Foam Cannons

Do you use them?     It seems like a great addition to the power washer.

That's not nearly as entertaining as what I was imagining from the title!

Turboeric said:

That's not nearly as entertaining as what I was imagining from the title!

Went to a foam party when I was stationed in DC.  Group I was with apparently had the collective IQ of 12, because it was winter when they did this and it was cold outside.

But no, I don't use a foam thingie.  Hand-mitt and a bucket for me.

I have one of the non-pressure washer ones.  It's a convenient way to speed up washing a little bit.

Funny you posted this as I bought a VooDoo foam cannon yesterday. I'll report back in a few days once I get a chance to use it.

Yes.  Not sure that the car is any more clean but it makes washing fun

Turboeric said:

That's not nearly as entertaining as what I was imagining from the title!

I am VERY disappointed.

I use one - no sense buying an expensive one, the dollar .99 versions on Amazon do the same thing.  Its fun, not sure it makes a huge difference.  

Wait... you guys... wash your cars?

I wash mine twice - once when I buy it because pride, and once when I sell it so I can take good pictures of it.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

Wait... you guys... wash your cars?

I wash mine twice - once when I buy it because pride, and once when I sell it so I can take good pictures of it.

That's one more than me.

Coopertired got me one for xmas.  Just tried it out on a very skanky winter car.  It seemed like it may have helped loosen the funk before washing.  Unclear to me. The prospect of clean warm water vs the dirty soapy bucket could be a thing.

It helps get the car/truck visibly covered in a hurry. My experience is I still need to use the mitt/sponge/rag/whatever to get the stuck dirt off. But it helps a lot. Mine is an Amazon special.

i might pull the trigger on one this spring. Mainly because it will be fun with the kiddos though.  I watch a lot of detail videos and they all seem to use to but the reasons they use it seems overkill for my old daily driven cars.  I get the concept, loosen stuck on dirt and lubricate the surface before contact cleaning- smart.

Im a two bucket method guy but like I said, for a few bucks it might be fun for the kiddos and me.

The other thing too is you need the proper soap to really get a good foam and that can start to add up over "normal" stuff.

CarKid1989 said:

The other thing too is you need the proper soap to really get a good foam and that can start to add up over "normal" stuff.

I'm using cheapo car washing liquid soap and it foams up nicely.  That could be why I still need to wipe the foam around to do a complete job. It still saves a lot of time. 

Foam guns are nice for making sure you've got a good layer of soap all over the car, and they can help loosen up some of dirt, but it's not a substitute for contact washing with a mit or microfiber towel. I use it as extra lubrication to minimize the risk of scratches during the contact wash. You've got to assess the level of dirt on your vehicle for a safe wash procedure. If you've got actual sand, salt, or grit stuck on the paint you should really rinse that off first. If you want to up the power of the foam you can include an APC (all purpose cleaner) to the mix for added cleaning power, or you can do what I do and have it on hand in a spray bottle to address stubborn areas like grills and around badges.

Random trivia: aircrete (or "cellular lightweight concrete" more formally) is essentially soap foam with very low water content mixed into normal concrete.  So, people have DIY'd stuff to generate that type of foam and make their own aircrete.  Basically amounts to using compressed air to blow a concentrated shampoo solution thru a PVC pipe filled with stainless steel wool.
Of course, to wash a vehicle you actually want a lot of water in the foam; you don't care about bubble size, density, or consistency; and the PVC pipe plus air fittings etc are going to cost more than buying anything off the shelf.

After waging a war at one point with 15 different PVC cannons firing baked potatoes across a lake at each other, I find this thread deeply disappointing. 

So as I understand the procedure:

1. Pressure wash all of the heavy "stuff" off of the vehicle.

2. Foam the entire vehicle and let it sit for a few minutes to loosen/lift the residual "stuff" still on the vehicle.

3. Pressure wash off the foam.

4. Hand wash the vehicle using the 2-bucket method.

5. Rinse vehicle.

6. Blow dry vehicle if you are so equipped or towel dry as an alternative.

7. If your vehicle is ceramic coated, there is a detailer that is used to wipe the vehicle down. There are many of these products that can be used whether coated or not.

8. Stand back and admire the 15 minutes of work you just put into your vehicle. 

Finally had a nice weekend and decided to wash both vehicles. Seems to work, but since the Gladiator is only 4 weeks old and ceramic coated, it's probably not a good example of how it works. I followed the steps outlined above. Looks cool if that counts for anything?