S2KI - S2000 Forums -> Foam Guns...

Pages: (4) [1] 2 3 ... Last » ( Go to first unread post )

Foam Guns..., who uses one? should i get one?

Track this topic | Email this topic | Print this topic

dmw16	Posted: Mar 27 2007, 03:32 AM · · ·
Guest S2KI User #: 57952 S2KI Age: 3 yrs 285 days PPD Average: 1.6 Owner 2001 Berlina Black/Red	Do foam guns work any better than a good wash mit and the 2 bucket method? I have seen other detailing forums mention them, but I was wondering if anyone here can comment on their effectiveness? Thanks. -------------------- "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -Benjamin Franklin

00CivicSi	Posted: Mar 27 2007, 04:57 AM · · ·
Guest S2KI User #: 28592 S2KI Age: 6 yrs 169 days PPD Average: 3.9 Owner 2005 New Formula Red/Black Columbia, SC	From what I've read, the foam gun enables one to get more suds on the paint. The suds will do a better job of lifting dirt off of the paint before the wash mitt is used, thus reducing the opportunity for additional micro-marring. Having said that, I haven't used one personally, so I too am interested for any first-hand experience anyone here may have. --------------------

Ubetit	Posted: Mar 27 2007, 06:17 AM · · ·
Moderator S2KI User #: 10784 S2KI Age: 7 yrs 228 days PPD Average: 3.6 Owner 2008 Custom Color/Custom Columbus	I still use a bucket to wash the mitt off but I almost entriely use my foam gun anymore. -------------------- "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." - George Orwell or not Show some love, Join S2ki I.A.A Wash and Wax Wizard

thetz99	Posted: Mar 27 2007, 11:08 AM · · ·
Member S2KI User #: 38728 S2KI Age: 5 yrs 168 days PPD Average: 1.2 Owner 2001 New Formula Red/Black Davis, CA	I LOVE my foam gun. The 1 oz of detergent you normally put in a bucket is CONCENTRATED all on your car and not left sitting in a 1/2 full bucket. I still use two buckets of rinse to keep the mitt as silt free as possible. You drench your mitt and car in suds then use the rinse buckets as you normally would. I find it is makes the wash process faster because you are not going back to the bucket to reload your mitt, just rinsing. -------------------- Scary Paint Chip Repair Pics PC Headlight Scratch/Hazing Removal Pics Quietcoat/dynomat under the carpets =>dronekiller Successful strategy to get a new softtop Bilstein PSS9 w/Swift 12K springs, Comptech billet rear tiebar, billet oil cap, titanium STB, Comptech front Co-Axial Adj sway(set @278%) & rear 1.25"sway Bar, red ano'd billet midbrace bar, 8 lb Flywhl, ACT 383lb PP, 4.56/kazz/comptech diff Invidia titanium blue tips/droneproofed, T1R 70mm testpipe, Rick's JetHot coated 4-2-1 header, Krank vents, Type 34 battery, NRG hood dampers, Coastal Metal lip protector, deadpedal, keyhole plugs, badgeless front/sides, billet fuelrail cover, Erick Racing 70mm TB, AP2 exhaust cam swap, Visteon AlumRad Ricks front carpets, leather center console & visor cover, JDM driver convex mirror, steering wheel badge, 7/8 windscreen, billet x-brace, burnt Voodoo engraved magnum shift knob, Axial Engineering ShortShifter, Omni Quicklutch, Red billet pullies Modifry DCI, Redline shift beeper, glove box organizer, convertible top strap fix, Gentex Autodim/temp/compass mirror, clr sidemarkers, Strongard clear bra, Okole seatcovers, Auco headliner, Valentine1.8, (street)SSR GT-3 18 Bridgestone S03 225/40F 255/35R (track)Toyo RA1 225/50/16F 255/50/16R Alpine 9815 HU, KCA-121B AUX, Alpine M200 to RSX sparetire sub & Aura bass shakers builtin to bottom&back of seats, s-pods w/ Focal 5ws & TN51 tweeters, Focal TN51 tweeters in doorlock hangers, JL Audio 6W doors, 1/4 inch airtube on strikers fix, ragtop up/down speed sensor fix, throttle cable tighten fix, airbox resonator fix, throttle body coolant ballbearing plug fix

BerlinaBlackS2kguy	Posted: Mar 27 2007, 01:01 PM · · ·
Guest S2KI User #: 38754 S2KI Age: 5 yrs 167 days PPD Average: 0.7 Owner 2004 Berlina Black/Black NoVa	i've been thinking of getting one too, anything that helps me keep my berlina clean is always a plus. what i don't understand is ... how come they cost so much?? it's not like there are any special electronics in this device (or is there? ). -------------------- aka DARK ZEN

ir13	Posted: Mar 27 2007, 01:17 PM · · ·
Guest S2KI User #: 67506 S2KI Age: 2 yrs 350 days PPD Average: 0.2 Owner 2003 Silverstone/Black Newberry, South Carolina	The benefit of using a foam gun when washing your car is that the foam lubricates the wash mitt and the paint surface causing less swirls and scratches if used properly

thetz99	Posted: Mar 27 2007, 01:25 PM · · ·
Member S2KI User #: 38728 S2KI Age: 5 yrs 168 days PPD Average: 1.2 Owner 2001 New Formula Red/Black Davis, CA	It is a very high quality machined brass tool. All the elements from the 5 position aerator rod to the swivel canister are well thought out and engineered. It's just not a converted fertilizer sprayer.

s98d7fs	Posted: Mar 27 2007, 01:48 PM · · ·
Guest S2KI User #: 53226 S2KI Age: 4 yrs 63 days PPD Average: 0.4 Owner 2003 Berlina Black/Black Raleigh, NC	Love my foam gun as well. I primarily will use the foam gun for a pre-wash soak. I'll just use some Meguiar's Gold Class shampoo and spray it all over the car until the solution in the foam gun is gone. I then connect the regular hose spray nozzle and rinse it all off. After that, I use the classic 2 bucket method without the foam gun. Very few if any swirls induced even after not washing for 2-3 weeks. -------------------- 2 0 0 3 _ B e r l i n a _ B l a c k Suspension: tc design's BSK w/ UK alignment, stoptech stainless steel brake hoses Wheels: 17" volk ce28n wheels in mercury silver, bridgestone re-01rs, kics project r26 lugs Driving: lowered driver's seat, axialflow short shifter, spoon Ti knob, spa designs oil temp/press gauge Stereo: alpine CDA-9886, MRV-F340 amp, infinity kappa 6.5" components, knukonceptz wiring Style: hardtop, front lip, llumar 35% tint, keyhole caps, g2 silver painted calipers, stubby antenna Rick's: smoked side markers, grey floormats, black leather visor covers, grey leather shift boot Modifry's: glove box organizer, redline beeper, convertible top fix, IR DCI, ECT, SBL Fluids: amsoil AMO 10w40, honda MTF, LE-1605, ate TYP200, FP3000

Voodoo_S2K	Posted: Mar 28 2007, 12:12 AM · · ·
Gold Member S2KI User #: 4277 S2KI Age: 8 yrs 182 days PPD Average: 4.3 Owner 2002 Spa/Indy Yellow/Black Bay Area, California	Love my foam gun. --------------------

Ubetit	Posted: Mar 28 2007, 07:01 AM · · ·
Moderator S2KI User #: 10784 S2KI Age: 7 yrs 228 days PPD Average: 3.6 Owner 2008 Custom Color/Custom Columbus	It goes through soap in a hurry though.

s98d7fs	Posted: Mar 29 2007, 09:16 AM · · ·
Guest S2KI User #: 53226 S2KI Age: 4 yrs 63 days PPD Average: 0.4 Owner 2003 Berlina Black/Black Raleigh, NC	The Target in my area carries 1 gallon jugs of Meguiar's Gold Class shampoo for 10 bucks... Bargain shopping FTW!

wanabe	Posted: Sep 26 2007, 04:43 PM · · ·
Moderator S2KI User #: 162 S2KI Age: 9 yrs 121 days PPD Average: 4.1 Owner 2000 Berlina Black/Black manhattan beach, calif	reviving this thread... which foamer do you guys use? with detailers domain selling the foamaster for $51 less our discount, thats about $43- hard to resist!! http://www.detailersdomain.com/index.asp?P...WPROD&ProdID=99 -------------------- chief wacko, wash n wax forum me: wanabe in my S2K! my car: darkvader '00 black/black #8382 S2KCA Member!

RFGrouse	Posted: Sep 26 2007, 04:45 PM · · ·
Guest S2KI User #: 75864 S2KI Age: 2 yrs 137 days PPD Average: 0.1 Enthusiast	Megs gold, cg super suds, adams, but with the foam canon i prefer 1z glanz.

shutterlife	Posted: Sep 26 2007, 06:47 PM · · ·
Guest S2KI User #: 65033 S2KI Age: 3 yrs 70 days PPD Average: 0.4 Owner 2007 GrandPrix White/Black-Red	I've also been intrested in this considering some of the posts up. however, i believe you need a high pressure washer to get the most suds. this true? -------------------- http://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?act=m...mage&img=655267

RFGrouse

Posted: Sep 26 2007, 07:05 PM

· · ·

Guest

S2KI User #: 75864
S2KI Age: 2 yrs 137 days
PPD Average: 0.1
Enthusiast

US -

QUOTE (shutterlife @ Sep 26 2007, 06:47 PM)

I've also been intrested in this considering some of the posts up. however, i believe you need a high pressure washer to get the most suds. this true?

Yes, but a foam gun is better than none IMHO. a tutorial with a foam gun.

Here you go, i wrote this tutorial last year for the local lotus club, and the ONR tutorial for the local bmw cca chapter, Phil has given me permission to post his wheel tutorial

QUOTE

Here are a few tutorials. The wash one is a tutorial i did for my local bmw cca club. The wheel and wheel well tutorial is from one of my vendors Phil Yiu of Detailers domain. He published these two as i had just finished taking pics for my wheel and wheel well tutorials. Phil has given me permission to pass these along.

QUOTE

It is all about the wash.

How you wash a car determines how it looks. Most know that auto carwashes induce marring, swirling and promote a large amount of defects. Hand washing can also induce those shame issues. Using good procedures and policies when washing will go a long way to ensuring that your paint finish, trim, glass, wheels and tires will look the best they can for as long as they can. Before I go much further I want to stipulate that if you put 10 guys in a room and ask how to wash a car you will get 10 different ways to wash a car.

So what then is the correct way? Well there are many depending on what your situation is. I am going to cover how I do a basic wash in a driveway. I�ll include steps, pictures, and as best I can an intelligent concise post.

Materials:
user posted image

6 plain yellow costco microfiber
1-2 Buckets
1 sheepskin wash mitt
1 foam gun
2-4 oz of car wash soap
1 waffle weave drying towel.
1 spritzer of detail spray
1 detail buffing Microfiber towel
1 hose and nozzles

A little bit about these materials.
Yellow costco microfibers are a great cheap alternative to the more expensive micro�s. I do not like to use them on paint. That being said they work excellent on wheels, door jambs, trunk lids, tires, wheel wells and engine bays.
Buckets are pretty self explanatory. One bucket for rinse water, one bucket for soapy water. By keeping those two separate you will keep as much of the paint damaging dirt out of your wash solution as possible. I prefer my rinse bucket to have a Grit Guard. This helps settle the dirt you clean off your car into the bottom of the bucket without cross contaminating your soapy water bucket.
Sheep skin mitts are very soft and supple. I prefer them over manmade sponges and mitts because they wick the dirt into the fiber, but easily rinse the dirt free when drenched in a rinse bucket. Manmade mitts, sponges, micro fiber, cotton terry, chenille do not generally rinse free. This gives them a higher likely hood of inducing marring on your paint.
Foam Guns are a way to eliminate the soapy water bucket. They hold your car wash solution in the gun and aerate the spray as you soap down the car and mitt. The foam gun gives you an unparalleled amount of paint protecting foam for washing. Washing with a foam is not really faster, but it is less likely to induce marring when done well.
Car wash soap, what an endless discussion this could be. Suffice it to say that some soap will over time remove more of your sealant or wax layer than others. Most soaps have some foaming action and some detergent. Try a few out. I uses megs gold class, sonus, optimum no rise, poor boys super suds and a few others.
Waffle weave drying towels are shaped like a waffle. This allows them to scoop up excess moisture and pull it off the vehicle with little or no streaking. It is also much softer than a terry towel and less likely to induce marring.
Detail spray is about as controversial of a topic as car soap. After you wash you may notice that some of the slickness to the finish or wax is gone. A detail spray after you wash goes a long way to restoring that slickness and giving a shine to any luster and gloss that may have been lost.
Buffing microfibers are very dense thick micro�s that help give a luster and shine without inducing marring. Because they are thicker you can usually use one per detail spray versus 2-3 costco micro�s.
Hoses and fittings. I like a quick release setup, one that includes attachments to the foam gun, soap bottle, and stream nozzle.

1) Fill up your rinse bucket and put in 4 of your 6 yellow mf towels.
user posted image

2) Spray rinse off your wheels, tires, and wheel wells. The more dirt, grime, brake dust you rinse off the less you have to clean. Take a min or two to remove as much as you can.
user posted image

3) Foam down the wheels, tires, and wheel wells. Turn up the lather as much as you like. Give this a second to start to suspend the dirt and grime from those areas.
user posted image

4) Spray down your first MF towel. Use one towel per wheel/wheel well. Start from the outside edge of the wheel (where a wheel gets curbed). From the out sided edge clean the lip or flat fascia. From the fascia clean the out side edges or flanges. Work your way in to the dirtiest parts. The idea is to clean the lip and fascia first. If you clean the lip and fascia last you risk damaging them with all of the built up brake dust and grime that is in your mf towel. Then scrub the tire very well, not just simply a rub the tire but fold the rag and give it a scrub. I rarely use a brush as many wheels have very soft chrome, aluminum, polished, anodized lips that are very easy to damage with even the softest brush.
user posted image

This is the result of me cleaning two of my wheels, tires, wheel wells.
user posted image

6) Foam gun the roof, windows and mitt. I had to spray the mitt on the car for the photo, normally I spray both sides of the mitt.
user posted image

7) Wash the roof in straight lines. No circular motions. Once you have washed the section of the roof flip the mitt over and wash it 90* straight lines. I do not actually put my hand in the mitt. I feel that when your hand is in the mitt you are prone to scrubbing the paint with way more pressure than is needed. This leads to quite a bit of marring. I generally hold the mitt like I would a basket ball. By using just your finger tips you have just enough pressure to wash the car without scratching it. Once you have washed the roof, wash all of the exterior windows and door/window trim. Be sure to dip the mitt in the rinse bucket and massage any dirt or grime out. An example of washing it by straight lines.
user posted image

8) Re foam the car and mitt. Continue to wash the car never going below the 50% or lower door trim. Basically that is the dirtiest parts of the car. Wash the upper third or half first. Remember to flip the mitt and was at 90 degree straight lines. That insures you remove even the smallest amount of dirt, yes it is washing the section twice. Once you have finished the upper half to third, start on the lowers, bumper, grills, of the car. After each section rinse the mitt thoroughly to ensure no dirt or grime contamination. Re foam and continue with the same 2 step wash as the rest of the car.
user posted image

9) Once the car is washed spray the entire car off with the nozzle. I like to rinse it off this way first as it allows me to see if any soap has dried or I need to hit a section again. You can see in the following pictures the remaining water and moisture. Notice how well it beads. IT looks great like this but it is a pain to dry. You end up spending as much time ringing out the towels as you did washing the car.
user posted image

10) Remove the nozzle off the hose, turn down the hose pressure and slowly chase the water off the car. This is called sheet rinsing. It causes the water to pull its self off the car by surface tension. Leaving the vehicle most of the way dry with very little to actually dry. Here is the car after sheet rinsing.
user posted image

11) Lay out your waffle weave microfiber towel. Slowly drag the towel across the painted surfaces first. This will allow it time to soak up the extra water still on the paint. Continue till the paint is dry, and then finish the windows.
user posted image

12) As I said above after a wash sometimes the slickness, luster and gloss are slightly diminished. This is the time to apply detail spray. Fold you super plush microfiber into eighth�s and then apply 3-4 good sprays of detail spray to the towel. The reason you apply it to the towel is you will use less product, have less streaking and have to work the product less. After application work the product over a panel and then flip the MF to a dry side and buff it clear of any streaking. Continue working like this till the car is done. You may find you need to unfold and refold the towel to a section of it that is not soaked in detail spray.
user posted image

Finished car.
user posted image

wanabe	Posted: Sep 26 2007, 07:23 PM · · ·
Moderator S2KI User #: 162 S2KI Age: 9 yrs 121 days PPD Average: 4.1 Owner 2000 Berlina Black/Black manhattan beach, calif	nice summary!!

MikeyC	Posted: Sep 26 2007, 07:34 PM · · ·
Wash & Wax-aholic S2KI User #: 44597 S2KI Age: 4 yrs 323 days PPD Average: 2 Enthusiast Newton, MA	I was thinking of picking one of these up. I felt it would work really well for cleaning wheels/tires/wheel wells and pre-soaking the car. I tend to use wheel cleaner instead of soap & water to clean my wheels because I am too lazy to mix up an extra bucket of wash solution. Lately, I've been mixing up a gallon or two of car wash solution and keeping it in a pesticide sprayer which I use to spray the solution onto the wheels. A foam gun I think would work much better than this though. -------------------- *Read the onlyDetailing Guide written specifically for the Honda S2000*

HomeChicken	Posted: Sep 26 2007, 10:44 PM · · ·
Guest S2KI User #: 74801 S2KI Age: 2 yrs 164 days PPD Average: 0.1 Owner 2003 GrandPrix White/Tan Sunnyvale, CA	How many ounces of shampoo does it take for a single pass for a pre-rinse? One review i read said it uses up 3/4 to 1 quart! I normally use 4 oz of Meg Gold Class per wash.

RFGrouse	Posted: Sep 27 2007, 06:09 AM · · ·
Guest S2KI User #: 75864 S2KI Age: 2 yrs 137 days PPD Average: 0.1 Enthusiast	i use 1-2 oz mixed with water

HomeChicken	Posted: Sep 27 2007, 10:53 AM · · ·
Guest S2KI User #: 74801 S2KI Age: 2 yrs 164 days PPD Average: 0.1 Owner 2003 GrandPrix White/Tan Sunnyvale, CA	great! i just ordered one!

steadyc	Posted: Sep 27 2007, 11:41 AM · · ·
Guest S2KI User #: 54242 S2KI Age: 4 yrs 26 days PPD Average: 0.1 Owner 2006 Sebring Silver/Black	I use a cheap hose sprayer that has a canister @ the bottom. I think they are for spraying lawns. Got it at home depot. It's like the cheap ones @ walmart, but has a bigger canister to hold more soap/product. Makes good foam. I use a premix gallon of poorboys super slick to fill the container and set the rate at the highest setting.

lordbyron

Posted: Sep 27 2007, 12:03 PM

· · ·

Member

S2KI User #: 73474
S2KI Age: 2 yrs 199 days
PPD Average: 2.7
Owner
2005 GrandPrix White/Black
SoCal
US -

QUOTE (steadyc @ Sep 27 2007, 11:41 AM)

I use a cheap hose sprayer that has a canister @ the bottom. I think they are for spraying lawns. Got it at home depot. It's like the cheap ones @ walmart, but has a bigger canister to hold more soap/product. Makes good foam. I use a premix gallon of poorboys super slick to fill the container and set the rate at the highest setting.

aww sould have said some thing earlier.. ordered my foamaster last night

--------------------

-byron
Photograhy
Mag Blue TE on GPW
First Track Day at SOW CCW
user posted image

steadyc	Posted: Sep 27 2007, 03:27 PM · · ·
Guest S2KI User #: 54242 S2KI Age: 4 yrs 26 days PPD Average: 0.1 Owner 2006 Sebring Silver/Black	Sorry man....

dmw16	Posted: Sep 28 2007, 01:20 PM · · ·
Guest S2KI User #: 57952 S2KI Age: 3 yrs 285 days PPD Average: 1.6 Owner 2001 Berlina Black/Red	In the home depot sprayer, what ratio of something like meg's gold to water would you suggest? or do you just fill the sprayer with all soap?

steadyc	Posted: Sep 28 2007, 04:05 PM · · ·
Guest S2KI User #: 54242 S2KI Age: 4 yrs 26 days PPD Average: 0.1 Owner 2006 Sebring Silver/Black	I use an Ortho Dial and Spray Multi-use Hose-end Sprayer.(home depot) cup capacity is 32 ounces. I also use a hose quick connect purchased @ wal-mart I've been using poorboys super slick soap. !/4 cup in a gallon bottle. I set the sprayer setting to it's max 8 oz. Make sure you shake up the gallon bottle really well before using. Makes good suds imo. I just use it as a pre-soak. My method is under the wacko influence brought on by this fine forum is: rinse really well use foam gun let sit for a bit rinse again 2 bucket method using grit guard in each bucket I've been using sheep skin mitt, but recently purchased an all white ShMitt. I also use warm soft water. I plumbed a hot water line to my front yard Also I find poorboy's a bit pricey so I'm gonna try gold class next time around..It's just a pre-soak so I'll save the poorboy's for the bucket. there are a lot of steps I left out, but I don't want to expose my extreme OCD

« Next Oldest | S2000 Wash and Wax | Next Newest »

Pages: (4) [1] 2 3 ... Last »

Subscribe to this topic | Subscribe to this forum | Download / Print this Topic

MyS2K · Home · Forums · Gallery · Events · Clubs · Store · Search · Eat Me

Sponsorship Information · Sponsor Directory · Membership Information

S2K International and S2KI are trademarks of Petersen Ventures LLC. Honda, S2000 and the "H" logo are trademarks of American Honda Motor Co. Ltd. S2KI is not sponsored, endorsed, affiliated or authorized by American Honda Motor Co. Ltd., it's parents or subsidiaries.

This site is provided for entertainment purposes only. Consult a qualified professional before attempting any advice or procedures described herein.