Hi Everyone, I had a question for people who use a foam gun. It seems to be a great time savor. My question is, when you use a foam gun, do you still need to go around the car and clean and rub it manually or does the soaking take care of that such that you can spray and water it off and get on with polishing or waxing? Thanks, Amir
You need to wash the car manually by rubbing the paint. Foam gun adds lubrication and helps loosen up larger dirt and debris. It is not a spray on spray off product. If manufacturers ever create a spray on spray off car wash cleaner it'll be the biggest development in detailing to date.
2 bucket is the best safest method but if you use one bucket with grit guard and washboard and you don't see any swirls or scratches than that's what works for you. I personally do a rinseless wash more often now a days and I found it to be the fastest and gives me the best results on my jeep. If your car has salt mud or visible grit than a foam gun 2 bucket wash is probably safer. Otherwise rinseless washes consolidate several steps to finish faster without instilling swirls or scratches.
Unless you use a very strong soap (usually with some added cleaning like all purpose cleaner) or a special non=ph shampoo (like from Chem Guys), the soap really does not clean that much especially bonded crud. It may soften but does not remove, It has to be mechanically removed - with a mitt. I think a good process could be: 1. rinse extremely well 2. apply foam to an area, do not rinse 3. Do two bucket wash - foam adds lubricity 4. rinse and move to next section There is another process where you spray the foam ahead of the mitt as you wipe. This does not really involve the two bucket method but just a rinse bucket. In both cases, I would pay more attention to the actual dilution of soap to water dispensed so it is close to the recommended normal wash dilution (like 1 oz to gallon)..
