Foams soap?

[sito]

Does foam soap remove dirt? Or

Is this technique just for cosmetic purposes?

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[sudsmobile]

Nothing removes dirt except for washing with a wash mitt. It might remove "some" dirt, but it's not going to clean road grime off your car. All those videos where they tell you that it emulsifies dirt and make it slide right off the car are pretty much just bold face lies. But the foam does serve a couple purposes. First, it gives you good lubricity for cleaning the car properly. Second it provides a good marker for areas you've already done because it's pretty easy to see where you have and haven't cleaned with the foam on the car.

 

[SWETM]

Yes it removes dirt if it's a dedicated prewash foam. The benefit is you get a cleaner surface before you touch your paint. Know I live in Sweden and we have other more effective prewash foam available to buy. The ones sold on AGO that I know of is Gyeon Foam and gtechnic w4 citrus foam. Do you apply them with a foamcannon and rinse thoroughly from bottom up and then rinse down again with a PW. You will get a cleaner surface than only rinse off with a PW. You still have to touch the paint with a wash media to get it really clean. But you loosen the dirt too so you easier wash it of when useing the wash mitt.

I did a test with a prewash foam and just PW. This is what I got.

Before
View attachment 63010

After PW
View attachment 63011

Foam and PW some off
View attachment 63012

So for me it does make a difference before touching the paint. But you still need to do a regualar wash and the dirt comes off easier for me. 2-3 wipes with the wash mitt and it's clean. If I would not had foamed it before I would be useing alot more wipes. The rinse bucket hardly get dirty this way.

In the summer months if I foam and clean rinse and then drive the car dry. I only need to do a 2bm wash every 3e week. This season I will blow dry it with a leafblower. I would not foam rinse and then dry with touching the paint. Maybe you get away with a QD wipe down.

 

[UncleDavy]

In theory, the foam is supposed to lift and encapsulate dirt so that it can easily be rinsed away. In some cases that will work such as dust or light pollen. In reality you need to remove the dirt and road slop with a wash mitt.
I no longer use a wash bucket. I double foam the vehicle and use multiple wash mitts.

 

[Tempest45]

I like to use a foam Cannon but I've yet to find a pH neutral soap that does much. My favorite is a residue free laundry detergent that is about pH 10. This even attacks break dust and doesn't damage lsp.

Optimum Power Clean is another good product for a foam Cannon.

 

[Themikerobe]

If you have a high pH soap, it'll remove some dirt if you pressure rinse it. This is how commercial touchless (AKA "laser) car washes work. But high pH soap will degrade sealant/wax. This will work for lose dirt but not dirt that was ever wet (road from from wet roads, mud) in my experience and it never cleans it enough that I would feel safe drying it by touching it with a towel.

I just use foam for extra lubricity and convenience so instead of a bucket with soapy water, I foam half my car and clean that half with wash towels that I just saturate with foam and then foam the other half and clean it - this makes it so I have plenty of soap and don't have to keep dipping my wash towel to keep it soapy (slippery) enough. And since I use several towels instead of a wash mitt, I don't even need a rinse bucket! And since I don't presoak with the foam, I actually end up using a little less than half the amount of soap I used in a two bucket wash so that will eventually save me as much money as I spent on the foam gun.

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