First time foam cannon user

F

Fishroes

Member
Didn’t think I would ever need or buy one since I have a gas pressure washer to pre rinse with but got to thinking with the pollen season here now in Va. it might not be a bad idea. I still have that image in my head of a piece of pollen under a microscope that someone posted here a year or so ago so I’m easing up on the 2 bucket washes until the pollen has quit. My Tundra and the wife’s Highlander stay under a metal carport but pollen blows in there so I got a Trinova and tried it out today. I thought it worked pretty good. I played with the air adjustment and got it where the foam stuck good. Never could get it too thick though. I used approximately 3 ozs of optimum car wash with a half bottle of hot water. It took exactly that amount to do the whole truck. It’s a crew cab. Somewhere If I remember correctly someone had said 1000 psi was the best for the Trinova. My pump is 2400 psi. 2.4gpm. The pw has a throttle control. I was throttling that down also trying to find the sweet spot. Any tips or tricks from Trinova users will be greatly appreciated
Most of my washes for the next 2 months will be with the cannon. I have noticed that about 80% of the power lock has gone. That was put on in August. The spring detail will have to wait probably until sometime in July. They will be pouring the footing for my garage Thursday. Can’t wait til that’s done. Sorry for rambling on
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I’ve tried a couple of amazon specials and gave up. Bought the MTM PF22. From recommendations and research would recommend if you can, return and spend on a MTM. I here it’s worth the investment and I have never seen video of shaving cream foam from an amazon special.

Used the MATCC, Suds Magic and one generic no name a friend bought. Theirs a thread I believe on AG or maybe here that has a 20% off coupon through MTM. I went through everything you went through and just never seen a happy camper till they upgrade.

Regardless of what you do would recommend getting a foaming soap. Black fire makes one. Chemical guys melon foaming snow works well. You will probably not find a bad word about a Griots foaming surface wash. My top pick.

Tried 3-4 different foaming soaps, different ratios, different orifices and found a decent combination but still was not happy.

Good luck


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Based on what I`ve seen, the results you got are typical with Optimum Car Soap. Not all soaps will give you the crazy, shaving cream type foam. As previously mentioned, some soaps are designed to give you maximum foam, such as Chemical Guys Honeydew, Mastersons Snow Foam and Griots Surface Wash. To me, I want a soap with good cleaning power, good lubricity, and long dwell time to allow it to do it`s job. Of those I`ve tried, the Griots Surface Wash has worked out the best in those areas.

When it comes to foam cannons, there are lots and lots of people who say there`s no difference between the MTM PF22 and the less expensive ones....I disagree. I have a PF22 and an inexpensive one , and the PF22 is definitely better. If I owned a better pressure washer, I`d expect the difference to be even more noticeable.

Do not swap the orifice in your foam cannon...the smaller one is meant for low output (typically electric) power washers.
 
The orifice in the foamcannon is more depending on the gpm from the PW you have. With yours at 2.4gpm it`s perfect with the standard orifice 1.25mm. So have the PW setting on the max water pressure and flow. It`s when you come down under 1.6gpm and especially 1.2gpm that a 1.1mm orifice in the foamcannon is a benefit. If going with the 1.1mm orifice in the foamcannon you drastically gets a higher water pressure that can actually damage the PW and hoses and such.

For doing touchless washes with the PW. I would look at the dedicated prewash foams. We here in EU have a much wider offerings of these prewash foams. But you in the US is catching up. Griots Garage BOSS Foaming Surface Wash is a big step forward to this I think. You also have the 3D Super Pre-Soak and Poorboy`s World Super Slick & Foam and gtechnic w4 citrus foam and Gyeon Foam and what I have heard Turtle Wax has released theirs in the US too.

Most of these prewash foams when used often as a touchless wash as more than weekly. I would test to dilute it 1:10 in the foamcannon bottle. If you have hard water you may need a little more prewash foam product. Max chemical mix setting on the foamcannon and foam it on. Now it`s cool with shaving cream thick foam to play with. But when it comes to cleaning ability you would want something in between shaving cream thick foam and runny foam. I want the foam to cling and slowly run off during the dwell time. So coming to the around 5min I want the most foam to run off but also leave a wet surface on the parts that your LSP has not repelled it away.

Know to something I preach about much. Are you a rinse guy or a cleaning guy? You can start at the top and rinse the foam off. IMO that you can do with a hose if you like it that way. The most effective cleaning you get if you start at the bottom and work your way up. Use the width of the water pressure from the PW to clean the car with as you wipe a wash mitt with it. This is what is recommended here in Sweden at least for all of the prewash treatment you use as if you where applying a degreaser with a pump sprayer bottle and clean it off. The benefits with this is you see where you have cleaned with the water pressure from the PW. And dirty rinse water runs off better on a clean surface as with the opposit the dirt is able to cling to dirt better and you don`t get it as clean on the lower panels. When I do the touchless washes I lastly when reach the top doing a thorough rinse down again so all possible residue is rinsed off. As you would be doing when rinse off the car soap from top to bottom. Test it out at least as it`s easy to do.

The problem I have with doing touchless washes is the drying part. Either I drive the car dry LOL easiest way. Or blow dry the car with the leafblower or a car blowdryer. You could also do a waterless wash as it`s very clean and safe to be doing this. And you get a safe way if any spots are missed while touchless wash. I just saw that my PW is able to use water from a bucket as it`s able to draw from a shorter distance with the PW pump. So is going to be looking for some distilled water in bulk. If you have the option to DI water or something for the last rinse would be the ultimate touchless wash.

/ Tony
 
SWETM said:
Know to something I preach about much. Are you a rinse guy or a cleaning guy? You can start at the top and rinse the foam off. IMO that you can do with a hose if you like it that way. The most effective cleaning you get if you start at the bottom and work your way up. Use the width of the water pressure from the PW to clean the car with as you wipe a wash mitt with it. This is what is recommended here in Sweden at least for all of the prewash treatment you use as if you where applying a degreaser with a pump sprayer bottle and clean it off. The benefits with this is you see where you have cleaned with the water pressure from the PW. And dirty rinse water runs off better on a clean surface as with the opposit the dirt is able to cling to dirt better and you don`t get it as clean on the lower panels. When I do the touchless washes I lastly when reach the top doing a thorough rinse down again so all possible residue is rinsed off. As you would be doing when rinse off the car soap from top to bottom. Test it out at least as it`s easy to do.

The problem I have with doing touchless washes is the drying part. Either I drive the car dry LOL easiest way.
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That sure sounds like a lot more work than actually washing a car, old school style. I can certainly see a pre-wash foam being effective for a really dirty vehicle, all this foaming, rinsing, switching things around for a regular wash? I guess if you have super soft paint it might make sense? I wash, dry, and QD/spray wax a car in <30 minutes.
 
I’m on well water. No filter system. Leaf blower to dry. I think I will use the mitt and rinse bucket. I will also increase the amount of car soap. It’s definitely faster and the truck bed gets foamed up too
 
Fishroes said:
I’m on well water. No filter system. Leaf blower to dry. I think I will use the mitt and rinse bucket. I will also increase the amount of car soap. It’s definitely faster and the truck bed gets foamed up too
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I have a well ...very hard water...just don`t have the coin to shell out for a DI system. The hardness of your water will impact how well a soap foams too. I think you`ll like the performance of the Surface Wash with your setup.
 
Fishroes- I bet you`re really looking forward to getting the shop done!

FWIW, while pollen does indeed look scary under magnification, I`ve never found it to be a functional issue with regard to marring or anything else, it just washes (or even just rinses) off. Really...from "vehicle looks greenish-yellow it`s so covered with pollen" to "nice and clean" with no real effort compared to, say...winter cleanup. But I guess there are lots of different types of pollen and YMMV, huh? I guess my point is to watch you don`t get so potent with the washing (and wash off your LSP) if it`s not really necessary.

Dan said:
I wash, dry, and QD/spray wax a car in <30 minutes.
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Oh man, you`re killing me! I can`t even do the jambs that fast :( Just pressure-rinsing the Tahoe with the CRS took me nearly an hour by the time I blew it dry.

SWETM said:
the most effective cleaning you get if you start at the bottom and work your way up... Test it out at least as it`s easy to do.
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Not arguing, but I`ve never understood the rationale behind that and it never worked any better for me. I just work top-down...
 
Bill D said:
T.. I always do the wells-tires-wheels first.
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Same here. Those and the undercarriage are the nastiest parts of the wash, so yeah...I too want them out of the way so I don`t move that [stuff] onto other portions of the body after I`ve already cleaned them. I want the nastiest stuff *OFF* of there before I start touching the panels that show.
 
I’ll only be using the cannon during pollen season. My thinking (with my last brain cell Lol) was the suds would help with getting the pollen off. Also both Toyota’s don’t get driven in bad weather so the paint is in very good shape, kept out of the sun and rain at the house. One thing for sure it will never take the place of a 2 bucket wash
 
I just thought that making the surface slicker it would come off easier, plus I know I can get 100% coverage with the cannon vs just rinsing. I do have a lot of trees on all 4 sides of the house. Only 2 or 3 that could fall on it
 
Fishroes said:
I’ll only be using the cannon during pollen season. My thinking (with my last brain cell Lol) was the suds would help with getting the pollen off. Also both Toyota’s don’t get driven in bad weather so the paint is in very good shape, kept out of the sun and rain at the house. One thing for sure it will never take the place of a 2 bucket wash
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A little off the original subject.....but I`ve switched from the 2-bucket wash to the one bucket/multiple mitt wash. My process is foam...rinse....foam again...wash with one bucket/multiple mitts. Once both sides of a wash mitt have touched the paint, they are separated to be washed and never touch the vehicle again. As a side note...I do a lot of laundry
 
Fishroes- That makes sense, I just wouldn`t want you to knock yourself out over something that`s not a real issue.

And yeah...I hear you on the trees! We live in a woods with a lot of trees that`re up close to the house (we keep our fingers crossed and take down any that look iffy).
 
I think the truck looks soapy enough. The shaving cream foam that you can see never touches the truck anyway.
Your soap is dwelling on the surface, so you should be good to go.

Just my opinion.
 
Dan said:
That sure sounds like a lot more work than actually washing a car, old school style. I can certainly see a pre-wash foam being effective for a really dirty vehicle, all this foaming, rinsing, switching things around for a regular wash? I guess if you have super soft paint it might make sense? I wash, dry, and QD/spray wax a car in <30 minutes.
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The touchless wash with an effective PW and depending on the drying method. But say I drive it dry as it`s just a thing to get dust or pollen or a slight dirty car cleaner. This take me around 15-20 minutes and ad an extra 5min to fill the foamcannon bottle if even necessary as I have concentrate in it and just adjust the chemical mix setting on the foamcannon and to take out the PW is included in this. So not so time consuming as it sounds to be. With a touchless wash it`s also a big difference if you only rinse off the car or clean with the water pressure from the PW IME. Know it also depends on why you do the touchless washes. If only to get some pollen off an already clean car and doing it more than once a week. The need of the cleaning ability is not so important and you could use just a hose to do that. In the situation I do a touchless wash is instead of doing a full wash weekly. During summertime I can do this once a week and after the second or third touchless wash I only feel like I would need to be doing a touching wash. Even on a very dirty winter car many would be satisfied with the results from a touchless wash or prewash I useally do. There is just the slightly little dirt left that only a touching wash do get rid off. But for the naked eyes and takeing a step back the car looks clean. Then I also use different prewash foam for summer and winter as it`s not needed with the stronger one during the summer.

Even before I got the foamcannon I did some kind of prewash treatment depending on the amount of dirt and what time of the year it was. The foam is just an easy way to be getting the prewash on the car for me. I always use a PW when washing so that`s no extra time in take that out. The second thing is the longer dwell time you get when foaming on the prewash. In the beginning I used the same product I used to apply with the pump sprayer bottle as prewash foam. Just added a little car soap to make it foam a little extra. But most products will foam when it`s used in a foam gun or foamcannon. Just a little different of how much foam it does.

As for the traditional wash and why I use the prewash. I feel if I can get as much of dirt of the car before I touch it. The risk of getting something in the wash mitt is very much redused. And the wash it self and the aggitations needed is also minimized. The less you touch your car the less is the risk of marring and scratches even if you have a hard clearcoat or a soft clearcoat. If you have a LSP that is not so sensetive to chemicals you also get a longer longevity from it if touching it less. The extra time it takes for me to foam the prewash on is not more than 5 minutes. As I always use a PW when washing and does clean the the car the same before I wash it to take off any loose dirt. So in my situation and how I do when wash a car it`s not so much time consuming to do a prewash foam. I can note that I have never done a full waterless wash or rinseless wash LOL. 1 is cause this has not reached here with the products offerings you have. 2 if you trust the waterless wash or rinseless wash to incapsulate the dirt if not any prerinse is done that`s great. But I feel like the rinse as much of dirt off as possible is something that is well digged in my thoughts of safe washing. 3 The water restrictions has not been a problem. But the last 2 years it has been problem with the amount of water available here too. So for my situation I have don`t have the need to be looking at the waterless wash or rinseless wash. And during the winter months I can see a benefit with it. But without a prerinse on even a week old since last wash in the winter months here in Sweden it`s not even to think about touching the car with it. And if haveing access to running water I would just do the traditional wash I can do then.

So this is so much of personal preferences and how we prefer doing. The environment we live in is also very different and has it`s special need to be looking extra for how to do. While the next person have a whole other problem to take into account. Man would it be nice during the winter months to be living in Florida or California or where you don`t get frost in your beared LOL. So what works for me is not a necessary method to do for someone else. We have a lot of gravel roads around the bigger roads here. That takes this gravel with it in the tires and releases when coming on to the asphalt roads and spreads it there. This gets a mess with much of tiny sand particals trapped in the dirt that goes on the car. Since started to use the PW and prewash these sand or gravel is very redused in the rinse bucket. I rinse the mitt in the rinse bucket before put it away in the dirty mitt bucket LOL. So the amount of dirt in the rinse bucket you hardly ever seen any in there. Not even the rinse water in the bucket is dirty. And I wait to long before you would wash a car. As I have a physical disability that makes me not be doing full washes every week. So this method helps me a lot to do a wash or a touchless wash that is as gentle as possible on my body.
 
When conditions allow, I too drive the car for a bit to complete the drying and to knock the rust off the brake rotors.

SWETM- I too let our vehicles get pretty dirty between washes, at least by Autopian standards :o I agree 100% about how much the prewash/pressure washing, and IMO that "is there dirt in the Rinse Bucket" is indeed a good way to evaluate your wash technique.
 
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