Figured I`d start a new thread on the topic as it has come up a few times in other thread. Please take this in the context of owning a pressure washer and using a foam canon on a paint that is maintained and protected with a good LSP.

I know there are those that swear by foaming their car at every wash, but why? I`ve had a couple of different foam canon setups, first that g-blaster and then a real canon. I use a pressure washer to knock off all the dirt I can from my cars, this is always my first step. When using the foam setup, I would foam and let it dwell. What I noticed is that to get anything to happen I had to mix in a heavy duty APC into the soap mixture. Even then there was still road film left on the car.

By rinsing the car with the pressure washer first, my wash bucket stays super clean. To the point I don`t even mess with two buckets, haven`t for ages. I do rinse my wash media after cleaning wheels/tires. If only washing one car, I even leave the wash bucket for another day.