dwell for a couple minutes. After it dwells, I go directly to washing it with my mitts and 2 bucket wash.

Here's my question: Would it be better to rinse off the soap from the foam gun first, before I go at it with my wash mitt?

Here's the 2 perspectives I see:

1. Leave the foam on the car because it will add extra lubrication while washing.

2. Rinse the soap off first because then all the debris "encapsulated" by the soap will already be washed away, and you don't have a chance to rub it against the paint with your mitt.

All the washing videos I see go directly from the gun to the mitt, without a rinse in-between. However, I feel it may be better to rinse the car off first. To debunk perspective 1 from above, I feel that there is plenty of lubrication from my soapy water in my wash bucket already that will be transferred from the mitt to the car- leaving the foam on there won't provide any meaningful added lubrication.

 

[RevitalizeAutoSpa]

I'm a little overly careful.

1. Pressure washer rinse
2. Foam cannon dwell for several minutes
3. Pressure washer rinse
4. Foam cannon
5. Two bucket method
6. Pressure washer rinse
7. Leaf blower

By rinsing the first layer of foam off I'm getting all the loose dirt\dust\pollen. Foaming a second time adds an additional layer of lubricity on top of the soap in the wash bucket.

 

[Moldavite]

I'm a little overly careful.

1. Pressure washer rinse
2. Foam cannon dwell for several minutes
3. Pressure washer rinse
4. Foam cannon
5. Two bucket method
6. Pressure washer rinse
7. Leaf blower

very impressive 7 step washing :dblthumb2:

 

[swanicyouth]

IMHO you should only foam a dry car. Wetting it down first makes the foam not stick as well. At the very least, it's just a waste of time because you have to pressure wash the foam off anyway.

Just like polishing - it makes sense to go from most aggressive (foam) to least aggressive (water). Foaming a wet car is like polishing, then compounding - then polishing again.

Just my 2¢

 

[sberk1012]

IMHO you should only foam a dry car. Wetting it down first makes the foam not stick as well. At the very least, it's just a waste of time because you have to pressure wash the foam off anyway.

Just like polishing - it makes sense to go from most aggressive (foam) to least aggressive (water). Foaming a wet car is like polishing, then compounding - then polishing again.

Just my 2¢

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Foam (soap) is a surfactant, so it can "break through" water no problem. I'm not concerned about this.

 

[Kamakaz1961]

Maybe I'm over-thinking things and it might be a minor detail, but I'm curious. When washing my car: I jet-rinse all the big debris off my car with water first, then soak it with water, then cover it with soap (Honeydew) using a foam gun. Then, I let it dwell for a couple minutes. After it dwells, I go directly to washing it with my mitts and 2 bucket wash.


1. Leave the foam on the car because it will add extra lubrication while washing.

:iagree:This is what I do same as you. I like this way. Additionally, IMO less chances of scratches too. But I know there will be other opinions. but I do the same thing you do. I do not jet rinse I have no pressure washer. I just rinse 1st and then everything else same as you.

 

[allenk4]

It is too hot in the South (TX) and West (CA) for me to leave foam on the car while doing a 2BM

1. Foam
2. Rinse
3. 2BM
4. Rinse
5. SHEETING
6. Drying

 

[Wadey]

This is interesting to me. I always considered the slippery nature of the suds to somehow aid in not scratching when I make physical contact.

Maybe I'm all wet?

 

[Mizzoutiger]

I'm a little overly careful.

1. Pressure washer rinse
2. Foam cannon dwell for several minutes
3. Pressure washer rinse
4. Foam cannon
5. Two bucket method
6. Pressure washer rinse
7. Leaf blower

By rinsing the first layer of foam off I'm getting all the loose dirtdustpollen. Foaming a second time adds an additional layer of lubricity on top of the soap in the wash bucket.

:iagree: And buy your soap in bulk and enjoy the suds! Im the MAN

 

[solman]

I also rinse the foam off the car before my 2 bucket wash. If I leave the foam on the car I find that I have to play beat the clock to get done before the soap starts to dry on the car. Maybe in cooler weather you might be able to get away without rinsing first.

 

[LRC3]

:iagree: And buy your soap in bulk and enjoy the suds! Im the MAN

:iagree:

Some of you guys overthink this stuff WAY too much.

I power wash the heck out of my truck firstrops: but that's just me.

 

[allenk4]

:iagree:

Some of you guys overthink this stuff WAY too much.

I power wash the heck out of my truck firstrops: but that's just me.

What specifically, do you believe is too much thinking?

Is you truck black?

Purchasing a black SUV definitely increased the amount of time I spent thinking about wash/dry process examination

 

[Tector]

I pressure rinse, foam, wash mitt, and then pressure rinse. I have to be in a cool spot in the shade though or the soap dries too fast. Sometimes I just spray a little more foam if an area is drying too fast. Why waste all that wonderful foam lubricant by rinsing before going to a TBM?

 

[RevitalizeAutoSpa]

I also rinse the foam off the car before my 2 bucket wash. If I leave the foam on the car I find that I have to play beat the clock to get done before the soap starts to dry on the car. Maybe in cooler weather you might be able to get away without rinsing first.

I should have specified - that's my routine if I'm washing in the early morning\late evening. If it's during the heat of the day, no way am I foaming a second time.

 

[sberk1012]

Why waste all that wonderful foam lubricant by rinsing before going to a TBM?

Because, as I noted in my post, I believe that some the debris that is trapped by the foam could be getting rubbed against the paint by your mitt if you don't rinse it off the car first.

Essentially, my dilemma comes down to weighing the benefit of extra lubrication vs. the possibility of rubbing small debris against the paint.

It appears that people have their preferences and sometimes depends on conditions, which is what I expected. Thanks for your input everyone :xyxthumbs:

 

[Grifffx4]

Funny, I always thought you were supposed to rinse the foam off after dwell. I thought this is how everyone was doing it.

 

[af90]

Funny, I always thought you were supposed to rinse the foam off after dwell. I thought this is how everyone was doing it.

I would recommend doing so. I use a foam pre-wash to remove loose surfactants as well as hoping to remove as much dirt as possible and loosen the other dirt and grime. Rinse it off then move on to rinseless washes and such.

 

[DetailedByPrecision]

IMHO you should only foam a dry car. Wetting it down first makes the foam not stick as well. At the very least, it's just a waste of time because you have to pressure wash the foam off anyway.

Just like polishing - it makes sense to go from most aggressive (foam) to least aggressive (water). Foaming a wet car is like polishing, then compounding - then polishing again.

Just my 2¢

I agree with this. I don't own a pressure washer yet, but I do use one at my work place. When you do not have a foam lance accessible, the best, safest, most rational choice is to pressure wash off as much "loose" contaminants as possible that's not embedded, stuck on, and require agitation.

Now for those that own a Gilmour foam gun, with a garden hose, and not a pressure washer, the power coming through your nozzle won't be the same comparing to a pressure washer whether it be gas or electric. I did a test recently with using the Gilmour foam gun, and tested 2 different scenarios.

A little background info on the subject car which is my own personal car. I wash it bi weekly, live in the city, so it never gets a chance to get dirtier than your normal dirt/dust build up, and road traffic film at best. My car haven't been washed for 6 weeks, and it was a nice day on a weekend.

For the first test, I did what anyone would do, which was rinse off the car before going over it with soap and a wash media. I chose my rear bumper as the test spot, and by the photos below which you will see later, it is not clean at all. By hosing it down with a strong jet of water, it knocked off probably 30% of the dirt at most from the surface.

My 2nd scenario, I loaded up my foam gun with half an inch filled with Auto Finesse Avalanche soap. This time I used my trunk for the test. I did not pre rinse it with water this time, only went straight with a pre foam with the foam gun. Afterwards, I let it sit/dwell for 3mins "without any agitation". I rinse it off afterwards, and went over the whole top portion of the trunk with soap and my wash media. By using this method, the chemical, which was the AF Avalanche, removed 75-85% of the surface dirt before going over it with my wash media.

Now, I understand not everyone's situation is specifically like this, but I wanted to point out in "my specific situation based on the condition of my car", it did not require a pre rinse with water before foaming the car up. I'm not here to judge anyone's methods/procedures with how they wash their car, just wanted to shed some information what worked for me, and how it might be able to relate to other's situations as well. Time to let the pics do the talking for me...









Here it is all assembled ready to go. It comes with both ends of the quick disconnect attached to your nozzle. I personally added a shut off valve to the hose.







To demonstrate the foam gun's qualities, here is a clean towel before use.







The condition of my car without a wash for one month. A thick layer of dust/dirt on the surface of the paint clouding the reflections







To make things as fair as possible, I will rinse down the rear bumper with a strong jet of water







After the initial rinse, I dipped the towel into my soap bucket and wiped it across the whole top surface of the rear bumper. The amount of dirt accumulated on the towel shows the initial rinse only knocked off loose dirt from the bumper, anything else did not come off.







In this picture, I focused on foaming the trunk area, and let the soap dwell for 2 minutes before rinsing it off. At this point, I did not do any wiping/agitation, just foamed and rinsed.







Afterwards, I did the same thing and used a clean towel dipped into the soap bucket and wiped down the whole top part of the trunk. The result of implementing a pre wash with the foam gun already removed 75-85% of the layer of dust/light dirt without even touching it. The result of the towel only shows very light dirt.

 

[allenk4]

Please do the test again and use half the bumper after power wash rinse only and the other half after foaming followed by power rinse

 

[lawrenceSA]

Well I am on the anally retentive side so....

I will usually hit the lower half and back end of the car with a citrus prewash (Valet Pro), let it sit a bit, then HP rinse the whole car down.

Then foam it, let it dwell and HP rinse it off.

Then foam it, and get straight to work with a full 2BM.