SCD Foam Cannon for the Ultimate MINI Wash...

Discussion in 'Detailing' started by Octaneguy, Jan 26, 2011.

  1. Octaneguy

    Octaneguy New Member

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    Ok, so I'm sure many of you have seen pictures over the years of people intentionally covering their cars in "snow foam" to wash it. I've always been intrigued by it, and have finally acquired the technology to do it.

    I'd like to explain a little bit about what it does, how it works, and why you would want to do this instead of a traditional hand wash or even using the local car wash.

    First off, before I get too far along, let's take a look at what using a foam cannon looks like.

    [​IMG]

    Now to the casual observer, one might think this must use a LOT of soap or some special foaming agent to do this. I put 4 ounces of car wash soap, Meguiar's HyperWash into the bottle seen in the next picture. I filled the rest of the bottle with distilled water. HyperWash is a super concentrated soap where they claim 400:1 ratios are common. It's confusing but it really just means that in a 5 gallon bucket, normally you would use 1oz of soap. So 4oz is quite a bit, but compared to most soaps that are 1oz per gallon of water, this is not an extraordinary amount.

    I am still experimenting with other car soaps. I plan to do tests with Prima Mystique. HyperWash foams a lot and is very strong. It's great on dirty cars and can strip off certain waxes as well.

    [​IMG]

    So what does a foam cannon do? It shoots or sprays a thick foam onto the paint and the soap softens and loosens the dirt. It cascades off the paint, taking the dirt with it. If the foam is too thick and doesn't cascade, it won't remove the dirt. So when I shoot this foam, it lasts for less than 10 minutes. After that, more than 50% of the suds have dripped off.

    Key to using a foam cannon is a high powered pressure washer. You can use many different types, but you want one that does atleast 1400psi. I bought a 2000psi model that runs on 20amps. To use 20amps, you need a special plug and circuit, so you probably won't use this at home. However the lower PSI is more suitable for home use. I had read reports of persons not having sufficient foam with 1400psi models and even 1600psi, so I wanted to have extra power in case. My pressure washer can be dialed to any pressure up to 2000psi. Right now, I'm using it at about 1400 psi and it works great.

    [​IMG]

    This Pressure Washer is made by Kranzle and costs about $1,400 discounted! The pump is warrantied for 10 years, and has the built in hose reel and dolly. The whole unit weighs over 100 pounds and is built like a tank. Is this overkill for home use? Probably, but I've bought Karchers in the past for a fraction of that price, and they lasted only a year or less. I planned to buy one good one and keep it forever.
    [​IMG]

    Along with the pressure washer is the foam lance. This is what I have. It's made by Autobrite in the UK. Note there are "foam guns" that you attach to a hose and it sprays soapy water on your car. This is nothing like a foam cannon.
    [​IMG]

    For my water source, there was only one option. 100% distilled water. You may have heard about "spot free" water. This is water with reduced or no mineral deposits. Minerals are measured as TDS or Total Dissolved Solids. With a TDS meter, often found at pool supply stores, you can read how pure the water is measured in PPM (Parts Per Million). Household water varies from 200 to 400ppm depending on where you live. Industrial complexes can be even higher. My shop water is about 350PPM. There are different way to reduce the minerals. I have a Culligan Reverse Osmosis system that filters waters by forcing water through a membrane. This process reduces the TDS to 30PPM. But still it's not spot free. Spot Free is usually 6 to 15PPM. You can soak it and run it through resin crystals in a process known as DI or Deionized water. This process removes much of the minerals in the water. You can't drink it, but it's pretty quick. It does also reduce your water pressure as the water has to flow through the resins first on its way out. But you can filter hundreds of gallons a day. How effective this process is depends on how new the resin crystals are which need replacement often.

    Another way to create Spot Free water is by distillation. This is a slow and expensive process because you actually boil the water, capture the steam, cool it down, and store it in a reservoir. My distiller processes just 7 gallons a day. A single car wash can use up more than a days worth of distilled water. However this process has no consumables, no replacement filters, and the water is anywhere from 0 to 1PPM. It's the purest water you can buy or make. This is the unit I bought and I store it in a 60 gallon holding tank so it makes distilled water all day long.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    My total expenditure for the Kranzle PW, Foam Lance, 60 gallon tank, Distiller, various pumps, fittings, and electrician to wire everything up is well over $4,000 but for my purposes it's perfect. I have the ultimate wash bay where I can wash inside my shop using shop generated distilled water, and washing is as simple and quick as foaming it, letting it dwell, rinsing it, and letting it air dry, or drying with a SCD Belgian Waffle Weave if I'm short on time. I would also use a 60 gallon air compressor to blow water from the cracks.

    IF the car isn't that dirty, I can wash it totally touch free in about 15 minutes. Sometimes I might have to run the cannon twice and sometimes I need to run the cannon and follow with a two bucket hand wash. The important thing is that the first major wash quickly removes the most harmful grit from the paint and is rinsed off before a mitt comes into contact with the paint further reducing the chances of swirling the paint.

    Is using a foam cannon for you? It might if you are anal about keeping your paint perfect. Can you buy into it for much less money? Of course. One client of mine got a Karcher PW on Craigslist for $50 that worked ok.

    I find that it's fun to foam the car and makes washing easier and faster. I also need to buy soap in gallon form now but I'm not using significantly more soap than I would have expected.

    Here are a few more examples
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    After 10 minutes
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    I foamed it twice but otherwise no touching the paint at all.
    [​IMG]

    Hope you enjoyed that!!!

    Richard
     
  2. Metalman

    Metalman Well-Known Member
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    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I foamed it twice but otherwise no touching the paint at all.
    [​IMG]

    Hope you enjoyed that!!!

    Richard[/quote]

    Pretty interesting what you go through to achieve perfect results.

    Just curious, what's the purpose of the blue plastic tarp on the floor? Plastic and soap would seem to make for slippery footing than say concrete and soap?
     
  3. Octaneguy

    Octaneguy New Member

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    The main reason for the tarp is to contain the water. I'm going to be adding berms to contain it further. Ultimately I want to be able to vacuum up the water so that I can wash the cars, and collect the run off for disposal instead of putting them out into the environment.

    But you're right, it does get pretty slippery when wet, lol.

    Richard

     
  4. Mike

    Mike New Member

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    Great write-up, complete with details on what equipment is used and why. Thanks!
     
  5. ScottinBend

    ScottinBend Space Cowboy
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    Thanks for this thread....always wondered how these worked and why.

    But I do have one question...is it really necessary to use a pressure washer to rinse it off? Why wouldn't a regular hose and sprayer work? Can you also use a wash mitt or should you just let the foam do its thing?
     
  6. Octaneguy

    Octaneguy New Member

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    You are welcome and thank you!
    There are two kinds of foamers as mentioned in the article. A foam gun, which attaches to the end of a hose like a Gilmour Gun and a foam cannon, as mentioned in the article which requires a pressure washer.

    The difference in foam density is night and day. With a foam gun, the foam is runny and requires more water than a foam cannon.

    The thicker foam from a cannon lets it's dwell longer on the paint such that you shoot it, and for 10 minutes or so, it works on its own. So like on my Clubman, I had dust buildup from sitting in my garage for 2 weeks while I was out of the country, and a week of being parked outside near the freeway. It took me less than 5 minutes to foam it, spent the next 20 minutes walking to lunch, came back talked to customer, looked at the Clubbie which most of the foam had run off, then I rinsed it with the pressure washer, had to do a demo, so I didn't hand dry it at all. I pulled the Clubbie outside, and began working on the customers car.

    Later on I checked the paint after it air dried and it was completely clean. No dust, no dirt, no residue.

    A regular hose couldn't shot out distilled water and it couldn't build up sufficient foam for this sort of cleaning ability. The big advantage of using a PW is that my water source can be controlled as well as the flow rate (to a certain degree).

    On the truck example, I foam cannoned it twice, and still had to come back by hand as there was a thin layer of film left behind. Is it worth it to use the foam cannon when you still have to work by hand? It depends. In some cases, a foam cannon is all you need, and other cases, it's a fast prewash that gets rid of 80 to 90% of the most swirl inducing grit on the paint so that when you do hand wash it, your chances of scratching, swirling, or marring it is further greatly reduced.

    Richard
     
  7. ScottinBend

    ScottinBend Space Cowboy
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    Thanks....didn't realize you used the PW for the foam cannon. Missed that part.
     
  8. Octaneguy

    Octaneguy New Member

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    Just a curious question...are you seeing the pictures in the thread? The second picture is this...

    [​IMG]
     
  9. ScottinBend

    ScottinBend Space Cowboy
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    I did. but my first impression was that you were rinsing it off, didn't notice the cannon attached.
     
  10. Octaneguy

    Octaneguy New Member

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    Aww ok, cool.:Thumbsup:
     
  11. Octaneguy

    Octaneguy New Member

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    Today I took some measurements for your pleasure, lol.

    Dipping the TDS meter probe into my 60 gallons of shop generated distilled water
    [​IMG]

    Now I filled a small cup with tap water
    [​IMG]

    The meter now reads 402PPM of Total Dissolved Solids! That's sure to guarantee spots on your car!
    [​IMG]
     
  12. Johngo

    Johngo New Member
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    Interesting write up. Thanks for sharing.

    I picked up one of those home use things that filters the water for a spot free rinse (Mr. Clean, I think???) late last summer for about $6 and the couple of times I used it before cold weather hit, it did work as advertised. I rinsed GTiki, let it sit and it dried with no spots whatsoever without having to shammy it.

    Makes sense, get rid of the crap that makes the spots, get rid of the spots!
     
  13. Octaneguy

    Octaneguy New Member

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    Yep, those work fine for a few washes and then need to replaced. The cost per wash is kind of high and there is no way to know how well it's working without a meter but they do work as advertised. The Mr. Clean soap isn't that great however. Spot free washing is the best! :Thumbsup:
     
  14. TGS91

    TGS91 New Member

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    I took the plunge and made the investment

    Think it was a good one

    I didn't buy the super deluxe one OG did cause that is some serious professional grade stuff

    I ended up buying a upper end model Karcher (2000 psi). Research I did seemed to indicate the $200 and < units were not that long lived sad to say. I wanted a electric one cause I did not want one more gas engine to maintain

    Decision was driven by the Autobrite foam canon that OG recommended. I could not get a straight answer from the other mfg's I was considering of what type of fitting they have that would or would not work with the canon. Karcher was a option so that was the tipping point.

    I've used it a total of 4X now and after messing around with the foam canon settings I think it was a good investment

    I have noticed that there is a little dirt film left on parts of the car when I dry with MF Towel and Hydro. Considering this is the first contact with the paint up to this time in the wash process I think it's perfectly acceptable. This grime to my thinking does not have allot of grit thus it is not scratching

    I know I am using less water and I'm pretty sure I am cutting off about 15min on my wash routine. Most importantly I am cutting down on my contact with the paint drastically

    Heres the typical-
    Rinse the car well paying attn to heavy deposits with PW
    Foam Canon it top to bottom
    Let is sit while I take some Griot's Wheel Wash to the Wheels with brushes
    Rinse well
    Blow off excess water with leaf blower (seems theres less water on car than using traditional hose)
    Dry/Hydro with MF drying towel
    Reapply wheel dressing or redo black trim with Black Wow
    Clean all windows with Clarity
    Metal polish to exhaust tips
    Straighten/stow all the tools and car products

    One hour flat
     
  15. Octaneguy

    Octaneguy New Member

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    Good to see that you got a foam cannon! What soap are you using? That makes all the difference. Also, remember the drawback of the pre-rinse. Once the paint is wet, the foam won't dwell as long, which is important to loosening and cleaning the paint. So you'll have to weigh the pros and cons of whether to pre-rinse or just foam, possibly twice.

    I'm now using a product called Poly's Detailing Fluid along with the foam cannon on super dirty cars. I will spray Poly's on the worst of the spots, including the wheels. Then foam right over it. Again for absolutely the worst of the cars...I had one car that hadn't been washed in 3 months and it sat outside the whole time...touchless foaming and Poly's wasn't enough, but after doing the process, a few squirts of Poly's let me wipe it down easily enough. I could have done the two bucket method instead of the Poly's wipe down.

    The point is, since you are washing your own car...you can now wash your car weekly or every two weeks, and keeping it maintained like that, it should respond to the foam much better.

    I'm using about 2oz of Hyper Wash in a 32oz bottle of distilled water. I might mix-in 2 to 3 oz of Mystique if I want extra gloss just after the wash.

    Richard

    Richard
     
  16. TGS91

    TGS91 New Member

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    I musta missed something on the pre-rinse, i'll try without

    Also gonna try the Griot's wheel wash as a first pass on wheels, no brush, then foam canon and rinse

    Also listened to you on the McGuirar's Hyper Wash although not as you suggest, missed the distilled water part too!. I filled up the bottle of the foam canon (1 liter I believe) about a 1/3 of the way with straight Hyper Wash. I've done 4 washings and I hardly have used prob 1/2 or less of the 1/3 fill so a little goes along way
     

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