Is foaming a car a necessity?

Something I've been wondering about for a while now. I understand the perks of a foam gun, but will having one make a substantial difference in the final product?

 

If the car is filthy, it helps to remove a lot of surface dirty and therefore minimize any wash induced marring. If the car is relatively clean, its not a necessity.

 

That's a great question, I have wondered about that too.
I have watched Paul Dalton videos and I see he uses a pressure washer to wet and rinse the car , but uses a bucket of water and soap to wash it!

Maybe in theory the soap loosens the dirt and some slids off and the less dirt , less chance for scratches?

 

Foaming also aids in stripping LSP from a vehicle if that's something you're looking to accomplish, granted you use the correct products and amounts in your foam gun or lance.

 

this is a good question.... pressure washer is on sale here and it seems like necessity for doing floor mats and getting the wheel-wells clean. A foam cannon seems like a nice addition but how much work does it really save?

I'm under the impression there is not substitute for a good hand washing regardless of foaming. is it a worthwhile investment. I suppose you can tell customers you do a touchless foam pre-wash?


should the foam be rinsed off first, then hand washed? I'd love to hear some more information on this. to be honest, I'd like somebody to convince me it's worth having.

 

Here's where I've recently thought a foam cannon would be nice: after the compounding step. It would be nice to foam and rinse the car and not have to touch it.

It would also be nice to use an APC like Optimum Power Clean to presoak the vehicle. To strip LSP, and loosen up the grime before taking a mitt/sponge to it.

I have a firm belief that a foam cannon would help in the overall care of your paint, helping to prevent swirls. The less you physically touch the paint, the better.

 

If your gonna machine polish the car after like Paul probably was going to. The marring induced from the one non foamed wash is not the end of the world he is probably correcting worse issues on the paint already.

 

It just makes detailing a lot easier. Foaming an engine bay, for example takes a lot less time than standing there spraying everything with a trigger sprayer.
Also as noted above they are awesome for after polishing. Foam on a strong mix of either soap or apc and let it strip the polishing oils and help remove the dust in the cracks.

 

its also nice to foam the entire car...get a good small detailing brush..and get in all the crevices and small spaces...around emblems..that you cant get with a wash mitt....makes it 100x easier

 

i soak my car with foam for 5 mins rise off repeat the foaming then wash the car with 2 buckets and rinse off the mitts every half panel top to bottom

 

The point of the foam gun is not to make your life easier. It is to help reduce the chances of marring your paint by removing as many of the loose contaminants on your paint as possible BEFORE you wash it with your favorite medium. Plus it's just plain cool!

 

:agree:

 

In most cases I wouldn't call it necessary. But, it helps prevent marring and honestly, it's a lot of fun.

 

does everyone here that lets foam sit for a while have something like the CR spotless?

 

Are there any alternatives to foaming a car if you don't have a power washer such as myself?

 

Foam gun, I think Detailersdomain.com sells them, and they having a sale now, so grab it while it's on sale.

 

It seems that this thread like your others is aimed toward detailing a GTR. The GTR's have a pretty bad reputation for having very soft paint. In this case I would say foaming is needed. Anything that you can do to avoid marring the finish is going to be a big bonus.

 

Heh, I wouldn't mind getting info. about the GT-R, but this question really has been on my mind for quite some time now and I found the perfect place to ask it now.

 

Also known as foam cannon, foam lance or cam spray unit; the principle behind them is to minimize the amount of paint surface friction necessary to clean the vehicle by pre-soaking it with foam. By allowing the aerated cleaning agent to dwell on the paint surface, giving the surfactants time to reduce the surface tension; so that water /foam can spread and wet the surface.

The principle behind this is to minimize the amount of paint surface friction necessary to clean the vehicle by pre-soaking it with foam. The foam starts loosening the dirt and lubricating the paint surface immediately, thus gentle touch washing with a soft mitt substantially decreases the risk of micro-marring because the paint is covered in a layer of lubrication.

Hard water, which is any water that contains high concentrations of calcium, iron, magnesium and other minerals, thwarts the cleaning ability of a chemical. This is because the cleaner reacts to the minerals in hard water as soil, which uses up the cleaning agents. To counteract this, foams used for foam canons contain chelating agents to bind the minerals, allowing cleaning agents to remove the soil unhindered. This is why some foam concentrates seem to foam better than others. The amount of foam produced has very little to do with how much concentrate you use.

 

I've not had a life changing experiecne via foaming. I had a write-up on anohter forum on my G35x demonstrating the before > during > and after's of foaming.

Yes, I know how to do it.
Yes, I had the right soap/ONR/water ratio in the cup.
Yes, the car was in a garage.

I think if you have dust on the cars surface and want to faom it off, go. (ONR works better)
But if the car is dirty, no luck in my experiences (2 years with the gun and lance)