I'm looking to ask Santa for a pressure washer/foam lance for Christmas and have seen this one offer:

KARCHER K2.21 High Pressure Washer SALT REMOVAL PACKAGE 1400W £99

This come with a foam sprayer in the package.

Is this a good pressure washer and would it be better to get a different foam lance, or are there any better ones on the market for a similar price?

Thanks

Dave

Foam gun looks ok but seems potentially a bit small to do a whole car. Decent foam lance is about 40-50 quid.

Also seems to only be £79 on Amazon or is that a different one?

Foam gun looks ok but seems potentially a bit small to do a whole car. Decent foam lance is about 40-50 quid.

Also seems to only be £79 on Amazon or is that a different one?

Yes, that's the same one on Amazon. I'm checking which will be the best one to get before I send my list off to Santa!

Thanks

Looked into these myself and seem to get the opinion from Detailing Workd that, while many people still use them, the benefits over a straight forward pressure wash and bucket wash are limited (unless more 'aggressive' cleaning product is used). Ease of application being the main benefit, but you still need to go over with a mitt anyway?

Might be worth some further reading before deciding on a seperate foam lance? I did and am sticking with hose and multifunction gun/head, mitt and bucket (rinsed with said gun, none o this 2 bucket stuff). You could by a lot of good cleaning products and kit for £99

Matt

Looked into these myself and seem to get the opinion from Detailing Workd that, while many people still use them, the benefits over a straight forward pressure wash and bucket wash are limited (unless more 'aggressive' cleaning product is used). Ease of application being the main benefit, but you still need to go over with a mitt anyway?

Might be worth some further reading before deciding on a seperate foam lance? I did and am sticking with hose and multifunction gun/head, mitt and bucket (rinsed with said gun, none o this 2 bucket stuff). You could by a lot of good cleaning products and kit for £99

Matt

You use snow foam to take away the hard surface dirt(the stuff that creates swirls) it won't clean the car. you still need soap and water for that.

Why don't you use the 2BM method?

With a few bits you could get a really clean car that looks the biz. How you describe is just a basic wash it and done job. If you added a snow foam lance, quick detailer and a sealant/wax to that you could have a really clean looking car.

Looked into these myself and seem to get the opinion from Detailing Workd that, while many people still use them, the benefits over a straight forward pressure wash and bucket wash are limited (unless more 'aggressive' cleaning product is used). Ease of application being the main benefit, but you still need to go over with a mitt anyway?

The only point of a foam lance is to apply chemical to a surface in such a way as to prolong contact time. That's all the foam does. It just makes the chemical sit on the surface for longer. What is it good for? Stripping waxes, removing traffic film, removing insect debris - anything where you want the chemical to cut away at the soiling over a few minutes. You will remove more with a foam that has dwelled for a few minutes than just with a pressure washer rinse off. If you look at the write-ups on DW you will see that people usually take all the heavy soiling off with the pressure washer first, then foam up, then knock that foam down and only when they have a reasonably clean car do they start with the physical agitation of a mitt. The whole point is not to have pieces of debris getting on the mitt that can get dragged across the paintwork and scratch it.

Might be worth some further reading before deciding on a seperate foam lance? I did and am sticking with hose and multifunction gun/head, mitt and bucket (rinsed with said gun, none o this 2 bucket stuff). You could buy a lot of good cleaning products and kit for £99

The point of any multi-bucket method is the same as above. You want to limit the transmission of dirt from the car to the mitt that then gets dragged across the paintwork. The second bucket is not for rinsing the car, it's for putting the cleanest wash-mitt and water on the car you can get. There is detergent in the second bucket.

The method you seem to be espousing is the one that gives the greatest damage to the paintwork (you're washing your car with a bucket of scratch) and I would suggest you check out DW again for some clarification as to why people do what they do.

Is this a good pressure washer and would it be better to get a different foam lance, or are there any better ones on the market for a similar price?

It's actually not a very good pressure washer, no. It's rated at 5l/minute or 330l/hr. This is important as it's not actually pressure that cleans the car or makes good foam, it's weight of water (pressure x flow rate) that cleans and flow rate that makes good foam.

To make a high pressure figure for sales purposes the manufacturer make the hole in the end of the nozzle smaller so you get a little high pressure water (like putting your finger over an open hosepipe). LOTS of water at pressure is what you need to clean properly.

The foam lance isn't, it's a turbulence inducer, which will make the foam wet and it won't dwell very well. Kaercher domestic are also very poorly constructed and generally suffer from internal leaks which causes pulsing or surging of the pressure washer when you don't have your finger on the trigger.

A better bet would be the Nilfisk C110 at £50.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nilfisk-X-Tra-Pressure-Washer-Motor/dp/B001TUYV14/ref=pd_cp_diy_2

That's rated at 7.1l/minute so it's almost 50% more powerful than the Kaercher and will make better foam with a proper foam lance. It's also better made!

My own choice would be a Nilfisk C120 3.6 which is rated at almost 9l/minute so it's getting on for twice as powerful as the Kaercher. in reality it will probably clean 10 times better.

http://www.worldofpower.co.uk/nilfisk-alto-c120-3-6-120-bar-1700w-pressure-washer.html

And then a decent foam lance on top will be another £50. Yes, it's £130 rather than £60 but it'll last way beyond January, which is when you'll have given up in disgust with the Kaercher.

Do remember though that very few professional cleaners use Venturi pickups/foam lances to make foam any more. They use dedicated foam generators like Dema units which start at £750 and require compressed air to drive them. They'll mak foam that will dwell on a vertical surface for 30-45 minutes, and I'm not talking about Magifoam either!

Some spot on advice here

ALWAYS use 2 buckets, preferably with a bucket guard

I ALWAYS pressure wash and Snow Foam as well

I have no swirls at all!

Perhaps to add to this and gain some advice from some obviously very experienced people on here:

1) What foaming products are there that are aggressive enough to brake down traffic film and dirt without stripping wax protection? i.e. part of a maintenance wash where I've always been advised to use a slick, PH neutral shampoo to simply let the mitt do the work and not attack the LSP's?

2) Are swirls going to be induced in a wax protected paint finish? Mine's wearing 1 coat of HD and has an Aquawax top up every 2 weeks. Beads like a beastie, but noticed a few light scratches under the BP forecourt lights, but can't say whether they were there before the wax or not!

Planning on a full strip back, polish and re-application of HD come summer, but want to ensure that both the wax and paint finish are protected until then

Perhaps to add to this and gain some advice from some obviously very experienced people on here:

1) What foaming products are there that are aggressive enough to brake down traffic film and dirt without stripping wax protection? i.e. part of a maintenance wash where I've always been advised to use a slick, PH neutral shampoo to simply let the mitt do the work and not attack the LSP's?

2) Are swirls going to be induced in a wax protected paint finish? Mine's wearing 1 coat of HD and has an Aquawax top up every 2 weeks. Beads like a beastie, but noticed a few light scratches under the BP forecourt lights, but can't say whether they were there before the wax or not!

Planning on a full strip back, polish and re-application of HD come summer, but want to ensure that both the wax and paint finish are protected until then

1) You can purchase any 'Snow Foam' bulk product from many different traders, some will claim to do a better job than others, most of this will depend on how you use and apply the foam, some will cling longer than others and some are a lot more dilluted. All of these products will advise a specific dillution ratio but generally if you mix it with hot water and use it neat, this will strip most LSP's.

As you have stated having a Shampoo that is slick and lubrictaed along with a good wash media will ensure a safe wash process, this is one of the reasons I tend not to bother with Snow Foam.

2) Yes they can be I am afraid. There are many sealants on the market at the moment that are in my opinion a little further along the line from waxes that can offer a ceramic coating that is scratch resistant.

Hope that helps........

Definitely a help, thanks. Binned my old mitt and got a fresh one this week as it was getting a little tired. Along with 2 clear buckets to see if this makes a difference to the life of the mitt. Plus keep an eye on wash water health

Unfortunately said buckets are currently propping up my knackered ankle so will be a while before I get to try them out now!