The Aggressive Approach to Washing a Car

I set the metering slide bar to use the largest opening when using the foam gun and as far as measuring soap goes I tend to use the glug-glug method. :D



How to adjust the metering slide bar
Your Marine 31 Foam Gun comes with a metering slide bar that allows you to adjust the concentration of soap solution to water.


6 hole stops on the top of the metering bar
Looking at the metering bar from the top you'll see 6 equal sized holes. These are "stops" that lock the metering bar into position with the use of a spring loaded check ball inside the mixing chamber.

You can twist the metering bar sideways to push it in or out of the mixing chamber when choosing a solution level and then twist it back to the upright position to lock it into place.


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5 graduated holes on the bottom of the metering bar
The smaller the hole the less soap solution that can be drawn into the mixing chamber and thus the less foamy suds. Just behind Nick's finger, opposite of the hole stops on the other side there is no graduate hole, this is last section is solid to enable you to switch to just water for rinsing.


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The larger the holes the more soap solution that can be drawn into the mixing chamber and thus more suds will be created.

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:xyxthumbs:
 
Here's how you get your wash mitt wet when using a foam gun to wash your car and not having to use a bucket.


This is the 2004 Chevy Avalanche we used in our July 2015 3-day detailing boot camp class.

Note all the wash mitts on the hood just in front of the windshield with foam sprayed all over them.

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Wait till you see the amazing before and after pictures of the toasted plastic cladding after we treated them with Solution Finish.


:)
 
Mike looking at those Half Gallon Foam Guns. The only difference between each of them are the labels (and the 2 oz brands of free soap)... right?
 
I am a foam gun and 2 bucket guy, more foam and soap the better. The neighbor watches the rinse water go down my driveway :)
 
Foam Gun :dblthumb2:

CG Honeydew Snow Foam is a great foaming soap.

I've used a number of others but this stuff is thick and dilutes very well and smells good and foams like crazy.
 
Thanks Mike, you answered a lot of my questions and concerns.

I guess I'm trying, or at least think I have to keep my environments so sterile, like it's an operating room... and I guess at the end of the day, the car has already been exposed (especially here in New England) to everything mother nature and man can throw at it. If my AG wash mitt once touched a car with Iron-X, I'm sure after a washer-machine cycle it's perfectly fine to detail my own personal Mustang GT.

After reading Bob's post, I even said to myself, at some point, there is a next step where we have to touch the car. The Iron-X has to come off some how. Even as Bob pointed out their instructions is to agitate with a MF towel. So, yup you are correct... at some point someone has to touch the car with something.

Perhaps when I was asking, my head was clouded... Back in the day, these products (Iron-X, etc...) didn't exist. It was wash, #7 and wax. Sometimes just #7 and call it a day! ;-). (I'm talking the late 70's / 80's...) :-)
Ok, now I've dated myself...
 
I'll echo what Mike has said about using IronX on a dirty car....

My wash process before a polish is -

1. Rinse car thoroughly
2. Mist IronX evenly over car while still wet and dirty (Mike said in a post about 6 months ago that the dirt helps the IronX stay put or "cling" on the car so that it can do its job more thoroughly)
3. Let set for a few minutes until I see bleeding (I am washing inside my garage, out of the sun, so no issue with the hot sun baking the IronX - I am stunned by how the AG staff have to wash vehicles outside in the hot FL sun!!!)
4. Wash with APC (single bucket method for those of you who want to know this!)
5. Rinse thoroughly (and possibly rinse several times to prevent IronX from drying on car if I'm too slow in the wash process)
6. Mist on Carpro TarX on lower body panels. Let set a few minutes, use a small MF to gently wipe over tar. You can feel the tar easily wipe off.
7. Rinse thoroughly
8. Use Nanoskin towel and lubricate to "clay" the car
9. Rinse thoroughly
10. Dry
11. Ready to polish and protect

I've done about 5 or so cars with this method (minus the recent TarX step) and have seen no ill effects of the IronX. The wash bucket gets slightly pinkish by the time you are done, but it all rinses clean. My theory is that these contaminants are all ready on your vehicle and on your wash mitts etc - the Ironx just helps you see it and what you see is the dissolved remains.... my theory ... no basis to prove or disprove.

I just recently added the TarX in as step and I'm impressed how well it works while the car is still wet. I tried this with a friends Grand Cherokee a few weeks ago that they had attempted to remove the tax on before they brought it to me to coat. It was so impressive, that I did the IronX and TarX steps to my coated DD the next day (using Reset instead of APC in the wash media), it hadn't had the tar removed for 4 months - and we get a lot of tar on our third world roads here in Michigan! The paint was so "clean" on my DD after those to steps that I hit it with Reload (over a 1 year 3 month old DP coating - I know, I'm playing with fire by mixing things - if a plane falls out of the sky it will be my fault!) I plan to suggest a process of Ironx, wash with Reset, apply Tarx, dry, and put Reload on every 6 months for all my friends that have coated vehicles.

The tar removal step is the part I hate the most out of all the process - I always have. On the white Grand Cherokee - there were a couple spots of tar on the lower panel behind the front wheels that I had to agitate a little more aggressively after drying the car - but it was less than 10% of the total area that had tar on it. Seemed like it saved some time too.

Overall, very impressed with the IronX and the TarX (and so was the lady with the Grand Cherokee - she couldn't take enough pics of the "bleeding pig" as Mike refers to it!)

Carpro IronX and TarX - good stuff!!!
 
RedXray said:
Mike looking at those Half Gallon Foam Guns. The only difference between each of them are the labels (and the 2 oz brands of free soap)... right?
Click to expand...

Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
Yes.

The foam gun is the only way I wash my own cars.


:dblthumb2:
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike

Just ordered the half gallon AG branded foam gun along with a gallon of HoneyDew snow foam shampoo. Then I had to have a new mitt and another supreme guzzler :)
 
RedXray said:
Thanks Mike

Just ordered the half gallon AG branded foam gun along with a gallon of HoneyDew snow foam shampoo. Then I had to have a new mitt and another supreme guzzler :)
Click to expand...


Cool. I think you're really going to like it and it will give the neighbors one more reason to think you're a tick on the OCD side of car detailing.


:D
 
This was a great series of posts from everyone. Strangely, I learned more in reading this thread than I thought I would. What could be so complex about washing the car?!

On that note, I've always wondered why we foam and also 2bw a car as opposed to one or the other.

Thanks for all the tips!
 
Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
Cool. I think you're really going to like it and it will give the neighbors one more reason to think you're a tick on the OCD side of car detailing.


:D
Click to expand...

Worked really well Mike!

Did my annual lite correction over the weekend so the truck wasn't very dirty (driven 25 to 30 miles). The AG foam gun performed great on the large orifice setting with 5 oz of Honeydew Snow Foam and warm water in the half gallon reservoir.

I was able to pre-soak, then chase with the wash mitt as I sprayed the foam. Still had a 1/4 cup left after washing a full size pickup, so I'll be able to adjust the product usage. Sure beats lugging around two heavy 5 gal buckets (like Mike I'm also a right transfemoral amputee). The wash went fast didn't even break a sweat! :)

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After I fully rinsed the truck there was snow on the ground in August... had to grab the camera :D

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kevincwelch said:
This was a great series of posts from everyone.

Strangely, I learned more in reading this thread than I thought I would. What could be so complex about washing the car?!
Click to expand...

Strange how this happens on this forum? :D


kevincwelch said:
On that note, I've always wondered why we foam and also 2bw a car as opposed to one or the other.
Click to expand...

Not sure about other guys but for me, when I use the foam gun I never get out a bucket.

The key to using a foam gun without a bucket is as simple as getting your wash mitt wet FIRST before foaming the car. As long as you do this you're good to go.


kevincwelch said:
Thanks for all the tips!
Click to expand...


And this is what a good thread is all about...


:xyxthumbs:
 
I get foaming the car, and softening the wash mitts. What I don't get is how you substitute the rinsing of the mitt to get picked up dirt off. Do u just do the whole car with one mitt and load it up without any rinsing? For both the aggressive as well as gentle approach? Since you said you always use foam gun and no buckets on your cars?
 
He's got a few wash mitts up on the windshield. I assume that's for his multiple helpers as well as for a demonstration that multiple mitts are needed.

(Sent via my mobile device)
 
larry33 said:
I get foaming the car, and softening the wash mitts.

What I don't get is how you substitute the rinsing of the mitt to get picked up dirt off.

Do u just do the whole car with one mitt and load it up without any rinsing?

For both the aggressive as well as gentle approach? Since you said you always use foam gun and no buckets on your cars?
Click to expand...


Great questions.....


If doing the aggressive approach and the car is REALLY dirty then "yes" have either multiple mitts or drag out at least one bucket and fill with water to rinse off the mitt fast and easy as you work around the car. If the car is not too dirty then for the aggressive approach I just use one mitt. If I'm washing a neglected car then I'm already planning on compounding it.


For the gentle approach - at least for me and my cars - they don't get that dirty. And they wash up fast and easy. I keep a coating on the SL500 and my truck sits so high off the ground with 40" tall tires that it doesn't get a lot of dirt on the body panels.

But for others... you can use the sprayer to spray off your mitt, simply detach from the foam gun and spray off gathered dirt. Or have bucket to swish your mitt into, use a Grit Guard Insert as a good option. Or have multiple mitts.


kevincwelch said:
He's got a few wash mitts up on the windshield.

I assume that's for his multiple helpers as well as for a demonstration that multiple mitts are needed.
Click to expand...


Exactly...


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:)
 
I've never used Iron X but think I'm going to add it to my next order, when using it do you rinse after spraying the iron x or do you apply Iron X and then use the foam gun followed up my a rinse?
 
In the next couple of weeks, I'll be working on a car that has probably not seen wax since 2002.....this 'aggressive' approach will most likely be the one I will use....will be the first one where I put up the before and after shots
 
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