Manual Snow Foamer

[integrale_evo]

One day I’ll be posh enough to have a hot outside tap fitted to make car washing easier

[Gavster]

I keep looking at this thread and wanting to buy one, but I literally never wash my car, it takes so long to do a good job. I actually had an amazing experience at one of the many, many local hand car washes recently. I've tried quite a few, but this one was a cut above. They had great attention to detail, including cleaning inside the fuel filler flap, all the door shuts etc. One of the few times I've come away and felt they did a job that was as good as I'd do. Except it only took about 25 minutes of my time and was a relaxing experience lol

[Gavin]

Bought one of these in Aldi today.

https://www.aldi.co.uk/product/auto-xs- ... 0000642785

Great for a quick wash to get the dust and pollen off. Just used this and the hose after a 5 minute dwell.

Need to fully pressurise it 2 or 3 times to cover the whole car but definitely worth a tenner.

What product did you put in the bottle, please?

[scotta]

I can very much recommend the Bilt hamber foam. Ive tried loads of different ones over the years and found this works the best.

https://bilthamber.com/product/auto-foam/

Its more runny that a stick on foam which the first time i used it made me think it was a bit shit...Until it came time to rinse it. Flies and grime come right off with a pressure wash.

I have the foam lance attachment on my washer. My washer takes a couple of mins to setup though so its no faf at all. It has a built in hose reel and high pressure reel so it winds out and in.

Rinse wise i Use Autoglym Polar seal in the snow foam lance also (I have a seperate bottle) I can recommend that also. The beading lasts for weeks and is easy to apply.

https://www.autoglym.com/psl001-polar-seal.html

[Gavin]

Cheers Scott. I suspect that just getting a better pressure washer would do the trick, but I am too lazt to drag everything out, then plug it in as I have to get everything round from the back shed as I have no power outside, so have to run an extension right round. Was hoping something manual would do the job (albeit not as well) so I don't have to worry about wet electrics.

[Carlos]

Autobrite Magifoam which is cheap for 5l and will last years. Lovely and thick lifting dirt, pretty much sits on the paint until hosing off.

They only other one I tried was a Demon Shine cheapy which just ran off the car in a couple of minutes.

•••••

Although it's now quite pricey at £32 for 5l. I'm sure it was half that 5 years ago.

[Barry]

Halfords got a BH sale on Autoglym stuff btw.

[Marv]

One day I’ll be posh enough to have a hot outside tap fitted to make car washing easier

I had a outside hot water tap (as well as cold, of course) put in during the house build. It comes out from the plant room, using a very short run of pipework to the hot water cylinder. So the hot water comes out almost immediately and faster than anywhere else in the house

[Sundayjumper]

Bought one of these in Aldi today.

https://www.aldi.co.uk/product/auto-xs- ... 0000642785

Great for a quick wash to get the dust and pollen off. Just used this and the hose after a 5 minute dwell.

Need to fully pressurise it 2 or 3 times to cover the whole car but definitely worth a tenner.

Oh, good spot. I'll check out my local this afternoon !

[scotta]

Bought one of these in Aldi today.

https://www.aldi.co.uk/product/auto-xs- ... 0000642785

Great for a quick wash to get the dust and pollen off. Just used this and the hose after a 5 minute dwell.

Need to fully pressurise it 2 or 3 times to cover the whole car but definitely worth a tenner.

Oh, good spot. I'll check out my local this afternoon !

Worth a punt for a tenner. I fine that the cheaper bottles don't like chemicals in them. Ive just chucked out a load that I bought from amazon that just stopped working.

[scotta]

Cheers Scott. I suspect that just getting a better pressure washer would do the trick, but I am too lazt to drag everything out, then plug it in as I have to get everything round from the back shed as I have no power outside, so have to run an extension right round. Was hoping something manual would do the job (albeit not as well) so I don't have to worry about wet electrics.

Spraying it on will be fine with one of the foam pressure bottles - you will need some pressure to rinse it however or your just wasting your time.

[Sundayjumper]

No sign of any in the Blackwater branch

[IanF]

I wonder if one of those would work well to spray carpet cleaner liquid?

[scotta]

I wonder if one of those would work well to spray carpet cleaner liquid?

you wouldn't want to foam that. You want the liquid to go into the carpet then wet vac it out not sit on top.

Most carpet cleaners are specifically low foam so they can be used in cleaning machines

[Mito Man]

I have just remembered that using something like Auto Finesse Bug and Grime remover could be handy for those who don't have snow foam. Wet the car, spray it on the front end, let it dwell, hit the front bumper with water again to stop it drying and let it dwell more. Wash other bits of the car whilst it does its thing. Finally get to the front bumper and the bugs come pretty easy. It's safe on wax and sealants.

[Gavin]

Cheers Scott. I suspect that just getting a better pressure washer would do the trick, but I am too lazt to drag everything out, then plug it in as I have to get everything round from the back shed as I have no power outside, so have to run an extension right round. Was hoping something manual would do the job (albeit not as well) so I don't have to worry about wet electrics.

Spraying it on will be fine with one of the foam pressure bottles - you will need some pressure to rinse it however or your just wasting your time.

Cool, I will need to move the pressure washer forward in my shed. I bought it when I lived in Edinburgh which must be more than twenty years ago now. Part of me wishes it would just break so I could buy a new one! Only a small part, I am half Yorkshire, Half Scot after all.

[Alex88]

My name is mik, and I have never snow-foamed a car.

Me neither. I use Valet-Pro Citrus pre wash, sprayed on and hosed down, and then wash the car with Optimum No Rinse. Brilliant results and no more swirls than from a normal wash, IMO.

[dinny_g]

My name is Dinny_g and I have never washed a car myself…

[jamcg]

My name is Jordan and I haven't washed a car for over 5 years, but when I do I only use one bucket

[mik]

My name is mik, and I have never snow-foamed a car.

My situation has now...... changed.

My Nilfisk (140-6) jet washer came with a snow foam doo-dah, but by all accounts it's pretty crap, so I ordered their "Super Foam Sprayer" which by all accounts is pretty good.

After seeing Scott's comments about the Bilt Hamber foam, I ordered some. But by that time I'd already pressed the button on a small (1 litre) bottle of "Hydro Snow" using the link RichB posted on the previous page. Googled for reviews afterwards (of course) and it doesn't appear to be very highly rated.

Sprayer and HydroSnow arrived today. The latter advises to mix 1 part with 6 parts water, which seems extremely optimistic. I went with a 1:1 mix instead, which provided a reasonable foam on mrs mik's E-Tron, and it jet washed nicely clean after a few minutes. Quicker than a contact wash foh sho.

However. The first rule of getting your jet-washer out, is don't get your jet washer out.

After completing the car, I then spent the next 2.5 hrs jet-washing the entire front drive (which I've neglected for a couple of years so there was a fair amount of moss to deal with), and a 20ft shipping container that has also been neglected for a couple of years. And then I thought I’d better do the driveway gates…

God damn jet-washers <shakes fist>