Snow Foam - waste of time?

[KevinF]

Nope. It's not been waxed - but I do use Carlack 68 sealant.

My method was to pressure wash first, then foam. After the pressure wash, the foam removed nothing extra.

Warm water with a Megs mitten and Turtle Wax shampoo got the residue of dirt orf.

I don't think I shall bother with foam again.

 

[Felstmiester]

Nope. It's not been waxed - but I do use Carlack 68 sealant.

My method was to pressure wash first, then foam. After the pressure wash, the foam removed nothing extra.

Warm water with a Megs mitten and Turtle Wax shampoo got the residue of dirt orf.

I don't think I shall bother with foam again.

I had the exact same issue with snow foam. First few times I used it......nothing!!! What a load of hyped up bull**** I thought!! But try giving your car a good wax and see what happens the next time you get the snowfoam out.

 

[Lee1092]

My mate let me try his karcher snow foam lance with demonshine show foam which done nothing, but I bought the autobrite snowfoam lance and 'magifoam' and its amazing what difference it makes! It obviously doesn't take every bit of dirt off but it makes the washing of e car so much easier. I've recently tried kleenfreeks, carbon collective and another that I can't remember the name of and they made no difference

 

[merc85]

Tried the Demon shine snow foam with no success either, tried various dilution ratio's too, also found it strips the car of wax which was on there.

Id really love to find a good snow foam to try even if its just for fun lol, Although tbh my cars are never left dirty enough to warant the benifits of its use.

 

[MDC250]

In a word no! It is a faff but I pretty much always foam as part of a pre-wash routine.

Some really good products out there verging on but not quite a touch less wash.

If you are not getting on with a foam lance try a pump sprayer with a citrus pre-wash or something like a Mesto Foamer.

If anyone is looking to buy samples of popular products PM and I'll send you details of a site where you can pick 4 x 100ml samples for £15 delivered. Good way to try before you commit to bigger purchases.

Obligatory foam pic...

 

[MDC250]

Oh and it's not me selling products, I'm just addicted to buying.

 

[stumpy1]

My detailer doesn't use it. For a start it makes a right mess of the driveway and does one's brogues no favours at all.

 

[simon1966]

I don't use foam and nor does the detailer that did my car (Ed - Divine Detail). He suggested using citrus pre-wash by valetpro instead and I have used it ever since. Reasonable price and can just go in a normal hand held spray bottle, but I use a pressure pump sprayer. Nice and easy and doesn't make a bloody mess everywhere. Does a good job at loosening and ridding the worst of the crap!

 

[Giantvanman]

citrus pre-wash by valetpro

Doesn't that remove the wax as well? I thought that was a pre-wax wash to remove everything. Maybe I have misremembered.

 

[simon1966]

No its pretty mild and used in same way / stage as snow foam. Just a lot easier and no mess.

 

[mack100]

I used Autobrite Magifoam with their own lance adapted for Nilfisk yesterday and I'm very pleased with the results.
The car had been treated with StarGuard as part of the purchase deal and it looked like new.
Also used it on my wifes filthy Honda Jazz and the results were equally as good.

I'm still trying to work out what else I need to do to it in the way of waxing/polishing.

 

[Druk]

Roll up to the local car-wash run by the nicest bunch of Azerbaijanis you could hope to meet.

for £4.00:

1/ pre-wash with some sort of spray soap then powerwash.

2/ foam spray then handwash with mitts then thorough rinse.

3/ hand wash all wheels and rinse.

4/ spray with wax stuff and power rinse.

for £8.00:

the above +

1/ chamois off including all shuts.

2/ dash and doorcard wipe.

3/ full hoover including carpets out and load area.

4/ spray carpets with nice smelly stuff + air freshener.


Me, handwash a car?.....not on your nelly.

 

[Mrhanky]

Roll up to the local car-wash run by the nicest bunch of Azerbaijanis you could hope to meet.

for £4.00:

1/ pre-wash with some sort of spray soap then powerwash.

2/ foam spray then handwash with mitts then thorough rinse.

3/ hand wash all wheels and rinse.

4/ spray with wax stuff and power rinse.

for £8.00:

the above +

1/ chamois off including all shuts.

2/ dash and doorcard wipe.

3/ full hoover including carpets out and load area.

4/ spray carpets with nice smelly stuff + air freshener.

Me, handwash a car?.....not on your nelly.

Yep and they use a mitt with the debris from a thousand cars which add lots of extra scratches free of charge.

Then they use a superb highly acidic wheel cleaner which cleans everything from your wheels good and bad.

I think I will be sticking with my own wash regime thanks.

 

[Druk]

Nope. The mitts are frequently rinsed out in a 45gall drum of fresh water, and whatever they use on my wheels is rinsed off within seconds so I'm thinking it matters not a jot.

 

[m2287]

To be fair to my local car wash, they have a shed with washing machines in and 2 barrels, one for dirty mitts and one for clean! They must go through hundreds of them and are always busy!

 

[DerekEddlestone]

Local car wash.

The 'magic solution' that they apply with the garden sprayer is a strong mix of TFR (Traffic Film Remover) which because of it's caustic nature will strip off everything including any protective wax there is on the vehicle. TFR is a good product that was designed for heavy transport (Trucks & Trains) and is safe (ish) on cars if diluted to the right ratio and not left to dwell on the paintwork. I'm not going to suggest that the car wash operatives mix up a stronger solution but with the aim of getting the cars through as quickly as possible, it must be tempting. The first signs of damage that the regular car wash user will notice is the wheel cap centres turning a milky white colour.
Pay your money and don't look too closely at the long term effect.

 

[JB1984]

I bought the Ultimate Finish snow foam and their lance - I've used it on 2 different cars (one metalic paint finish, the other matte finish) and have messed around with mixture's - and admittedly its quite enjoyable spraying the stuff all over the car - but i've found that on its own it doesnt really seem to do much.
I've taken to spraying it on the car then agitating the surface of the car with wash mitts after its been dwelling for 5 mins or so - then it rinses off to show a almost clean surface - then I move onto the normal 2 bucket method

 

[Mrhanky]

Doesn't that defeat the purpose of snow foam and Introduces two contact events of a mitt rather than one.

 

[Benplym]

I have been converted on this stuff, I slated it last week, BUT after a few people saying it will only work on a well polished and waxed car, I spent 6 hours getting a few decent coats on........ Then the wife drove through some ****ty farm lanes, cheers. On the upper hand I got to use the snow foam on the newly polished body work..... Works perfectly, I did have to do the arches by hand because of the "sound proofing furry crap" on the rear but I take back all the negative comments I made, it's awesome. I still think any shampoo would probably do the same job though to be honest. Il try it today, again it's been driven through some mud filled farm lanes

 

[Mrhanky]

Our local Taliban use a strong mix of hydrochloric acid to clean wheels, and I expect some of the lower bodywork too, which also strips off protective wax. And lacquer within a short time too.....................

With respect, why pay £x,000 for any car, and spend £5 having it washed very quickly with who knows what, and expecting it to be as good as spendingge an hour of DIY.

Pay your money and keep your eyes wide open at the long term effects, IMHO.

Generally because people don't care how it's washed or they are muppets who think it's a great wash.