Give me reason to keep my foam gun

nissenc1337

nissenc1337

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Morning all,

I bought a Gilmore foam gun the other day with my Amazon order expecting it to help my process. However, after using it a few times, I'm underwhelmed.

Granted our cars have been outside for two months and were never washed during our moving transition so both vehicles were pretty soiled. However, I feel as though the wash did nothng. I used 5oz of Megs Ultimate wash on the 1/128 setting. No water added to the canister, just soap. Foam was decent but my water pressure may be to blame for that.

Long story short, I'm not sure the foam gun is doing anything for me as I simply rinse off the foam then move to my 2BM to actually wash the car.

Am I doing something wrong or do I need to ditch this thing and buy something more useful for $30.

I did get the wheel cleaning package that had 2 hand applicators, 3 dressing applicators(what else can these be used for?), and the daytona speed brush. Love all those items because I see results. However, the foam gun was a let down.
 
Foam gun is meant to get off all the loose dirt before the 2 bucket method and is good for stripping wax off. When its foam I take a bore hairs brush and clean all the cracks and crevices.
 
Fill the container with water, pour in an ounce of soap, put the top on, shake lightly to combine. Use a higher concentration setting and you will get better foam. Could be that particular soap is not that great in a foam gun.
 
I think you need a soap like Maxi suds II or honey due snow foam. There are soaps out there that just don't foam up all that well if you would like I can send you a sample of Maxi Suds II so you can see the difference.
 
Pureshine said:
Foam gun is meant to get off all the loose dirt before the 2 bucket method and is good for stripping wax off. When its foam I take a bore hairs brush and clean all the cracks and crevices.
Click to expand...


Stripping wax off, I forgot about that. I need to get ahold of a 5GAL Zep Citrus Degreaser and test that out. Good word.
 
Halloween Party/"Trick-or-Treaters".

OOOPS!...That could be construed as two reasons.

:D

Bob
 
I'm using the Gilmour to not only remove lose dirt but also prime each panel before I wash with the mitt to aid in lubricity. I'm not too concerned with foam.
 
I use my gilmour foammaster and my MTM foam lance for the exact reasons that PureShine described.

I do not use foaming tools for every wash, typically just for customer vehicles in order to aid in stripping LSP prior to decontamination and correction.

Plus, they are fun to use.
 
maybe you take the foam of to soon. it should turn " watery" so it runs down and takes the dirt with it...
 
One thing you need to be aware of is that thick shaving foam does not mean that the product is cleaning well. In reality, such a thick foam is actually bad for the cleaning because much of the chemical activity will be stuck in the foam, never getting near the surface. For optimal cleaning, a foam should be somewhat mobile such that it can first, carry dirt away and, second, bring fresh chemical to the surface area.

Unfortunately, this is not all there is to it. A simple neutral shampoo/soap has very little cleaning power. This applies to most products which are normally used as a wash bucket additive. You need alkalinity to actually make a dent in any significant level of soiling. That is pretty much automotive formulation 101. So have a look for a different product.
 
zmcgovern45 said:
I use my gilmour foammaster and my MTM foam lance for the exact reasons that PureShine described.

I do not use foaming tools for every wash, typically just for customer vehicles in order to aid in stripping LSP prior to decontamination and correction.

Plus, they are fun to use.
Click to expand...

Keeping the tool for use in stripping wax/LSP is a good reason. I'm also going to see how well it does with the wife's car this week for it's bi-weekly washing.

I'm wanting to use ZEP Citrus to remove wax/lsp, that oughta do it. Right?
 
Something that is chemically gentle on the paint isn't going to make much of a dent in deep cleaning.

With foam products I look for products that seems to "lift" and run the dirt off the surface. One that stands out is AMMO foam cleaner. You can actually see the product try to get off the paint as soon as possible like a super sheeting sealant sheds water right off.

It almost reminds me of a cross between Carpro hydro2 and maxi suds.

The classical foam products that produce tons of foam that just sits there on the surface is useless in my opinion. If it worked, the foam would literally just fall right off the paint. That's when you know it's actually doing something.

.
 
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