A few people on the Autopia detailing forums were getting into "foam cannons" a while back, and being very pleased with the foam cannon as as the primary method to wash my car for the past few months, I thought I'd share some photos and a video:

 

its beginning to look alot like christmas....lol that is awesome

 

Thanks! All it takes is a pressure washer (gasoline powered preferable, since most electric pressure washers use a different wand) with a foamer attachment. I use Duragloss 901/902 shampoo, which is comparable to Zaino Z7 and Griot's Car Wash in terms of its gentleness and lubricity. The foam is thick enough to shave with, and with a boar's hair brush, I am able to wash and dry with a swirl-free finish in 20 minutes (which is important because the girlfriend gets impatient when I spend time detailing the car).

 

Cool! Though getting soap on the cabrio top makes me cringe... I use nothing but water on mine... makes the UV/water repellent (303) last longer...

 

mmmm .... whipped topping .... droool.

 

huh, my car looks like that this morning.

 

i thought getting soap on the top was a no-no

 

Do you take a wash mitt and start cleaning it after spraying soap? I guess that would keep you from having a bucket full of soap.

 

no, i think he just lets it dry in the sun.

 

There is method to my madness! I was prepping the top for its semi-annual 303 Fabric Protector application. For normal washes like you indicate, I wet down the fabric with water and agitate a bit with a brush to get the grime out. Frankly, I'm not made of money, and would love for the fabric to last as long as possible, but the top will wear and need replacement eventually, so I don't sweat it too much if I get some soap on it, especially since my car shampoos tend to be the gentler formulations.

Love your MCSc, by the way!

 

I'm thinking due to either snow, or bird droppings.

 

It's all good - makes sense.

Cool Blue Rules!

 

Wash mitt, boar's hair brush, steel wool... They're all equally good.

You don't get the kind of foam with a soap-bucket that you get with a foam cannon. The cannon produces foam thick enough that you can shave with, for that perfect swirl-free finish.


As of this posting, it's been almost 22 hours since the wash, and the foam is still there. This is the foam left in the driveway, taken about 16 hours after the wash:

 

more importantly, i just realized this foaming action matches your
first name 'latte.'

 

I always wondered, how much soap in Ounces are you using per wash? I believe there is a foaming agent mixed with the car wash soap? as I recall reading on the Autopia threads. For those that don't know, foaming has been very popular in the UK.

Richard

 

I thought you were washing it at home to avoid the automatic car wash How much soap is that (and how much acid is in the soap eating away at the chrome)

Looks fun, don't get me wrong; just doesn't seem like the best for the paint IMO.

 

I typically run through 8 ounces of 100% soap per wash - no foaming agents, water, or anything else added.

Didn't realize that foaming was popularized first in the UK. Glad to have your input here, Richard.

 

Oh yeah, you should check out www.detailingworld.co.uk sometimes. The "snow gun"(??) is what everybody uses for washing. It was slow to be adopted here initially because the parts for the gun had to be imported from the UK--but also the requirement of needing a pressure washer--well a powerful enough one anyways--limited those who wanted to play with it.

8 ounces isn't bad. I once ran through like 16oz of soap when I plugged my soap bottle into my portable Karcher pressure washer--it just sucked the soap like crazy--and it didn't foam as thick as shaving cream, lol.

Do you get that kind of foam with any car wash soap or is it specific type? I seem to recall that people mixed solutions together, and maybe that was to use their own favorite soap but needed more foam.

 

Don't tempt me! I've thought about putting milk into the foam cannon to see what kind of foam I can produce with it.

I haven't had a latte now in almost ten years, but my name has stuck.

 

I consider myself on par with everyone else in this forum when it comes to being OCD about paint care (or am I just flattering myself too much?).

It took me a while to take to the idea of the foam cannon, and I was skeptical, too. The foaming attachment isn't spraying the paint at 4000psi (most of the water pressure is directed into the soap reservoir, churning up a good foam solution), and made sure I've selected a gentle shampoo. For this wash, the last time I Zaino'ed was about four months ago (before the harsh California winter rolled in), and after rinsing, water beading was just as good as the first wash after that Zaino application, so the amount of soap I've been using all these months has not been stripping the surface sealants in any way.

A good gentle car shampoo shouldn't be either acidic or alkaline, and the OEM "chrome" are simply shiny plastic bits (wish I'd realized that before I purchased some chrome polish as soon as I ordered the car).

 

isn't it a pita so pull out your pressure washer and all that gear just to
apply suds? maybe just me?

im a lazy **** so only use minimum gear for carwashes.

 

Is there any practical advantage to this foam-a-thon-u-lon-u-lator other than it's fun and it looks cool?

 

Just to clarify, were you using the detergent nozzle on your Karcher PW?

Based on the Autopia results, I went with the Cam Foamer Attachment readily available in the US: http://www.everypressurewasher.com/a...sp?sku=CAM1243


I've only tried Zaino Z7 and Duragloss 901/902 (which is like a less expensive version of Z7), both of which produced the same results, but those are the only soaps that I trust are compatible with my current system. I know that the Autopians were experimenting with various shampoos such as Meguiar's (NXT, Gold Class), Chemical Guys Citrus Wash, and others in various concentrations and mixtures, as you've also seen.

 

I love this method. Are there some minimum specifications in a pressure washer that are needed? Also, when you are washing with a mitt after foaming do you still use a bucket of water to rinse the mitt after doing small sections?

 

Are you starting a Lazy **** Detailers Club? I would be the first to join!

If my cars could magically look as good as they do detailed without any work on my part, I would be just as happy. Detailing is great when you just want to have some time to meditate, but for the most part, I just want the car to look as good as I believe it is, and I've got other things I'd rather be doing.

For a regular wash, it takes me twenty minutes to wash the wheels, body, and top, and dry everything, including pulling out the pressure washer and hooking it up to the water source. It is precisely because I am a card-carrying member of the Lazy **** Detailers Club that the foam cannon appeals to me. My typical gear comprises of:
- Foam cannon
- Boar's hair brush
- Wheel brush/mitt
- Rinse bucket with Grit Guards
- Drying towels

That setup is not too different from what would usually be needed anyhow. Essentially, the two-bucket system was pared down to one bucket (with the foam cannon replacing the soap bucket).

The thick foam saves time because you spend virtually no time "scrubbing" with a mitt- all the foaming action helps to remove the dust and dirt, so light agitation with a mitt or BHB is all that's necessary.