1st time using soap in bucket vs. Foam Gun. Kinda dissappointed...

M

mystickid

New member
Ever since the beginning , I have always used my Gilmour Foam gun to wash my car using duragloss soap and a lambswool wash mitt. It always got the car really clean and was a beautiful thing.



Anyways, I thought I'd try using the 2 bucket method without the foam gun to see if it would save me time.



Well in doing so, I put 4 OZ. in 3 gallons of water after mixing it around abit it, there weren't that many suds but the water was reddish/pink color due to the extra amount of soap.



However, when i put my hand in the water i couldn't feel it to be very viscous or soapy like. It looked and felt like kool-aid. I thought with the extra ounces of duragloss soap, that it would feel really sticky and soapy, you know..like soap.



When you guys wash with soap in bucket, do you get similar soap water?



i think that whenever i use my foam gun, the soap gets alot more soapy-like and cleans better even with less ounces of soap.



And I don't even know if suds do anything at all becuase when you feel they with your hand, they're not soapy-sticky at all. They just decorate your water to look soapy. I think its the actual soap water that cleans not the suds.



any thoughts...
 
Well, I just used DG soap for the first time this weekend, and using the 2 bucket method. I think I used 7 capfuls for about 4 gal of water. My experience was similar to yours, very little suds, although it seemed to clean the car just fine. It made the water pink enough that I could tell it was colored (I am red-green colorblind).



I didn't use all of the soap water, so I snapped a lid onto the bucket and will save it for next weekend. The 5 gal bucket is clear and marked with graduations. I wasn't sure if I mixed it properly or if my water was knocking down the suds. I don't think it is that hard of water but we have problems with algae bloom this time of year in Texas.



I would like to get a foam gun for my power washer eventually.



Scott
 
Different soaps foam at different levels. But also when you add the soap affects how much foam you get.



If you put the soap in the bucket then fill with water from a sprayer you'll get tons of foam.



If you put the water in the bucket then add the soap you'll get no foam.



What I do is fill the bucket with water, add the soap, then give it a blast from my sprayer to create the foam.
 
Mystickid,



I do not want to change the subject, but I noticed your Avatar. Nice job!! So far your the only other one on here that I have seen with this type of digimodding. I am sure there are more memebers on here that do this type of stuff. You have a high rez of that. I would like to check it out.
 
What I currently do is put a small amount of soap in the foam gun, then fill it with a pressure nozzle. It fills very quickly of course and the foam gun is basically suds. I use it to give a quick soapy spraydown of the entire car before washing. This puts a nice layer of suds on the car.



Then I use the two bucket method to wash the car and course, as Mikeyc say, use the pressure nozzle to produce lots of suds and top the soap bucket off during the wash.



Not having to constantly spray with the foam gun and change to rinse during the wash saves a lot of time even when using quick disconnects.
 
Ditto what MikeyC said. I don't use a foam gun, but I fill up about 3/4 of the bucket with water, then put in the soap, and then hit it with the hose for a few seconds. It creates a lot of nice sudsy water which is very slick.
 
I find the foamgun's output to simply be *different* from regular shampoo solution no matter how sudsy I make the latter. I use a shampoo (Griot's) that I like for both methods, but the aerated effect from the foamgun is just a completely different thing.



As I understand it, the suds don't just look neat, they also help encapsulate dirt, suspend it away from your finish, and help migrate it away safely. David B posted a good explanation of this a while back.
 
Before I got my foam gun I was devoted to the 2 bucket method, the best way I found to get a good lather and high lubricity was to place my sheep skin mit in the bucket directly on top of the grit gaurd, add my preferred amount of soap, and then blast the mit with the hose. After a second or 2 I'd reach in, still spraying with the hose and squish the mit a bit with my hand to get the soap to loosen up, flip the mit over and keep spraying. I'd repeat this until I had a good soap mixture in the bucket.



The mit kind of helps foam the soap up a bit... obviously its never going to get a lather like my foam gun does, but its the best way I've found to get a good mixture using the 2 bucket method.
 
I add 1.5 gallons of water, then add my shampoo mix (Griots or DG), then fill the rest with a strong stream of water out of the nozzle. Perhaps I'm misinterpreting, but it sounds like you just added some shampoo to water... you've got to add water at a high flow to get any suds... that's the way with any shampoo will work.
 
I don't know about Mystickid, but I am agitating the Duragloss quite a bit in the bucket. The suds just seemed to die out very quickly compared to other soaps I've used.



My question (and I think this was the OP's real question) does the DG (as a specific soap formulation) just not hold much lather when used without a foam gun?





Scott
 
Maybe your DG soap is older and lost its effectiveness and punch? Where did you buy it from? Some CarQuests have been reported to have older stock that really needs removing/replacing due to sluggish sales. I have never had a lack of suds with DG soap. Actually, it's usually the other way around, in that there are more suds coming out of the bucket and too little water. The suds last through the whole car wash, although some agitation is required near the end, as you use a lot of the soap up with less left to produce suds near the end of the wash. I add the CWC to my wash bucket first thing and then add the water using a forceful spray and it produces tons of nice slick suds. I have found it produces about the same amount of sudsing that my old favorite Z7 does.
 
I just bought my 901 a couple months ago, and it suds great, and keeps going. The Megs soaps I used to use would fizzle out after a couple hits with the hose. But the DG will still foam up good when I hit it with the hose (to add water when it gets low). Heck, it foams so well that after rinsing my schmitt or mitt in the rinse water a few times, the rinse water has just as much foam as the soap bucket.
 
I just bought 901, too (direct from DG). It suds very well. I get good wash performance putting a 3 inch or so diameter drop of 901 at the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket and filling it 2/3 - 3/4 of the way with water.
 
I have a gallon of DG soap. It's good stuff. One of the better soaps.



I prefer the bucket method to foam gun but I think both work well.
 
Stonecipher said:
I don't know about Mystickid, but I am agitating the Duragloss quite a bit in the bucket. The suds just seemed to die out very quickly compared to other soaps I've used.



My question (and I think this was the OP's real question) does the DG (as a specific soap formulation) just not hold much lather when used without a foam gun?





Scott
Click to expand...



I think your problem is your dilution. On the bottle, it states 3 caps (1 oz) per gallon of water. You're using 7 caps for 4 gallons, which means you're 5 caps short. I recommend buying a proper measuring device (spoon, shot glass, cup, etc.) because measuring with caps isn't all that accurate sometimes.



For my car, I can get by with 1-1.5 gal of water, and on bigger cars or SUVs, I'll make 2-2.5 gal of water. I don't see the point of making a bunch of solution and later pouring it out. I fill mine up to almost the amount of water I want. Then I pour in the soap, and agitate it with my shot glass or whatever I'm using for a measuring device so I can get the soap off of it while creating suds. Then, I take my hose sprayer and on sharp stream, I hit it real quick to create the suds.



The problem with pouring the soap in and then hitting it with water pressure is that it foams up like crazy and you really can't tell how much solution you made until the water settles down, assuming you have a transparent bucket so you can see where the water line is.
 
BlackElantraGT said:
I think your problem is your dilution. On the bottle, it states 3 caps (1 oz) per gallon of water. You're using 7 caps for 4 gallons, which means you're 5 caps short. I recommend buying a proper measuring device (spoon, shot glass, cup, etc.) because measuring with caps isn't all that accurate sometimes.



For my car, I can get by with 1-1.5 gal of water, and on bigger cars or SUVs, I'll make 2-2.5 gal of water. I don't see the point of making a bunch of solution and later pouring it out. I fill mine up to almost the amount of water I want. Then I pour in the soap, and agitate it with my shot glass or whatever I'm using for a measuring device so I can get the soap off of it while creating suds. Then, I take my hose sprayer and on sharp stream, I hit it real quick to create the suds.



The problem with pouring the soap in and then hitting it with water pressure is that it foams up like crazy and you really can't tell how much solution you made until the water settles down, assuming you have a transparent bucket so you can see where the water line is.
Click to expand...



Yeah, I saved my solution in the bucket with a snap on lid for next time. I will try it with a more accurate measuring method. My buckets are clear ones. Otherwise I create my suds as you outlined above, measuring out the water, applying soap, immerse my hose sprayer under the water surface to mix well, then pull out and hit with a sharp stream.



This is the first year we've had any rain in north Texas, and the lakes are finally full again. We have issues with algae in the water, and I didn't know if the soap could be weakening by trying to 'absorb' or negate the algae in the water. I'm probably just short on the solution mixture.



I bought the DG at Carquest, and it wasn't like the bottles were dusty or anything. I wouldn't think soap would age badly.
 
I use a white bucket so I can see the level of the water.



I add around 2gallons of water then add the soap. Fill it on up to 4gallons and I always have tons of suds.



I use Megs NXT and GC which is probably why I never have any troubles with suds.
 
Stonecipher said:
Yeah, I saved my solution in the bucket with a snap on lid for next time. I will try it with a more accurate measuring method. My buckets are clear ones. Otherwise I create my suds as you outlined above, measuring out the water, applying soap, immerse my hose sprayer under the water surface to mix well, then pull out and hit with a sharp stream.



This is the first year we've had any rain in north Texas, and the lakes are finally full again. We have issues with algae in the water, and I didn't know if the soap could be weakening by trying to 'absorb' or negate the algae in the water. I'm probably just short on the solution mixture.



I bought the DG at Carquest, and it wasn't like the bottles were dusty or anything. I wouldn't think soap would age badly.
Click to expand...



It could be a combination of both the water and the weaker dilution. Out of all the soaps I have and use at the moment, DG's 901 not only suds the most, but the suds last the longest. FWIW, I'm not even a suds kind of guy. I much prefer the lubricity of the product during the wash, and this is where I find 901 to excel in. The long-lasting suds is all a bonus for me.



I've yet to experience any car wash soap where the wash bucket felt slippery like hand soap. You have to remember, most of that bucket is water. A probable reason why it feels much slippery out of your foam gun could be because of the extra foam/suds created and/or it's a much stronger dilution than the 128:1 dilution that's in your bucket.
 
I use the Adams car soap. I put my Megs Gold Class mitt in the bottom, pour about 1oz of the car wash on it mitt, and then fill with my hoze nozzle on full blast.



I aim for about 3.5 to 4 gallons in the bucket (with grit guard).



I have so many suds, it's not even funny. I usually have to submerge the nozzle then to get sufficient water.



FWIW. :)
 
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