Foaming - useful or not

E

efnfast

New member
Does foaming (foam lance on a pressure washer) actually help to loosen the dirt before beginning the mitt washing regime.



I'm 50/50 on it .... obviously it doesn't remove the dirt, but I have no real idea if it's actually loosening it or if I"m just wasting my time with it.
 
Having just got an Autobrite foam lance I think it does loosen dirt. What it also seems to do is “stick� the foam wash to the paint so that when you apply the mircrofiber/lambswool etc it seems to be just that much smoother – or so it seems to me anyway. :2thumbs:
 
Having foam dwell on a surface can definately help loosen the grime(especially for touchless car washes), but if you're hand washing anyways, it's benefit is not worth the effort in my opinion.
 
Poordude said:
Foam gives the chemical more contact time which gives the surfactants more time to do their thing.
Click to expand...



That is the principal/assumption that I'm working with. :lol Additionally, I consider it an extra cushion/protection against inducing washing swirls when combined with my wash. I foam not just dirty client vehicles, but my own personal vehicles as well, combined with a multi-bucket wash. Hardly a waste of time or effort as it is as quick and simple as rinsing the vehicle, minutes only added to the process.
 
I think that it makes a big difference. This of course depends upon the contaminent on the paint. For instance here at the shop if we have a car that contains alot of regular dried mud (not the red clay mud), that last thing that I want to do is sit there with the pressure washer trying to blast it off. I use a pre-mixture of 2 oz Dawn (strips the lsp and loosens the dirt, .5oz ONR (contols spots and aids in cleaning) and .5 oz Meguiar Super Soap (to produce a nice long lasting foam lather) all in a 32oz bottle (which is not the regular size when you buy the foaming attachment). I find that this mixture helps with my cleaning time, and makes claying a bit easier.
 
a foam gun/cannon does help to loosen debris, but you are going to have to hand wash as well. some think that they are a miracle item and like a leaf blower (drying), you still have to follow it up...
 
You want to use higher pressure to dislodge the larger gross filth from the vehicle. Then; Use a foamer with a good quality nuetral/buffered ph car wash chemical to remove road film.Use a wash mitt to help remove road film. rinse off & have at er.
 
Poordude - I totally agree with pressure washing the vehicle 1st (in every instance), but I've never witnessed a "neutral PH'd" cleaner that was strong enough to remove road film. It *could* loosen the dirt that's on top of the grimey film, but having it actually remove the film(which isn't too abrasive btw) is something that's pretty difficult to accomplish. From my experience, you'd have to use a very strong cleaner coupled with very hot water and a fair amount of psi.
 
A foam gun is where you use some cheap carwash concentrate as a pre-soak.



The key thing is letting the concentrated soap solution soak into the dirt, thus causing it to swell and de-adhere from the car's surface.



If you are using a touchless process, the majority of the cleaning is being done by the pre-soak. The high pressure wash/HP-soap is mostly just moving dirt that was loosened up by the pre-soak.
 
I would say 95% of the time when I wash my car weekly (via foam cannon and CWC), a mitt is not required to properly clean the surface
 
I use a Gilmour foam gun and IMO it's better then a rinse and then shampoo, it help to loosen most contaminates. I use Foam gun then Shmitt or MF mitt hand wash then Free Flow Rinse (Hose with no nozzle) or a Fan pressure washer rinse
 
For me, especially for a general wash, foaming is a novelty and a waste of time. I end up using way too much soap and spend more time trying to keep the car wet to fight water spotting than anything else.
 
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