Foam lance

[moonpig]

hey guys looking to get a foam lance to clean car/van ect at Home can't seem to find anything that will fit my machine. I've got the honda gx390 can anyone recommend one or a site that sells them. Thanks

 

[adamangler]

you need to find put what type fitment your lance is

i have this one Autobrite Heavy Duty Foam Snow Foam Lance

Btw there not much use for cleaning, they look cool but snow foam isnt really effective. you could always put a heavier degreaser in there but it defeats the purpose of snow foam which is not remove dirt without stripping protection.

Youd be better off applying a tfr with a pump sprayer

 

[moonpig]

Ahh ok fair enough so it's all just a hype then this snow foam ? Seen all the local car cleaning places using it so thought I would get me one.

Havnt done any research into it but got told tfr isn't good for matalic paint ? Don't know how true that is.

 

[moonpig]

Oh and I have the quick connector on the end of my lance so a normal male bit would be needed on the foam lance.

 

[Green Pro Clean Ltd]

I've never had an issue with TFRs on metallic paints, iss it just one particular car? Are you just wanting to give it a good wash or a professional valet?

 

[moonpig]

Yeh it's my own car and my own van that I want to clean at the mo I just jet wash them both first with water then clean with autogleam shampoo then jet wash off the micro fiber dry. But was thinking the snow foam would cut out the middle hand wash part haha not that I'm lazy

 

[adamangler]

Tfr or snow foam wont cut out the need to hand wash, no matter how strong it is.

Snow foam is perfectly fine for a maintenance clean to be followed by a handwash, its not completely useless but if you want a deep clean you would be better to tfr first

Snow foam or Tfr is used pre wash, the idea is it gets most of the dirt off before hand washing so you arent dragging muck about potentially scratching the paint.

Strong Tfr is usually used in garages to speed up the process for profit reasons

Snow foam is gentler than TFR so the idea is it does some cleaning but wondt strip any polish or wax you have on your vehicle.

Tfr is perfectly safe but the strong (caustic) stuff will probably strip any protection, and be carefull on painted or bubbling allow wheels so is ideally used if you want to give the car a deep clean and you are going to apply some wax afterwards.

You could snow foam it than hand wash it, thats no problem at all but a mild non caustic tfr will do the same thing and be cheaper.

Usually what you would do is get the vehicle in a good condition to start with

so the process for that could be

Tfr

2 bucket wash

tar remover

clay bar

polish (to whatever level your require)

then wax to protect

then for maintenace just a 2 bucket wash with or without snow foam

Personally i dont use either when valeting as snow foam doesnt do enough and TFR can be corrosive on alloys if not carefull so i use a mild mixture of G101 (all purpose cleaner)

what you are doing is perfectly fine, wet the entire car with water from the jet wash, let it soften the mud, then pressure wash it off, then hand wash, theres no need to foam, just put some shampoo in a spray bottle and wet it with that if you like

Having said all that if you want a foam lance get one, its just not nessacary

 

[moonpig]

That's helped loads thanks adamangler yeh will just stick to what I'm doing then if it doesn't really make much difference.

Jet wash 1 bucket wash with shampoo but now going to change to a two bucket wash with grit gard then microwfiber dry.

As and when needed 2-3 times a year clay bar polish and wax.

In saying that do you recommend any good clay kits ? So many out there.

Thanks simon

 

[DanielT]

I bought a clay bar from bilt hamber. Reasonably priced and you can use pure water as a lubricant rather than needing to buy another spray.