Foam guns are a popular tool among car detailers, but are they really worth it?
Foam guns attach to a garden hose and shoot a stream of soapy water at your car. The advantage of using a foam gun is that it helps loosen dirt and grime, making it easier to wash your car. Foam guns also save water because they use less water than traditional hoses.
The downside of foam guns is that they can be messy and difficult to control. If you’re not careful, you can end up with soap suds all over your driveway or garage floor.
Foam guns also require an initial investment, typically costing between $30 and $50.
What is a Foam Gun?
You’ve probably seen pictures of vehicles covered in what seems like thick, white, shaving-cream-like foam and wondered how on earth they manage to get that effect.
There’s a hidden weapon: a gun that shoots foam. A foam gun sprays thick foam all over your vehicle by combining the right amounts of car wash soap, water, and air using the force of a pressure washer.
Power washers, or pressure washers, are fantastic. They hook up to your garden hose and force water out at very high pressures using a tiny electric or gas motor and a pump.
They can be used for various purposes, but when coupled with a foam cannon, the resulting gouts of suds can turn any driveway into a wintry paradise.
The thick foamy bubbles act as a lubricant, preventing the wash mitt from scratching or swirling the car’s surface as you move it about.
Great suds can be shot from a gas or electric pressure washer, but we’ve had the most success with gas pressure washers.
They might be more costly, bulkier, and noisy, but if you’re anything like us, you can’t get enough suds no matter how much money you spend!
What does Foam Gun do?
I usually use a wash bucket and my go-to car soap, but as I’ve learned more about the best methods to clean a car, I’ve seen that a foam gun is a way to go.
Since delving into this issue, I’ve realized a few benefits from doing so, particularly if you’re weary of always having to refill your vehicle soap bucket.
Foam guns blast heavy foam all over your vehicle, making car washing faster and easier. The increased lubrication makes washing a vehicle less likely to leave swirl marks on the paint.
Pros of Foam Gun
Cleaning dirt is a breeze
If you’ve ever used a wash mitt to clean a panel of your car, you know how easy it is to miss a place when the water dries.
Using a foam gun or a microfiber cloth and Wash Mitt is both effective and necessary because dirt likes to stick to paint.
When washing your car with the old-fashioned method (with a bucket of soapy water), it’s possible to run out of soap before you’ve finished cleaning one panel.
Soap traps dirt; therefore, the more times you submerge your glove in the sudsy water, the more probable it is that the suds will “attack” the grime embedded in the mitt.
Over time, this results in fewer suds, which may be remedied by applying a foaming soap spray to the car.
The slippery surface that foam provides makes it simple to remove grime.
Paint scratches are less likely to occur
A lot of people, including myself, learned to wash cars by soaking a wash mitt or sponge in a bucket and scrubbing vigorously.
This is a certain way to ruin a car’s paint job. In reality, the soap is responsible for cleaning; thus, there’s no need to scrape at anything.
You don’t need to apply much pressure while using a foam gun, but you do need to use pressure when using a wash hand (even one that holds a lot of suds).
To help the filthy foam slide off the surface, you are simply brushing against it.
Speed
On a hot summer day, if you merely want to wipe off your vehicle quickly, a foam cannon could be a great time-saver.
It takes around 30 seconds to remove a whole panel from your car, so you won’t need to carry about a big bucket. It’s a lot of work to wash by hand, and it’s much more of a workout when it’s hot outdoors.
If you connect a foam gun to the end of your pressure washer lance, you can use it to apply soap and rinse it off in one fluid motion, greatly shortening your washing time.
Suppose you are a certified mobile technician who utilizes a pressure washer and water tank. In that case, this is much more of a concern. Using water instead of waterless or rinseless solutions will enable you to simply clean more cars, depending on your customer.
Cons of Foam Gun
One major drawback of using a foam cannon is the;
Quantity of soap that is wasted
Using it has certain drawbacks, but if the advantages outweigh them, it’s worth it. However, using a foam gun if it isn’t necessary is like wasting money on soap. That may add up quickly if you buy a high-end bar of soap.
Foam grenades, If you want your suds to be very thick and bubbly, use a lot of soap: If you often foam your vehicle, you’ll find that a bottle of soap will vanish quickly.
The time required to complete your wash will increase if you add a phase. This is especially true when contrasting two buckets and a garden hose with the deployment of a pressure washer and foam cannon.
Using a foam cannon on a car covered in scratches and swirl marks is unlikely to yield noticeable results. The goal of using lubricant is to prevent scratches, so why bother if they are already there?
To reiterate, you are wasting soap. If you’ve had a paint correction done lately, you should take extra care while washing your automobile.
How to choose the right Foam Gun?
The best foam guns work with electric and gas pressure washers, so you can choose whichever one you want. It should not be opaque if you want to see how much soap solution is left in the container.
You can dilute the soap solution correctly if the container has volume measurements on the side.
Tips for Using a Foam Gun
The best and most enjoyable method to wash your car is with a foam gun, but there are several techniques to learning how to blast the thickest foam possible. I use Adam’s Standard Foam Gun from Amazon.
Be sure to choose the appropriate pressure washer
A decent pressure washer is just as useful as your foam gun. The advantages of electric pressure washers over gas ones include their reduced noise levels, compact dimensions, and portability.
The PSI and GPM of gas-powered pressure washers are higher, resulting in more foam and more secure cleaning.
Choose appropriately
Indeed, every soap bar will likely generate some foam. Still, others are designed specifically to produce a mountain of foaming bubbles.
You can transform every vehicle wash into a foam party by adding only a few ounces of specialty soap like Honeydew Snow Foam, Watermelon Snow Foam, or the deliciously scented Beer Snow Foam to your dilution bottle.
Slowly mix in hot water
A precise combination of air, water, and soap is calibrated by your foam cannon’s cutting-edge technology to launch dense foam projectiles.
To easily shoot thick suds, warm water should be used to aerate the soap and water combination. After adding water to the soap in the canister, be careful not to shake it too hard.
Avoid creating too much foam within the canister by gently mixing the solution by spinning the container in circular movements.
Wash your vehicle
Don’t put unnecessary strain on your automobile and foam cannon; give it a quick rinse before you begin foaming.
When you rinse your car, you eliminate the biggest pieces of dirt and debris that might scratch the paint. First, thoroughly wash your automobile from top to bottom using the pressure washer.
Take care of Your Foam Gun
If you store your foam gun full of water or soap, calcium deposits will form and reduce the quantity of foam it can spray. To prevent any residue from wreaking havoc between details, always clean your foam gun every use.
The initial step is to discard any remaining solution in the bottle. The bottle should then be washed out with fresh water. Then, add some fresh, clean water.
Disconnect from the foam cannon and fill it with clean water until the soapy water stops coming out. Your foam gun can be put away safely.
Foam Gun Vs. Normal Car Wash Method
Let’s go down to the meat of the matter: is a foam gun an improvement to cleaning your vehicle by hand?
The truthful response is “yes and no.” Foam guns succeed at certain tasks where hand washing would fail.
Using a pressure washer’s force, they can clean surfaces more quickly and with less effort than ever before, even when faced with stubborn grime.
In addition, the guns are excellent for spraying foam over your vehicle.
However, many people who utilize foam guns must wash the missing area by hand. But if you take your time and focus on getting the dirt out, you may get the same result by hand washing the automobile.
Conclusion
I think a foam gun could be useful for certain individuals, particularly if you are a car lover who also happens to own a huge truck or SUV.
How you lather up your car with soap makes all the difference. If you don’t want to use a pressure washer but still need to clean your car, a foam gun will spray the most soap over your vehicle.