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Thanks to all the useful info over in the cleaning forum, I received my new Autobrite lance today.
Excellent build quality btw.

As a complete novice, I filled the lance bottle with 2 inches of Magifoam (as instructed), then topped up with water (not sure if I was meant to do this, but think I read it somewhere.)
After a bit of messing about with the controls, I finally managed to coat both the car and most of the street
Great fun.

Left the foam to "dwell" for 20 mins (Magifoam suggested between 10 and 30).
Then thoroughly rinsed off.

Now call me naive but I though the idea of this method of cleaning was to remove the need for any "hands-on" sponge work ??
Well, the RS looked pretty clean (it wasn't really that dirty to start with). But on closer inspection I could easily have gone over the whole car again with the old foamy bucket method, as there was still a fairly thick film (could write my name in it).
Also, the allows really needed to be further washed by hand (but I didn't have time).
Even the flies etc stuck to the front of the car were still there.

Is this all normal ?

I was rather hoping, I wouldn't need to get my hands dirty ;-0

You need to pressure rinse your car first with water from your washer and then cover in snow foam. Leave 20 minutes and the pressure wash off. Will remove the bulk of the dirt but it is not supposed to replace hand wash with a mitt. HTH.

P_G wrote:You need to pressure rinse your car first with water from your washer and then cover in snow foam. Leave 20 minutes and the pressure wash off. Will remove the bulk of the dirt but it is not supposed to replace hand wash with a mitt. HTH.

Thanks PG. Yeah, I did wet it first (was actually wondering whether it wouldn't be better to apply foam to a "dry" surface and thus allow it to "grip" the dirt better ?? ) Just a thought.

Usually use a Mitt too. was hopping I wouldn't need too.

Had a chance to finally remove all the tar spots with Autoglym Intensive Tar Spot Remover (works well but it's just petrol FFS. so don' waste your dosh on it)
Then I had to rush out, so couldn't really finish the cleaning.

Hey ho.

For tar spots try CQuartz IronX, fantastic stuff for tar spot removal and decontaminating your paintwork of metal pollution.

TimsterRS4 wrote:I finally managed to coat.....most of the street

Pics?

Walking in a Winter wonderland!

My understanding too was foam lance was for removing most of the dirt from really filthy cars so most useful in the winter really - does the snow foam also strip the wax or is that just down to dilution levels ?

Magifoam is the best I have used to date and does not appear to remove LSP so far.

Steve_C wrote:

TimsterRS4 wrote:I finally managed to coat.....most of the street

Pics?

Sorry, was taken with the phone...

MB2 wrote:My understanding too was foam lance was for removing most of the dirt from really filthy cars so most useful in the winter really - does the snow foam also strip the wax or is that just down to dilution levels ?

It depends what foam you use - you really want a pH neutral one which wont strip off your wax. Magifoam is what i use to and is pH neutral.

From what i can gather there is a mixed opinion on applying dry or after an initial pressure wash. I personally apply dry with the idea that it loosens the grime. I also feel it seems to dwell longer applied to a dry surface than wet. Essentially it is just a prewash stage. In the winter it is ideal as you don't want to be using a wash mitt with a load of grit and salt on the car.

I remember my dad borrowed my lance once and filled it up with a whole bottle of Autoglym shampoo undiluted. I remember him telling me that it would be an expensive way to wash your car!

Snowfoam only really lifts (suspends) the worst of the dirt so when it comes to cleaning with a mitt or sponge, you lower the potential to drag across and scratch your body work.

You should still be washing as normal afterwards, its up to you whether or not you go down the 2 bucket route!

Plenty of sound advice here: http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog ... dvice.html

Thanks guys, I've obviously misunderstood somewhere along the line. Was under the impression that using a foam lance removed the need for the hand washing stage and thus speeded up the whole process, whilst removing the possibilty of "swirling" etc.

Guess I've just added another stage by going down this route.... although I'm sure the Mitt-work will at least be easier.
(so when people use a Mitt.... is it after you've rinsed the foam off and then use more ordinary shampoo in a bucket ??_
Surely you don't just use a mitt on the remaining grime without any additional cleaning products?

Cheers

Pie wrote:Snowfoam only really lifts (suspends) the worst of the dirt so when it comes to cleaning with a mitt or sponge, you lower the potential to drag across and scratch your body work.

You should still be washing as normal afterwards, its up to you whether or not you go down the 2 bucket route!

Plenty of sound advice here: http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog ... dvice.html

Ahah... righto, cheers Pie.

Dont forget that the longer you leave on your snow foam or the higher concentration the more likely it is to strip all the wax you have on the car.

I've now taken to halving the amount of snow foam liquid i used to use and increasing the amount of water flow. I was previously using too much and it would strip any wax.

As above you cant really just snow foam the car, the dirt needs agitation using a good quality wash mitt. I've now taken to drying the car using the 'sheeting' method which works well as the cars fully Zaiono'd.

They say the drying phase is just as likely to put swirls in the paint, Usually due to poor rinsing or hard pressure and crap on the drying towel.

Snow foam will strip wax even ph neutral. Any cleaning agent will start to remove the wax no matter how gentle. I would use the snow foam on a dry car as it tends to dwell longer and then use a pressure washer with max water flow and low pressure. If you blast your car on max pressure the water will move the grit off the bodywork as gentle as the grit covered sponges found at your local car wash. You do need to rinse the car well after using snowfoam