Gilmour Foam Gun shampoo ratios

[Shortspark]

Yesterday I ordered a Gilmour 75QGFMR Foamaster Adjustable Foam Gun. I like to use CG Clear shampoo, which is also suppose to be excellent when used in a foam gun. According to directions supplied by CGs, the dilution ratio for Clear when used in a foam gun or cannon should be 1:16, ie, 1oz of the Clear shampoo to 16oz of water.

That is easy enough but it becomes complicated because the gun has dilution ratios built into a sliding pin mechanism of some kind, which can be adjusted to a wide range of different ratios. I think the gun can be set to shoot from one ounce of product per gallon of water all the way up to 12oz per gallon.

So, my question is where should this pin be set? Should it be to the highest, lowest or in-between setting? I will experiment in order to achieve good foam of course, but I don't want to waste soap either. I intend to make a 1:16 solution as per the instructions and pour it in the gun, but then I don't know where to set the gun's internal ratio adjustment. The reason this is important is because Clear is safe when heavily diluted (1oz per 4 or 5 gallons of water) but by increasing the ratio of shampoo and making it stronger will strip LSP and I want to avoid that when doing in-between full detail washes . Anyone have ideas on this?

[weekendwarrior]

I set it to the max, you are also spraying 2 gallons of water every 20 seconds or so through the gun, test this on a marked 5 gallon bucket for your setup, pour 2 gallons into a bucket from an empty water/milk jug, use a black marker on the outside to set the level of 2 gallons, dump it, then fill up the bucket again using water and foam gun setup and time how quick it takes to get 2 gallons. Only a few ounces come from the foam gun canister during the same interval. Your water pressure, hose etc may be different from mine so do a quick test first if you are unsure.

That way you have an idea of how much of the 1oz of solution comes from the cannister as you fill the bucket , obviously you can just use water for the test.

[Shortspark]

Good idea, weekendwarrior, that is just what I'll try - thanks!

[TurboScooter]

To get roughly a 1:512 final dilution ratio with the Foamaster on the 2oz/gallon setting use a premix that is made using 4 oz of Citrus Wash Clear and 28 oz of water.

Obviously, if you change the ratio using the mixing pin then you need to adjust the premix.

[Shortspark]

Thanks, that is what I needed to know.

[Setec Astronomy]

Sometimes it takes a little while to wrap your head around this, and unfortunately there are several factors at play. The dilution settings of the gun are 1, 2, 4, 6, and 12 oz./gal. At 1 you will use the least amount of solution from the cup, at 12 you will use the most. So ideally you would be at the lower end to not have to refill the gun as often. Unfortunately, many washes that dilute at 1oz/gal, which you could put straight into the cup, are too thick to draw properly, and you won't get the right mix.

So typically I dilute those to 1/4 (8oz shampoo/24oz water) and set to 4oz/gal on the gun--which is the middle hole so that allows you to go weaker or stronger from there, say if you are doing wheels you might want stronger, if you are hosing off pollen or dust and trying to do a touchless you might want weaker.

[Shortspark]

Thanks Setec - that makes perfect sense! The only real way to know if the "Clear" shampoo from CGs (or any other soap for that matter) will strip the paint of LSP will be to run the hose on the paint and watch the beading (before vs after). Once I establish that I will know what solution ratios to mix and what settings on the gun to use for both maintenance washes and pre-detail wash. Using the middle setting on the gun makes the most sense because, as you point out, you can go stronger or weaker as needed by simply moving the setting on the gun. I can see right now I will be washing my car a whole lot in the next few weeks just to get familiar with this gun. In fact, I'll start this weekend because the tracking sheet shows it will be delivered this Friday.