I've got an HD lance alreay so would be great to know the ratio.

It's supposed to be fine in the HD lance from the reviews on DW.

I've got an HD lance alreay so would be great to know the ratio.

The ratio will depend on your pressure washer, water pressure etc etc.

To work out your concentration, what I did was:

1. Time how many seconds it takes to get to a set quantity of water.
   
2. Then time how long it takes to use a set amount of fluid from the lance resevoir. I did this by measuring 200ml in there, marking the location of 200ml on the botte, and then adding another 200ml to make a total of 400ml. Run the lance and when the level drops to the mark you know how many seconds it takes to use 200ml from the lance.
   
3. You can then use these figures to work out the concentration of the lance resevoir:water.
   
4. Then you can work out by what quantity of detergent you need to give the required %.

For example:

1. Say you have 3l flowed in 1 minute, thats 3000ml/minute.
   
2. The lance resevoir empties by 200ml in 130s. 200/130*60 = 92ml/minute
   
3. Therefore the ratio if you used the detergent neat is 3000/92 = 32.6:1. So for every 32.6ml of water that flows, 1ml is detergent.
   
4. So if you wanted a 1% concentration (thats a ratio of 100:1), you would need to use 32.6/100=0.326% detergent in the resevoir. So thats 326ml topped up to 1l with water.

Crystal clear I'm sure!!!

snip

All very technical. I just put about an inch in :P

All very technical. I just put about an inch in :P

Ah, thats disappointing Mark.

Calculate the flow rate of the lance, then time how long it takes to empty say 500ml, then you will be able to work out the concentration from that!

With the Elite I have 100ml topped up to 1l and thats pretty much perfect for 2 washes.

Good news, in a HD foam lance, the BH autofoam works a treat with about 1" in a 1L bottle

Lots of silly foam that dwelled for the 5 minutes and I used about 1/3rd of the bottle to do the octy.

Add to that the car has come out really clean for a touchless wash and I'll definitely recommend it. In the end the problem seems to be that the karcher foam bottle was over diluting it and so it just couldn't foam up enough.

All good now and I'll bring you a small jam jar of the stuff to try at the handling day.

Thats good to know.

I'm also using an HD lance.

Just to clarify you're using BH foam ?

Thats good to know.

I'm also using an HD lance.

Just to clarify you're using BH foam ?

Yes I have a 5L bottle which is full of green stuff that kind of smells of apples when applied and I'm using it in the HD lance :thumbup:

Superb.

End of month purchase coming up for me.

This seems to get asked quite a bit, so fingers crossed my little write up below is helpful.

On a car thats well waxed, the wash process I'd recommend is:

• Pressure wash to remove the worst of the crap. Don't forget the wheel arch liners and under the sills and bumpers.
  
• Snow foam and leave to dwell for about 10 minutes - this will depend on how well the foam adheres to the bodywork. You should physically see the foam dragging the muck off the car as it breaks it down.
  
• Whilst the snow foam is dwelling, I go round and clean all the wheel faces with a lambswool mitt, and the insides of the wheels with my EZ brush. I also give the exhaust a wipe with a manky old microfibre cloth (MF).
  
• Pressure wash again to rinse - this should leave the car pretty damn clean
  
• Maybe repeat the snow foam & pressure wash if the car was heavily soiled or lacking in wax.
  
• At this stage, if the car isn't spotless (and if its waxed and cleaned weekly it should be), do a contact wash using a good shampoo, and 2 bucket method with a lambswool mitt. Some people swear by grit guards - I like to use a nice tall, large capacity bucket, only dip the mitt in the top 1/3 of the bucket and rub my hand over the mitt to release any debris that were picked up whilst washing.
  
• Then dry the car, I find the hose pipe, open end and turned down low run slowly over the car drags most of the water off.
  
• Then use a quality drying towel such as a waffle weave, or plush mf to gently pat the car dry, or wipe gently. I like to use a quick detailing spray to help with the drying and lubricate the drying cloth. As a bonus this seems to rejuvenate the paint after the wash process.
  
• Then I use a spray wax like Pinnacles (this smells divine), as it takes literally 2-3 minutes to go over the car. Ultimately this is ontop of the Colinite 476S, so the Pinnacle is just a quick top-up.
  
• Quick tyre dressing, clean the windows, quick Autosol on the exhaust, hoover and wipe all the interior plastics with a damp MF and job done May need to clean the mats (expecially the bindings) with AG Interior Shampoo.
  
• The whole process takes me about 1 & a 1/2 hours from start to finish, including setting up and packing away.

I guarantee if you use this process, the car will keep looking better than new, and only LIGHT paint correction/polish will be needed on a bi-annual basis. I think I will be doing a light paint correction and re-wax with the Colinite every 4 months or so, and the wheels off for a reclean and wax every 2 months or so as this gives you a chance to clean the arch liners and brake calipers etc!

For me, the expense of a pressure washer and snow foam and lance etc is a lot of outlay, but the idea imho is to avoid contact washing the car where possible to avoid the onset of swirl marks and random deeper scratches as far as I can. Ensuring you only use quality drying towels and MFs, and you will be 90% of the way there. However, imperfections will still occur, and you will still get light scratching and swirling - but such is life

hi Tom like your post but might disagree that the first first water pre rinse should be done with hose water and without a powerwasher as their is the possibility of dirt etc. scratching the paint even more if the powewasher angle is 90 degrees :(

Edited 1 May, 201115 yr by john123

Hello Friends,

this is a very interesting thread.

I shall be collecting my new Octavia in a couple, so I need to try to keep it clean. I have a back problem which may interfere with how much effort I put into car cleaning.

When I had a motorhome, I would wash it with a caravan shampoo, rinse off, then apply a product called Bobby Dazzler. To apply it, it looked like normal car shampoo, but it dries to leave a shine. I also use this method with my cars. Because of my back condition, I rarely polish my vehicles.

Frank.

very helpful giude, will need to find someone in the family with a hosepipe connection and a pressure washer as we dont have either at home!

Another great write up the snow foam is very good stuff

This winter I have mostly been using the following process:

 

-Turn off engine

 

-Hi Aleksy, how's it going?  Give it the works please.

 

-get given a cup of tea.

 

-6 Polish blokes leap into action with pressure washer, then wash-mitts followed by drying, window cleaning and tyre dressing.

 

-10 mins later, 'That's £6.00 please my friend', says Aleksy

 

-'See you in a couple of weeks'

 

-Drive off.

A very useful post that   :think:

This winter I have mostly been using the following process:

 

-Turn off engine

 

-Hi Aleksy, how's it going?  Give it the works please.

 

-get given a cup of tea.

 

-6 Polish blokes leap into action with pressure washer, then wash-mitts followed by drying, window cleaning and tyre dressing.

 

-10 mins later, 'That's £6.00 please my friend', says Aleksy

 

-'See you in a couple of weeks'

 

-Drive off.

My hero

The advantages of a Snow Foam Lance:

 

Once a car has acquired a significant film of dirt and grime there is a much greater risk of inflicting sub-surface paint defects during the wash process. This is due to the greater number of contaminants present that may inadvertently be moved around over underlying surfaces as they are removed, and the tendency to scrub the paint more to get it clean. At the simplest level the first thing you can do to minimise this risk is to rinse off as much dirt and grime as possible using a hose or a pressure washer before washing the bodywork by hand. Ten to fifteen minutes spent carefully rinsing off in this way is time well spent, but may not always yield much improvement, particularly if two to three weeks worth of dirt and grime is present and has gone through numerous wetting and drying cycles. In such cases, the use of a pre-wash foaming solution can help tremendously.

The idea behind applying thick clinging foam to your car before washing is simple and the benefits are obvious. If you apply a generous coating of suds to dirty surfaces and allow them to cling in situ for many minutes at a time, the cleaning agents have longer to work and therefore dissolve and suspend a lot more dirt and grime. By the time the foam is eventually rinsed off much of the dirt and grime is simply washed away, leaving relatively clean surfaces behind ready for a careful wash by hand. Clearly, the major benefit here is that the bulk of dirt removal is done before a wash mitt is placed on the car, which greatly reduces the risk of inflicting marring and fine scratches during the hand-washing process.
 

 

Applying a thick layer of clinging pre-wash foam using a PA Foam Lance

Once applied the foam should be allowed to dwell for up to five minutes

Rinsing off the foam at pressure leaves the car far cleaner than before

 

 

Normal car shampoos can be used to produce foam with a reasonable degree of success, providing that the correct dilution ratio is maintained. However, this can result in a lot of expensive shampoo being used up quite quickly, so numerous manufacturers also offer specialised pre-wash foaming solutions (often referred to as snow foams) with much higher dilution ratios. In our opinion, the best such product currently on the market is Meguiar's Hyper Wash, as it produces thick clinging foam at an amazing dilution rate of just 400:1 (water:product). A further key benefit of using Meguiar's Hyper Wash is that it will not strip or otherwise degrade existing sealant or wax protection, unlike some other snow foam style products currently on the market.

Foam production relies on air being drawn into a foaming solution as it passes through an injector head into the main stream of water running through either a foam gun or a foam lance. The higher the pressure of the water, the thicker the resulting foam will be. Accordingly, foam guns that attach to hoses, like the PB Foam Gun, generate relatively thin, bubbly foam with limited clinging power, while foam lances that attach to pressure washers, like the PA Foam Lance, generate much thicker foam that clings very strongly, allowing more time for the cleaning agents present to dissolve and suspend dirt and grime. Consequently, foam lances tend to offer a lot more cleaning power than foam guns, and we recommend that a foam lance is chosen over a foam gun whenever possible.

In cases where for whatever reason a pressure washer cannot be used, a foam gun is still well worth having as it will remove far more dirt and grime than water alone and can also be used during the subsequent hand-washing process in place of a suds bucket (the idea here is to reapply a thick layer of foam to each panel immediately ahead of wiping it down with a wash mitt, as this ensures maximum lubrication as the mitt glides over the underlying surface). In all cases using warm water will produce thicker and more effective foam with greater cleaning power, to the extent that when using a warm water pressure washer touchless washing becomes a distinct possibility at all times of the year.

 

Polished Bliss

Wow great write up

is demon snow foam any good ? As its on a deal in halfords now

It's ok but requires a stronger dilution to be as effective as the more established ones like Valetpro

It also may be advantageous to go around the car with a detailing brush and some degreaser or all purpose cleaner (I use Bilt Hamber Surfex HD Degreaser at 10:1), simply spray onto the brush and then agitate the areas around the windows, side rubbing strips, wing mirrors (essentially anywhere, where two panels meet and a gap is present) this need not be done every time but after time dirt and grime can build up in these gaps and will either start to grow moss, look unsightly or even pre-empt rust. You will know exactly what I mean when you snow foam and then use the brush and some cleaner on the rubbing strips, the brown/black gunge will run down with the snow foam. 

So as a 'snow foamer' first timer, is best to jet wash first then snow foam or just snow foam then rinse and two bucket it?

If the car is very dirty then a rinse helps before snow foam

I read somewhere that the foam works better on a wet car

If only a quick wash, then snow foam first

This winter I have mostly been using the following process:

 

-Turn off engine

 

-Hi Aleksy, how's it going?  Give it the works please.

 

-get given a cup of tea.

 

-6 Polish blokes leap into action with pressure washer, then wash-mitts followed by drying, window cleaning and tyre dressing.

 

-10 mins later, 'That's £6.00 please my friend', says Aleksy

 

-'See you in a couple of weeks'

 

-Drive off.

If you are happy then that's all that counts