That's not a bad idea at all.
Foam Canon Worth It?
- Thread starter 72MachOne99GT
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That's not a bad idea at all.
Agreed, first legitimate use for one I have heard yet to be honest. I use mine to clean up my under carriage, fender wells and engine bay after the road salt is gone. I spray everything with liquid film for the winter and its especially dirty but rust free when its time to freshen up.
You definitely have to blast the crevices to get the soap out, but with a pressure washer it's not bad. I have an electric one so no starting and stopping it. I also never have to swap water lines (and not sure why anyone would?)
With the right combo and thick foam it won't dry on you, that's my primary reason for using a foam cannon, the truck stays wet.
Foam cannons are pretty pointless for the everyday detailing enthusiast.
If you're an actual pro detailer that does multiple cars a day or a week, you can pretty much have a permanent setup you don't have to break down and put away each time you wash the car.
A foam cannon and garden hose is great, however. I use it all the time as a presoak just to loosen all of the dirt and then I use a 4-bucket method to hand wash the car.
If the foam dries, that's not a big deal. I won't harm the paint unless you leave it in for a LONG period of time. Otherwise, just rinse the car a minute or so after to add lubricity to the car before washing to help prevent swirls and scratches.
If you're an actual pro detailer that does multiple cars a day or a week, you can pretty much have a permanent setup you don't have to break down and put away each time you wash the car.
A foam cannon and garden hose is great, however. I use it all the time as a presoak just to loosen all of the dirt and then I use a 4-bucket method to hand wash the car.
If the foam dries, that's not a big deal. I won't harm the paint unless you leave it in for a LONG period of time. Otherwise, just rinse the car a minute or so after to add lubricity to the car before washing to help prevent swirls and scratches.
I see foam cannons as a fad that will fade away in a few years.
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Swapping water lines- I fill the buckets, then connect the pressure washer. I started working on a 4-up quick-disconnect manifold but something always comes up and I never quite get to finish it.
Eventually, someday, when I build a larger garage in the back, I want to have a detail bay. When I do that, I'll install a small festoon with ~60psi water, 3200psi water, and air lines. Figure that'll be my job in early retirement if things go as planned.
Ah to fill the buckets ok. I have quick disconnects on all my hoses, sprayers, and the pressure washer so connecting anything is a snap.
That would be a sweet set up!
I'm a little late to the party and will surely catch some flak for my methods, but keep in mind I drive a white car and truly consider it just a car (yes I'm talking about the Mustang). Also, I'm not introducing anything new here I don't think.
I use a cheap Harbor Freight pressure washer (can get specs later), a foam cannon I bought on Amazon during one of their fire sales (can also spec later) and some wash from Advance Auto. It gets the job done and nobody is the wiser, but who knows what real condition my paint is. I don't care though, it's white and nobody is that close to my car. LOL
Rinse the car with the pressure washer and straight water, use my bug and tar remover and agitate the bad places, rinse bad places again, foam the car down and let it sit for about three minutes to really break some of the tougher stuff loose and then actually put a mitt to the car and wash. Then rinse it off and dry it with an electric leaf blower.
I wouldn't use this method on any car with color or if you're truly anal about your paint.
I use a cheap Harbor Freight pressure washer (can get specs later), a foam cannon I bought on Amazon during one of their fire sales (can also spec later) and some wash from Advance Auto. It gets the job done and nobody is the wiser, but who knows what real condition my paint is. I don't care though, it's white and nobody is that close to my car. LOL
Rinse the car with the pressure washer and straight water, use my bug and tar remover and agitate the bad places, rinse bad places again, foam the car down and let it sit for about three minutes to really break some of the tougher stuff loose and then actually put a mitt to the car and wash. Then rinse it off and dry it with an electric leaf blower.
I wouldn't use this method on any car with color or if you're truly anal about your paint.
for a DD car don't you have a carwash nearby? Hell, I pay $15 a month and can go as much as I want plus they have free vacuums
I have a vacuum too 
I have a couple DDs and the GT500 to take care of.
I have a couple DDs and the GT500 to take care of.
A car wash only beats your car with the grit and crap the car before it had on it. They are a great way to destroy paint.
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I'm assuming he was referring to the touchless variants.
Touchless sucks. Angry-flap-wheel sucks worse.
My wife's truck was getting kinda grungy, so I told her to take it through the drive-thru touchless wash up the road since I didn't have time to do a wash before my business trip. It took off the bugs and blasted away some of the road grime but overall it's a last resort.
It really needs a mechanical method of removing grunge.
I use one of these too. No where near the amount of suds that a foam canon disperses but it's pretty good at getting the car soapy to get some lubrication goin. I still use this with the 2 bucket technique and it works just fine for me.
I love the idea of a foam canon but I just can't justify spending that money for a good foam canon setup. I'd rather spend that money on more meguiars hybrid wax and better quality towels and whatnot lol.
I didn't say touchless ones were great. I just meant they don't do the paint damage that the flap-wheel ones do. They're not like using sandpaper on your paint.
I realize they don't do near as good a job as any hand wash will do. But, if you live in a state that gets snow, or uses salt in the winter, sometimes you don't have a choice. You HAVE to go through them once in awhile just to knock the road grime off. Otherwise, you could be waiting months before you can clean it off.
Oh believe me, we're on the same page.
When I lived in CT, if I took my GT out of the storage garage for a romp on a warm-ish winter day, I'd always run it through the touchless to get the nasty salt off everything.
I joke with my wife because the last time we gave her truck a good wash, we somehow missed a tiny little "dirt triangle" on her door. The touchless left most of the truck looking decent but made the dirt triangle more pronounced. Also doesn't help that we had a bunch of bird nests in nearby trees and the mother birds were crapping on our vehicles constantly. I'd run over, spray it down and clean the crap off daily. All of the clean spots looked strangely phallic.
Those damn birds were crap factories. I'd go out there and clean off the turd streaks, then 3 hours later it'd be loaded again.
I'm really glad I spent the time waxing over sealant. None of the turdsplosions ate into the paint. Unfortunately my poor Volvo's driver-side mirror cover is trashed. Dumb Robin decided to attack its reflection and crap all over the place.
That's how I plan on self defense from now on. Any mirror I see, I'm going to ram my face into it repeatedly while crapping everywhere.
One of the first things I did when we bought our house was cut back/down any trees that hung over my driveway. Trees in my yard went away, limbs from my neighbors tree got cut all the way back to the trunk on my side.
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