A couple ?s for Foam Cannon users

So I'll be making the jump from the Gilmour Foam Gun to a Shadybreal Foam Cannon. MotorCity has shared some of his insights on the shampoos, ratios, and additives that he uses to get his desired result, so I thought I'd ask the same of all the other Foam Cannon users here.

One thing I did when using the Gilmour was follow the stream with my washmit. However, since I believe that doing so with a PW would put more foam on me rather than inbetween the car and mit, I don't think it's a good idea.

I'd just like people to contribute whatever methods, tips, tricks, ratios, etc. that they use. I'm just trying to brainstorm so I have a plan of action when I first use this bad boy.

:thumb:

I know a lot of people like DG901 for use with the PW, do you mix other products in with your shampoo of choice as well?

Has the 2-bucket method gone the way of the dinosaur now that you use the Foam Cannon?

Has anyone been able to incorporate the ABC Valugard wash into use with a PW? Al, togwt?

 

This is how I do it:
1)wet the car throughly(with the PW).
2)connect the foam cannon and spray/foam the whole car as fast as you can,it empties quickly.
3) use one bucket with water to rinse the mitt after doing a section of the car,(I also add a small amount of soap to the rinse bucket but you don't really need to do that).
4)rinse the car using the PW to wash away the foam.
5)dry.
If the car is really dirty then I would use two buckets.the soap I use is 2 oz of DG #902,and one oz of any other soap for extra foam,fill the rest of cannon bottle with water.set the adjusting knob to 5 or 6.the whole process takes 7 to 10 minutes.
Happy detailing.:mounty:

 

7 to 10 minutes, that's it?!?!?!

wow

Have you experimented with putting straight soap in the bottle?

:applause2:

 

The mix ratio settings on foam cannons / foamers is dependent on the viscosity of the liquid in the container being water-like. I doubt it would work well as straight soap.

I'm also not sure I agree with foaming the car and then scrubbing it with a damp mitt. I'd probably wet the car, foam it and let it dwell and spray it off, then come back around with the good old fashioned two bucket method. This way the foam is given ample time to lift off as much as it can and then go back in with the tried and true regime.

 

I have not yet tried straight soap in the bottle ,it's just not economical but I now would like to know how the foam comes out:applause2:

 

Ok, straight Adam's would probably be useless it's so thick. Optimum on the other hand, maybe 1:1 soap to water. Of course, too much soap isn't good either.

It sounds as if following the stream with the mit can't be done simply because of the product running out too quickly.

Good thing I bought a gallon of Optimum and Phil mistakenly sent me a freebie gallon of Adam's (thanks again Phil!!!)

I'll be sure to let you guys know how the foam comes out. Haha, my neighbors are gonna call the looney bin for a pickup when they see me taking pics of me shooting foam all over the place.

 

I wet the car down with a slow stream of water. Then foam the car with the cannon. Rinse off the car with the PW. If there is soap left in the gun, then Ill spray the car again, then wash using two bucket method.

For cars getting the full detail, I use 1- 2 oz. of CG WnG, then the rest water. For maintenance washes I just use the regular AG foam gun.

 

that's the exact same method i use

 

I've tried straight soap. on setting 7-8 the suds comes out insanely thick

...but yes it's not economical

 

My process:

1) rinse vehicle with water only
2) pretreat heavily soiled panels with Surf City grime destroyer (in pesticide sprayer)
3) Hit wheels with foam cannon using product appropriate product for condition of wheels
4) Remove the bottle from cannon that has wheel product
5) attach bottle with 3oz's CWG and foam entire car
6) with a bucket and various brushes do wheels
7) after all four wheels are clean pressure wash entire vehicle with water
8) refoam entire vehicle with same ratio as step 5
9) two bucket wash

I have several bottles ready to attach with different products for different situations

To me using a foam cannon is not a way to make me quicker but RATHER one more step I can take to ensure I am going about my wash process using the least invasive method to ensure I do not induce marring...

 

I don't know about the rest, but my method is as follows,
I foam the car first, the foam will eat away most of the dirt
and oils from the road, and also makes it safer to rinse away the dirt
instead of it gliding off the surface with only water.

If the car has carnuba's I don't leave the Foam to soak allot as it
will harm the LSP, if it has a sealant I can leave it a little more
depending on how dirty it is.

One thing about the Mix ratio, a 10 ounce bottle for example
you should have a max of 1 and half ounce of soap in it if the car is
really dirty, if not use less.

Oh cleaning wheels first separately, and then foam canon on paint and on the clean wheels, and then the rinse and from there the 2 bucket method with wash mitt and foam gun.

 

i dont rinse the car as my first step... I use AG foam gun attachment to my house and foam the whole car before water to help lubricate and break grime just like ESIENMANN mentioned.
-> wait for 5 min. and rinse off
-> 2 bucket wash

 

what kind of pressure psi washer and foam cannon do you use?

 

karcher 1700psi electric... I started a thread with my cannon set up that you can find on here

 

This weekend is the weekend that I get to try out my new shadybreal foam cannon at home!

The trial-run at the St. Louis meet didn't really count as I didn't yet have the compact trigger. One thing that puzzled us was that we had 2oz of CWG and 2oz of DP Xtreme in the bottle topped off with water, cranked up all the way, and couldn't get shaving-cream-consistency foam. Any suggestions? :shrug:

 

repost

 

thats strange, did you shake the bottle with the soap and water in it?
hows is the water output with the setup without foam in the bottle?

By the way, any soap will foam like crazy with the canon, I use adams, I also use
DP but notice no difference.

 

it even makes a few little droplets of zaino foam

 

I figured out why I didn't get shaving-cream-consistency foam at the meet...the bottle wasn't screwed on tightly enough as the threads were misaligned.

2nd use resulted in some serious foam

 

I've seen you with a foam gun. Your neighbors probably thought it was snowing outside with that cannon.:yikes: