Washing with foam gun question

S

Stuff

New member
I just got a foam gun in and cant wait to use it. I also got a Shmitt. I just want to review my procedure.



I was going to start off by soaking the whole car in foam. Then wash as I normally do starting at the top and cleaning out the shmitt in my rinse bucket after each panel. Also before doing each panel I will re-soak it with the foam gun. I have been keeping the wash mitt in my left hand through out the whole wash and rinsing down the pannel with the hose in my right hand. But im not sure what to do now becuase I will have to take part the foam gun to rinse down the pannel. Would it be ok to leave the Shmitt in the wash bucket (with girt guard) while I rinse down the pannel? Any other advise to doing this? Thanks a lot for your help!
 
I've no experience with a Shmitt so I can't help there. I tried my foam gun the way you are describing when I first got it and the results where disastrous. That is I just kept applying foam to the panels and rinsing the wash mitt but didn't use a bucket w/shampoo.



Now I use the foam more as a "pre-soak" and still use the two bucket method.



If I was able to get sick foam like this
xtreme3.jpg




I might do away with the two bucket's.



MorBid
 
Stuff - That's excatly how I use mine & it seems to do a great job for me. It has taken a bit of practice but it's like second nature now. As long as you use a good shampoo I can't see you having any problems.
 
Thanks guys. I was looking at the foam gun and the little switch thing with the holes can be turned to shut off the soap. I might try and see how good it does at washing it off. I was going to use two buckets and the foam gun to get the maxium amount of soap on the car. Going to try it out in the next day or so. Once I get good at it I might even post a video.
 
Stuff- IMO the "rinse position" won't give you what you want. I only use it for rinsing under the hood and in the trunk jamb, areas where I don't want much water. Even with my boosted pressure the rinse setting just doesn't deliver all that much water. I do much better using two hoses, one for the foamgun and one for rinsing.



My (already well-documented, won't repeat it here) foamgun technique is very different from what you're contemplating...I still do everything one panel at a time. Experiment and see what works best for you; I must've used the thing a few dozen times before I decided what works best for me.
 
I've been using this for awhile......I've developed my own little method...



Morbid: You aren't using the right product. To get foam like that, use the "DP Xtreme Foam" from Autogeek. It's the only foam I've found that will give results like that. I think I've tried every possible shampoo in my foamgun (boutique and OTC) and I've settled on DP Xtreme Foam.



Next, when washing, I do 1 panel at at time. When working on vertical panels (IE a door) I'll use a little different technique. I foam the entire car first (if it's not blazingly sunny out) and then I'll start work on each panel by foaming the panel, then start from the BOTTOM of the section, and washing UP.. I found that with this method, it keeps the foam more on the mitt and lubricated. I find starting from the top and working down, lets the foam slide down the rest of the car and by the time you finishing washing that panel there isn't much lubrication (there is lots but not by my standards).



I also have a rinse bucket and rinse after every panel.



Either way, this has worked well for me. If you want foam like above, use the DP Xtreme Foam, that's exactly the type of sudds I produce when using it.



Accumulators style works very well also! And I'll agree with Accumulator, the "Rinse Position" on most foam guns is useless. I found it still has trace amounts of soap in it as well :S I hook up 2 hoses (1 for the foamgun, another for the rinse) and still rinse traditionally.....I don't look at the foamgun as a tool to save me time washing, it's more to save me time having to re-polish washed induced marring out of my vehicle.
 
When I used a foam gun I did the following:



Presoaked the entire car and let dwell.



I then moved panel to panel lubricating the panel with the foamgun as I went. The process worked great but was very messy as I kept having soap getting back onto place I had already rinsed and always drenched myself.



I currently use the ONR wash technique but if I go back to the foamgun, I think I'll use the foamgun to prerinse and dwell only, then go to the standard two bucket method using sheepskins. If I can get away without a prerinse or after rinse with ONR and not induce marring, I dont see why I need to continue the introduction of foam in the more traditional process.



I think using the foamgun to lubricate as you go is overhyped and probably unnecessary, plus it takes forever!
 
MorBid said:
I've no experience with a Shmitt so I can't help there. I tried my foam gun the way you are describing when I first got it and the results where disastrous. That is I just kept applying foam to the panels and rinsing the wash mitt but didn't use a bucket w/shampoo.



Now I use the foam more as a "pre-soak" and still use the two bucket method.



If I was able to get sick foam like this
xtreme3.jpg




I might do away with the two bucket's.



MorBid
Click to expand...







I get mad foam with the gold class very similar to that.... My process is each panel foam it down and the mitt then go from the top to the bottom, it does take some fancy handwork but I got use to it...I foam into the direct path of the mitt also.
 
Thanks a lot guys. I think I have a better idea of what to do now. I really cant wait to try it out.
 
I'd be interested if my "foamgun quick-wash" technique would work well for anybody else. This only works OK on vehciles that aren't *too* dirty, but here goes:



It's basically using only the first step of my regular foamgun regimen- Spray on a presoak, then spray the foam through the bristles of a BHB..never rinse the BHB in a bucket. If you think the BHB is getting really dirty spray it with the hose (or even just the foamgun to save more time), but just go around the vehicle washing this way and then rinse it off. I thought of this when I noticed that my rinse buckets are often quite clean at the end of the wash, seems that the dirt gets flushed away so well that it doesn't stick to the bristles of the BHB.



I find this works best with a BHB having fairly short (and thus less easily deflected, if not actually stiffer) bristles (e.g. my Griot's ones as opposed to my AutoGeek ones).



thesacrifice said:
I think using the foamgun to lubricate as you go is overhyped and probably unnecessary, plus it takes forever!
Click to expand...



Might be unnecessary for you, but not for some of us. I sincerly wish I could use simpler/easier methods and still avoid micromarring but whenever I dial back the wash technique I start to see damage :( Hey, at least I've quit doing the "mitt balloon on the hose" stuff that I used to need :D "More power to you" to those who don't have to do it my way. Whatever works for somebody is the way they oughta do it.



I recently washed a service loaner using "conventional techniques" and I paid close attention to how long the actual "washing of the panels" took. I found that this part of the wash didn't go all that much faster than the foamgun-centric methods I employ on my own vehicles. It was much *easier* but not much faster..and man was the rinse bucket dirty at the end of the job, haven't seen that in ages. I'll readily admit that I take forever to wash a vehicle, but the foamgun stuff doesn't add much time (well, except for the vehicles that I treat extra-special, but those are weird cases).
 
I used it for the first time this afternoon. Filled the foam gun with 2oz of GC and then filled the rest with water. Then covered the whole car in foam. Wash then rinse then refoam next panel rinse My car was pretty cleaned but I think the foam helped to clean off some of the dirt before I had to wash the panel. Either way it was a lot of fun to use the bad thing is it rained tonight and the car got dirty.
 
M42B18:



I use Meg's GC in my foamer and I don't get anything like that picture. What gun are you using and what's the mix ratio?



MorBiD
 
My foam is not to that exact caliber but its close all I do is fill it with water and put a few oz. of soap in it shake it up an put it on the highest 2nd or 3rd highest setting. I'll take some pictures tomorrow with the Megs GC example I will try to do a movie also...
 
jsatek said:
Does anyone put straight soap in the foam gun cup?
Click to expand...



All the decent shampoos I've used (especially with regard to lubricity) were too thick to siphon well if used straight. Plus, that'd be one mighty strong mixture, way stronger than I'd ever want.



I mix up a gallon of mix in an old jug and fill the foamgun from that.
 
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