Touchless Snow Foam Wash.
- Thread starter srhutch
- Start date
Thanks for posting up comparison shots - that is useful info. I think the wash you've done srhutch looks a very decent result. I haven't yet worked out quite how to get that nice cling you seem to be getting in your shots with the snowfoam. I DO think the citrus/foam combo would have contributed to less bubbles/cream, more watery effect just because your gut tells you that adding citrus will decrease bubbles. That being said, I'd imagine the citrus pre-wash probably says it is ph neutral etc so not sure where that leaves things...
I think the main difference between what you guys appear to be doing and what I'm doing is the use of a pressure washer. I don't have one. My folks do so when I was seeing them over christmas, I used their washer - having never really used one before, so I didn't really understand how it worked. The water does come out at pressure - granted, that's what you'd want from a pressure washer - but it does come out as a mist really doesn't it? I'm not against pressure washers (secretly I'm trying to find reasons not to buy one for fear of spending more cleaning the car than I spend using it!) and would certainly invest in one if there was a cheapo version which had decent water flow. I'm rambling now... The pressure washer was really useful for doing the wheels and arches IMO but was a lot less useful for rinsing or wetting the body (water flow - it just doesn't rinse like an open hose, which I currently use), although I also think it will work well for blasting foam off the body once it's done its thing. Where would you get a sensible (read: cheap) pressure washer with a hoselock attachment?
So for each wash I am now foaming and using the 2 bucket jobby, having to touch the car with the mitt. Using the snowfoaming product means that the "washing" itself, with the mitt, is actually more like wiping down a worktop with big sweeps as, for the most part, the grime has already been dragged away from the car with the foam and rinse. I think I'd like to have the option of doing as srhutch mentions - maybe touching the car every third wash and just foaming and blasting off the main crud and traffic film in between at high pressure. Which, by the sounds of it, means looking for a pressurised water solution...
Stevo
I think the main difference between what you guys appear to be doing and what I'm doing is the use of a pressure washer. I don't have one. My folks do so when I was seeing them over christmas, I used their washer - having never really used one before, so I didn't really understand how it worked. The water does come out at pressure - granted, that's what you'd want from a pressure washer - but it does come out as a mist really doesn't it? I'm not against pressure washers (secretly I'm trying to find reasons not to buy one for fear of spending more cleaning the car than I spend using it!) and would certainly invest in one if there was a cheapo version which had decent water flow. I'm rambling now... The pressure washer was really useful for doing the wheels and arches IMO but was a lot less useful for rinsing or wetting the body (water flow - it just doesn't rinse like an open hose, which I currently use), although I also think it will work well for blasting foam off the body once it's done its thing. Where would you get a sensible (read: cheap) pressure washer with a hoselock attachment?
So for each wash I am now foaming and using the 2 bucket jobby, having to touch the car with the mitt. Using the snowfoaming product means that the "washing" itself, with the mitt, is actually more like wiping down a worktop with big sweeps as, for the most part, the grime has already been dragged away from the car with the foam and rinse. I think I'd like to have the option of doing as srhutch mentions - maybe touching the car every third wash and just foaming and blasting off the main crud and traffic film in between at high pressure. Which, by the sounds of it, means looking for a pressurised water solution...
Stevo
I use a Nilfisk C110 and it works great for the car. I replaced the standard hose with a rubber one as the one it comes with it quite rigid and doesnt like to flex about.
Maplin have them at a great price currently: http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/nilfisk-c110-4-5-x-tra-110-bar-high-performance-pressure-washer-with-patio-clean-n47qh
Maplin have them at a great price currently: http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/nilfisk-c110-4-5-x-tra-110-bar-high-performance-pressure-washer-with-patio-clean-n47qh
By the seaside...
Tesco and Sainsburys have recently had the K'Archer K2 on offer - it's not the world's best PW but definitely good enough for snow foaming and washing the car and would give you a chance to see if it's useful enough to invest a bit more in a better PW when it, inevitably, dies....stevo///m3 said:
Sainsburys was £40, Tesco about £35 - both as in-store offers so might be worth phoning around your local branches to see if they have any left
Failing that you can order a Nilfisk C110 compact PW from Amazon for £50 - I'd get this in preference to the K2 anyway - if you look here, ignore the price on the page and click on the '2 new from £49.99' link. The £49.99 price is from Amazon, they're out of stock at the moment but they let add it to your basket, complete checkout, and then dispatch as soon as they get them back in - they don't charge your card until it's ready for dispatch and you can cancel the purchase at any time - I've done this before with Amazon and if you wait until they have them back in stock the price tends to go up.
OK thanks both for that. See what I can find... 
Stevo
Stevo
(and learned something...)
pvr said:Yes, don't buy cr*p phones
Technically I didn't buy it as its a company phone
Company policy says we don't have iPhones. I might have to change it one day, but at present I'm more than happy with the HTC's. Also amazing how many iPhones you see around with cracked screens. But if you like following the herd
If you want to be really anal - or the car is very dirty.salty during the winter - you can snowfoam onto a dry car, let it dwell for 5-10 mins, blast it off and then smowfoam again on the wet car - I've done this a few times on our DD during bad winters when it's too cold to do a proper wash and it works well as I can be in the warm having a cup of tea while the smowfoam dwells
I know it works better if applied in the dry surface. We have such dirty cars in winter (studs are scraping asphalt off and cars are all covered with that sticky s**t).. :/
Also salt, sand etc sticks really hard to paintwork. Snowfoam directly in the surface, let it work 5-10min and powerwash it off.. then you get less stuff in the paintwork before washmitt&shampoo wash. I can take some demovideo when i wash my dailydriver, you see how dirty cars are here in winter. I am pretty sure Finland is one place in earth where you can find most difficult winter conditions to keep car clean and wash it.
10kilometres of driving is enough to mess car like this...
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dythIUIjti4/TyMFoW2KLdI/AAAAAAAAACk/47RXGoCTP6M/s1600/IMAG0098.jpg
Also salt, sand etc sticks really hard to paintwork. Snowfoam directly in the surface, let it work 5-10min and powerwash it off.. then you get less stuff in the paintwork before washmitt&shampoo wash. I can take some demovideo when i wash my dailydriver, you see how dirty cars are here in winter. I am pretty sure Finland is one place in earth where you can find most difficult winter conditions to keep car clean and wash it.
10kilometres of driving is enough to mess car like this...
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dythIUIjti4/TyMFoW2KLdI/AAAAAAAAACk/47RXGoCTP6M/s1600/IMAG0098.jpg
