Which do you have? Foam Gun , Foam Cannon, or both

Which do you own ... Foam Gun, Foam Cannon, or both

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    51
  • Poll closed .
Two thoughts:

-the pressure washer (without any foamer attachment, just plain water) does make it quicker and easier to get the "big stuff" off as a first step
-you folks who are able to keep vehicles marring-free indefinitely withOUT using a foamgun make me envious :D
 
Both

I started with the foam gun and ended up wasting a lot of soap trying to get clingy foam (1gal of soap in a few months). Haven`t touched it since I got the foam Cannon about a year ago.

I stepped up to the foam cannon and love it but I also feel it`s still a waste of soap/time (although I only put 1oz in it). Now, I mostly use it when doing a decontamination wash as it allows the Iron-X to work longer benth the foam. It also looks cool so I pull it out if the kids or friends are helping out.

I find I get the same results (clean mar-free-paint) during a weekly wash with or without the pressure washer and foam cannon, and it takes less time not to pull it out from the basement.

I`ve actually been debating if I`m going to use the pressure washer and foam cannon or not for my weekly maintenance wash today after work (might just do a URW or two bucket), also on the fence about which LSP to apply until I get around to coating as Fuzion lasted about one day (loved it but it`s about as durable as a paper bag in a rainstorm). Enthusiasts issues, lol...
 
4u2nvinmtl said:
..I find I get the same results (clean mar-free-paint) during a weekly wash with or without the pressure washer and foam cannon, and it takes less time not to pull it out from the basement....
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Weekly maintenance wash?!? Let alone a vehicle like your SRT!?!

Heh heh, guess that`d be a deciding factor. My days of washing that often are long behind me (yeah yeah.. at one time I washed *every* time I used certain cars, but not these days..).
 
JustJesus said:
My mouth dropped. My eyes almost popped out of their sockets. Are you serious? Only a day?!?!?
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Yeah... I wanted to write a glowing review the day I applied because I was in AWE (the paint looked that good) but the next day when I came out (had been raining all night and I had been racing the day before) the horizontal panels didn`t look so good (the wax looked like it was on the 5th month of my winter durability test). The vertical panels were beading ok but once they air dried the car looked really dirty and I hadn`t even driven one foot in the rain...

Writing negative reviews isn`t my thing, but thread highjacking isn`t much better. I`ll start a thread with pictures and impressions when I get some downtime at work tomorrow.
 
4u2nvinmtl said:
...

Writing negative reviews isn`t my thing, but thread highjacking isn`t much better. I`ll start a thread with pictures and impressions when I get some downtime at work tomorrow.
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Thanks for the info. I`m a bit surprised.

That last part actually made me laugh a bit. MY BAD. Sorry Poorboy! I accept responsibility. I`ll go one day without sniffing BH or LNR.

P.S. I`d rather not do a negative review either, but our user experiences need to be shared, good or bad. I feel it`s important to keep it real. And Poorboy`s has the best smelling products!
 
Merlin said:
What pressure washer/cannon do you have?
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The new one I`m referring to is 1.4 (or 1.5 depending on which piece of literature you read) GPM and 2000 PSI the cannon has the Karcher adaptor. Used it again today, worked great. Being new to electric washers, the thing I`m finding myself liking about this one is the fact that the it`s quiet unless you`re spraying. I hadn`t thought about that until I tried one. ;)
 
rlmccarty2000 said:
I`m surprised to hear that folks don`t get enough foam from their foam gun. I get great mounds of foam with mine. Is it possible you have hard water? That would be a possible cause for low foaming. The only soap I have used that has low foaming is Reset. No problem with anything else.
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That`s interesting. I`ve used Reset in a foam gun four or five times now and it`s foamed really well for me. I`ve used 1.5 ounces of Reset in a half-gallon Foamaster with hot water.

I definitely prefer foam from the cannon, as it`s thicker, but I`m beginning to use the gun more often now because that doesn`t require setting up and taking down the pressure washer.

A cannon or gun is very useful for regular washes. Mike Phillips posted that his most frequently used wash technique is to use a boar`s hair brush on a pole with a single bucket. The single bucket is his rinse bucket (or "bucket zero," as he called it, because a fellow member was referring to the zero-bucket technique). To apply soap he uses the foam gun. That`s what I`ve been doing, except I`m still using two buckets to get as much soap as I can on the paint. Y`all`ve got me scared of my Montana Boar`s Hair brush, but I love that thing. It`s four years old and going strong. The mechanical efficiency of it is undeniable.

I`ve used cannons enough to be able to declare with confidence that the single biggest player in creating good foam (assuming you have a high-foaming shampoo, hot water, and at least 1000 psi/1 gpm) is the filter inside the injector. There`s a noticeable difference in the quality of foam after just 20 uses (washes). Replace the filter and you`re back to the day you used it for the first time. (I don`t have hard water, either. It`s a mere 34 ppm). Fortunately, the Geek has the filters you need. They cost about US$15 for 3.

P.S. Loading down a vehicle with lots of Honeydew Snow Foam has never removed much dirt for me, leading me to change my expectations. Foaming a vehicle is likely to make the dirt more amenable to being rinsed off with just water prior to your putting wash media on it. My LSP-stripping wash solution is about 4–5 ounces of Honeydew or Maxi Suds with 4–5 ounces of undiluted Optimum Power Clean. The remainder of the 1L bottle is filled with half hot water from the sink and half from a near-boiling pot. And that`s the best foam I ever see.
 
Is everyone foaming before or after your initial rinse? This could affect my product expectations in a big way because I`ve never expected a maintenance shampoo to *shift dirt* without agitation. Hence I only foam after the initial rinse for added lubrication.

A pre rinse shampoo would need some bite imo.
 
DetailZeus said:
Is everyone foaming before or after your initial rinse? This could affect my product expectations in a big way because I`ve never expected a maintenance shampoo to *shift dirt* without agitation. Hence I only foam after the initial rinse for added lubrication.

A pre rinse shampoo would need some bite imo.
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You might want to try CG CWG
 
Jaddie said:
... Y`all`ve got me scared of my Montana Boar`s Hair brush, but I love that thing. It`s four years old and going strong. .
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Scared off the Montana? Eh, I`m still all about that (and the "blonde" ones also made by Universal Brush). Try combining the BHB with the foamgun (spray output at point of BHB-to-paint contact), works great and I don`t have to polish any more.

One thing though, I find that, *used properly*, the BHB is just too gentle, doesn`t always remove "road film". I have to use the foamgun with a mitt or *maybe* do a Garry Dean wash, to get things 100% clean unless the vehicle was only lightly soiled.

Oh, and heh heh...I like the way your post reflects your Southern accent (my wife and her family are from TN).

Mike Phillips posted that his most frequently used wash technique is to use a boar`s hair brush on a pole with a single bucket. The single bucket is his rinse bucket (or "bucket zero," as he called it, because a fellow member was referring to the zero-bucket technique). To apply soap he uses the foam gun.
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This is one of those areas where Mike`s experiences and mine differ. When I do it that way I eventually get light marring. But then Mike has teased me (good-naturedly, he and I get along fine) before about being kinda extreme about the whole marring issue, even by his/Autopian standards, once saying "nobody`s following you around with a SunGun looking for micromarring on your car", to which I replied "well, *I* am, and mine`s the only opinion that matters".
 
DetailZeus said:
Is everyone foaming before or after your initial rinse? This could affect my product expectations in a big way because I`ve never expected a maintenance shampoo to *shift dirt* without agitation. Hence I only foam after the initial rinse for added lubrication.

A pre rinse shampoo would need some bite imo.
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I foam down the vehicle dry, let dwell then pressure rinse, foam again, while it dwells I remove the canister and insert the siphon tube in my rinse water then flush the foam head for roughly 20 seconds, proceed to 2 bucket wash, flood rinse, and then dry.

I flustered system to prevent soap build up. I learned that after clogging the screen, a CLR bath took care of it though.

Sent from my D6708 using Tapatalk
 
own both but i rather use foam gun.. less stuff to clear up afterwards

DetailZeus said:
Is everyone foaming before or after your initial rinse? This could affect my product expectations in a big way because I`ve never expected a maintenance shampoo to *shift dirt* without agitation. Hence I only foam after the initial rinse for added lubrication.

A pre rinse shampoo would need some bite imo.
Click to expand...

i did just started pre foaming and let it soak for a minute then rinse off and use 2 bucket method.. and for the front of the car i would soak and rinse it a few times as i wash around the car just to soften things up before i get there since i start at the passenger fender and make my way around
 
DetailZeus said:
Is everyone foaming before or after your initial rinse? This could affect my product expectations in a big way because I`ve never expected a maintenance shampoo to *shift dirt* without agitation. Hence I only foam after the initial rinse for added lubrication.
Click to expand...

I too seem to need mechanical agitation, BUT I pre-rinse with the hose and then again with the Pressure Washer and that gets a lot of the dirt off.

Then I do a quickie pre-soak with the foamgun, primarily to get plenty of shampoo mix on the paint for the exact reason you stated- lubrication. My objective with that is *NOT* to do much pre-cleaning so I don`t do a "heavy foam & soak".

You said your foamgun isn`t working- I`ve had to retire two of mine over the years, but most of the time disassembling it and doing the following has worked fine:

-remove the screen at the bottom of the pickup tube. I used to just clean it but have decided it`s not necessary
-pull off the foamer (black tube that the output flows from) and ensure it`s clear
-ensure that the pickup tube is clear
-ensure that the "air hole" is clear
-ensure that the orifices of the mixing bar are clear

A rather small pick is good for cleaning those orifices, but you gotta be a little careful as the brass is softer than the pick I use.

Guess the above maintenance tips would need a little alteration for the foamguns that are all-plastic...
 
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