Foam cannon how to

[Red Rambler]

With the foam cannon am I supposed to spray foam on and rinse off, or can I leave the foam on and proceed with my two bucket wash? For clarification, should I rinse the foam off before using a wash mitt  on my finish? 

[shane@detailedreflections]

We typically spray the foam on and give it a few minutes to dwell and encapsulate the dirt before rinsing.  It doesn’t hurt to take a mitt to it before rinsing.  Once it’s been rinsed, we then wash with the standard two bucket method.

[ZMAN024]

Hi Keagan,

     Depending on how dirty your vehicle is, you can do either.  If you have a lot of dirt or salt on the surface, you should pre-rinse, foam, rinse again and then proceed with your two bucket wash.  If the vehicle is fairly clean and you are performing a regular maintenance wash, you can pre-rinse, foam, then go right into your normal two bucket wash.  There really is no "supposed to".  It's more a matter of preference. The foam cannon allows you to add lots of foam that will loosen and carry away surface contaminants prior to washing to help reduce the risk of scratches.   

[Red Rambler]

Thanks all, I was watching YouTube videos of certain foaming shampoos and noticed both methods were being utilized. Makes sense now. 

[TheWolf]

Oz gives good advice on the two methods most commonly used.  For either method, the key is to make sure that you have pre-rinsed or rinsed prior to using the wash pad.  You would not want to just foam it up and start washing with the pad, since you want to blast off as much dirt and other crud before you even touch the paint.

 

The method that I use involves using the Foam Cannon as a replacement to the suds bucket.  To be an effective replacement to the suds bucket, I use the Foam Cannon to apply shampoo to just a few panels, then use the wash media and rinsing the media in the Rinse Bucket, then move to the next area on the vehicle, foam it up, wash with media, rinse the media, and so forth.  I found that this method puts the most suds on the paint, which is safer, compared to bringing the suds from the bucket to the vehicle.

 

Then like Oz stated, if the vehicle is especially dirty, I will pre-foam it, allowing it to dwell and soften the crud, then give it a good rinse with the pressure washer, then start washing by using the method above.  Note that I do not foam the entire vehicle, since most of the foam will run off before you get a chance to the use the wash media.  Foaming just a few panels at a time allows you to use the wash media with the most suds on the paint.

[Red Rambler]

Thanks wolf, that sounds like a solid plan, I like it. I have ordered a MTM snub nose gun from eBay to make my own short handled spray gun. I like being able to apply lots of suds as you stated and not having to go back and forth to the bucket as that is the tricky part, transporting the suds.