Do I pre-rinse before using foam cannon?

[MagicJohnson]

I usually 2 X rinse and foam because I don't think the foam is thick enough the first time. LOL

[louielouie]

Originally Posted by Hagasan41

I follow a similar process but use a leaf blower to remove most of the DI water then follow up with a drying aid, etc for the final wipe. The only time I don’t do a final wipe and let the DI water dry naturally is when I’m pressed for time. But I reserved this practice for the wife and kiddo's cars. LOL

If your PPM is 0, you're just making additional contact for no reason.

I quickly leaf blower as well to keep water off my garage floor.

[BruinMan]

Originally Posted by shimmy23

unless you're using a prewash like bilt hamber to sit and dwell, letting a snow foam like adam's mega wash sit and dwell then rinsing off does nothing. you're just wasting a good snow foam at that point.

You are misleading the car enthusiast with saying no to a pre-wash with snow foam and allowing it sit.
A pre-rinse could allow scratches on the paint by the dirt, grim, pollen or mud. A pre-rinse will allow grim/dirt to rub into the finish. As a pre-wash with a snow cannon will encapsulate these contaminants (grim etc) and lift it away the surface. If your car is filthy, a soap with a low pH will work best; or like you mention Bilt Hamber or CarPro Lift. But, I wouldn’t use these soaps on my car with ceramic coating.

It’s a simple car wash: Foam, Rinse, Foam, contact wash and rinse. Dry with a leaf blower.

[Hagasan41]

Originally Posted by louielouie

If your PPM is 0, you're just making additional contact for no reason.

I quickly leaf blower as well to keep water off my garage floor.

Not really… applying a topper that adds sacrificial protection and gloss is reason enough. Been doing this method for years with zero issues and more importantly no scratches from the additional contact even under gas station lighting or under my Scangrip lights.

Originally Posted by BruinMan

You are misleading the car enthusiast with saying no to a pre-wash with snow foam and allowing it sit.
A pre-rinse could allow scratches on the paint by the dirt, grim, pollen or mud. A pre-rinse will allow grim/dirt to rub into the finish. As a pre-wash with a snow cannon will encapsulate these contaminants (grim etc) and lift it away the surface. If your car is filthy, a soap with a low pH will work best; or like you mention Bilt Hamber or CarPro Lift. But, I wouldn’t use these soaps on my car with ceramic coating.

It’s a simple car wash: Foam, Rinse, Foam, contact wash and rinse. Dry with a leaf blower.

I agreed, especially if your car is filthy. Taking the extra step with a pre-wash using whatever shampoo (several options here) is better IMHO than going straight to foaming and a contact wash.

Bilt Hamber is supposed to be safe on all coatings and claims to offer real touch-less” cleaning power compared to the other offerings. We shall see once I get to try it.

[xxpanipuri]

I typically foam before pre rinsing.

When its really dirty i use car pro lift for max cleaning power (remove as much as i can) and the water from the pre rinse can dilute that mixture.

then i foam again and do contact wash

for regular maintenance washes, i can get away with just foaming on and letting it dwell and then power wash off...I typically have a good coating on my car and its garaged, so unless its super dirty i don't do a contact wash...

[louielouie]

Originally Posted by Hagasan41

Not really… applying a topper that adds sacrificial protection and gloss is reason enough. Been doing this method for years with zero issues and more importantly no scratches from the additional contact even under gas station lighting or under my Scangrip lights.



I agreed, especially if your car is filthy. Taking the extra step with a pre-wash using whatever shampoo (several options here) is better IMHO than going straight to foaming and a contact wash.

Bilt Hamber is supposed to be safe on all coatings and claims to offer real touch-less” cleaning power compared to the other offerings. We shall see once I get to try it.

I use Gyeon Wet Coat for that. Mainly for laziness but it doesn't requiring wiping, hahah

[Hagasan41]

Originally Posted by louielouie

I use Gyeon Wet Coat for that. Mainly for laziness but it doesn't requiring wiping, hahah

Ha! I hear ya life gets in the way of car washing. LOL. Wet coat and Hydro 2 are in my arsenal for sure. They have their place and are great for the daily driver or if you’re short on time.

[louielouie]

Originally Posted by Hagasan41

Ha! I hear ya life gets in the way of car washing. LOL. Wet coat and Hydro 2 are in my arsenal for sure. They have their place and are great for the daily driver or if you’re short on time.

Definitely. For years, I dedicated ~2 hours every Sat or Sun morning to get the car nice and clean. Don't have it in me anymore.

Past 2 years or so, I 've mostly just prefoam with Bilt Hamber Auto Foam then just rinse with DI water. I'll full wash once a month or two but otherwise, the Auto Foam gets me 80% there with 10% of the work.

[xxpanipuri]

Originally Posted by louielouie

I use Gyeon Wet Coat for that. Mainly for laziness but it doesn't requiring wiping, hahah

check out carpro hydro2 foam. same concept, but no wiping. Foam on and power wash off...

super easy to apply and gives up to 6 months of protection

[louielouie]

Originally Posted by xxpanipuri

check out carpro hydro2 foam. same concept, but no wiping. Foam on and power wash off...

super easy to apply and gives up to 6 months of protection

I think you misread my post. That's exactly the same as Wet Coat haha

[xxpanipuri]

Originally Posted by louielouie

I think you misread my post. That's exactly the same as Wet Coat haha

you're right i did mis read, but sometimes pulling the spray trigger on the small orange bottle is a lot of effort LOL (specially on a bigger car to get proper coverage)

foaming and rinsing to get the same results...with the hydro2 foam...

Wet coat is also an awesome product, but the foam provides better more even coverage as well

[TboneS54]

That's my gripe with water contact sio2 sprays (hydro2, wet coat, supercharger) - way too much spraying for an entire car, and probably mostly used for wheels/calipers/exhuast pipes or other odd shaped things. Foaming the car with hydro2 sounds good.

[loochy]

Does anyone else wash IN the garage? I always do and the neighbors think I'm a nut. I want to keep the hot sun from drying the soap/water prematurely and I want to keep the wind from blowing dust on to the wet car.

[scubajim]

If I had a garage, I would wash it in the garage! Keeping it out of direct sun to reduce the soap from drying on the paint is important. I try to wash first thing in the morning or even on overcast days trying to reduce the hottest part of the day and direct sun when possible.

[lopeydeath]

I wash my car at 7am to avoid the sun, but I pull the car into the drive way. I dry it in the garage though.
90% of the time I rinse, foam and hand wash. Every once in a while I’ll just rinse and foam. Quick drying towel for large panels and leaf blower to get everything else.

On average once a week, mid week, I’ll do a quick detail of the car with a good detail spray. A good ceramic coat makes a world of difference in my anxiety- I wouldn’t do a mid week cleaning without it.
I clean my windshield probably 4 days a week.

I intend to get a DI setup, just haven’t yet.

[Dan B]

Originally Posted by lopeydeath

I wash my car at 7am to avoid the sun, but I pull the car into the drive way. I dry it in the garage though.
90% of the time I rinse, foam and hand wash. Every once in a while I’ll just rinse and foam. Quick drying towel for large panels and leaf blower to get everything else.

On average once a week, mid week, I’ll do a quick detail of the car with a good detail spray. A good ceramic coat makes a world of difference in my anxiety- I wouldn’t do a mid week cleaning without it.
I clean my windshield probably 4 days a week.

I intend to get a DI setup, just haven’t yet.

I am on a private well and the water is very hard. I bought this unit from Amazon in 2015. I recharge it with table salt and it still works great. I also rinse, leaf blower, towel dry the random areas, and then use ceramic detailer.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[lopeydeath]

Originally Posted by Dan B

I am on a private well and the water is very hard. I bought this unit from Amazon in 2015. I recharge it with table salt and it still works great. I also rinse, leaf blower, towel dry the random areas, and then use ceramic detailer.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That’s interesting - especially the use of table/rock salt. The systems I had looked at used something else.
I’m not sure how much water I use to wash my car, but I imagine 2K gallons would last quite a while.

[Dan B]

Originally Posted by lopeydeath

That’s interesting - especially the use of table/rock salt. The systems I had looked at used something else.
I’m not sure how much water I use to wash my car, but I imagine 2K gallons would last quite a while.

I am no expert, but it depends on the medium used to deionize/soften the water. Mine works on the same principle as a whole house system. The water passes through the medium which extracts the minerals. The salt recharge simply washes the medium. Eventually you will have to replace the medium but it will take a long time. And I wash my car at least weekly using a 5 gallon wash and a 5 gallon grit bucket, plus a 1750 psi 1.3gpm pressure washer.

I rinse, foam, wash, rinse, dry. If the car is really dirty I will rinse, foam, let it dwell, rinse, foam, wash, dry.

I have to microfiber sponges and will switch when I go from the less dirty areas to the lower areas. I also have a boards hair brush I use for really bad spots. Like baked on bugs. Worst case I treat the area directly with undiluted car wash. Let it sit, wet it again, and then agitate with a small boards hair sponge and rinse.

The car has the front full front and lower rear PPF and the entire car ceramic coated. So far nothing sticks.

[lopeydeath]

Originally Posted by Dan B

I am no expert, but it depends on the medium used to deionize/soften the water. Mine works on the same principle as a whole house system. The water passes through the medium which extracts the minerals. The salt recharge simply washes the medium. Eventually you will have to replace the medium but it will take a long time. And I wash my car at least weekly using a 5 gallon wash and a 5 gallon grit bucket, plus a 1750 psi 1.3gpm pressure washer.

I rinse, foam, wash, rinse, dry. If the car is really dirty I will rinse, foam, let it dwell, rinse, foam, wash, dry.

I have to microfiber sponges and will switch when I go from the less dirty areas to the lower areas. I also have a boards hair brush I use for really bad spots. Like baked on bugs. Worst case I treat the area directly with undiluted car wash. Let it sit, wet it again, and then agitate with a small boards hair sponge and rinse.

The car has the front full front and lower rear PPF and the entire car ceramic coated. So far nothing sticks.

My wash is almost identical and I too do it every weekend . Front half PPFd as well with full ceramic. Most annoying part is trying to get the wheels done properly.

Ok, so for some reason I thought the salt was the medium - so that was my mistake.

I really want soft water - there’s a good chance I get stationed in Bahrain next year so given how absurdly hot it is I’ll definitely need soft water as I won’t be able to beat the speed with which water dries no matter how early I get up.

[MHL]

Originally Posted by whofelt

I rinse, foam, rinse , foam and hand wash then rinse off.

This is the way of working for me as well for years now.

[rmedina]

Originally Posted by BruinMan

You are misleading the car enthusiast with saying no to a pre-wash with snow foam and allowing it sit.
A pre-rinse could allow scratches on the paint by the dirt, grim, pollen or mud. A pre-rinse will allow grim/dirt to rub into the finish. As a pre-wash with a snow cannon will encapsulate these contaminants (grim etc) and lift it away the surface. If your car is filthy, a soap with a low pH will work best; or like you mention Bilt Hamber or CarPro Lift. But, I wouldn’t use these soaps on my car with ceramic coating.

It’s a simple car wash: Foam, Rinse, Foam, contact wash and rinse. Dry with a leaf blower.

You are correct my friend.

[Autoaddict]

I use Bilt Hamber touchless before I wash the car or even rinse the car. You can see the foam literally pull the top layer of dirt off when you let it dwell for 5 min. After I rinse the touchless off, I foam it back up with Koch Chemie and do a two bucket wash. The combo works great.