Is foaming enough?

[aim4squirrels]

If a car is lightly soiled with a week's worth of dust/dirt accumulation, is foaming enough to remove it, given that I have access to a foam cannon and pressure washer to remove the soap and dirt accumulation?

Reason I ask is because I've been thinking about the old mantra of the less you touch the paint, the less likely you are to induce marring.

I have a Black vehicle, and I've always followed a foaming with a 2 bucket wash. I'm also paranoid about inducing more scratching/marring than is absolutely necessary. It made me wonder that if foaming is indeed enough, then perhaps running a wash mitt over it is actually excessive and might be overkill if there has been nothing more than a wind blown dirt accumulation in a week's time especially if the vehicle is coated (PBL diamond surface coated) which seems to repel dirt accumulation much better than a typical wax or sealant.

I'll admit I'm too much of a coward to experiment, but I wonder if there are some of you out there that might have experimented with this and can tell me your experiences with it good or bad.

After all, I won't live long enough to make every mistake on my own.

[Quiksilver5882]

You can definitely power wash your car and then use the foam cannon to remove light dirt.

[aim4squirrels]

Awesome, thanks for the recommendation. I get worried about the dying step as I do have to use a towel for spots.

[FUNX650]

There's the possibility of road/traffic film, that may have "built-up" on many panels of the vehicle during the week, that gives me pause.
Often it's hard to detect the total amount of this type of contaminate.

Even with the vehicle having a Coating:
Will foaming/pressure washing remove all of this film?
(I've found that it, too often, is 'embedded'.)

Bob

[Quiksilver5882]

If you plan to towel dry I would recommend that you use a wash mitt. If you have a master blaster or a leaf blower you can get away with just a power wash and foam bath.

[WillWashesCars]

Maybe? It's not a definitive answer, but it can remove some if not all dusting. But you would have to air dry the vehicle otherwise you may induce marring while drying if not all the dirt is removed.

[dfoxengr]

Just attempted a touchless type wash today. Hadnt cleaned the vehicle in a month. It jad some film and light dirt. Its protected with 1 month old powerlock(best sealant imo)

OPC 4:1 on lower sides,wheels and wheel wells
Eagle one a2z for tires(my goto brown tire cleaner)
Let sit for a couple minutes while i got foam cannon ready
Mtm hydro with mixture of cw&g plus maxisuds 2, nice foam
Let sit a few minutes
Powerwash everything very well and leafblower to dry..

Still road film and dirt.

Now im not saying it doesn't work some, at least it got the big stuff off so next i did a waterless wash with griots and followed that with v07. Truck looks pretty good.


My normal goto, most scratchproof, and fastest wash method though is a montana 10" brush being continuously flushed with a gilmour gun and cw&g. Lots of runny foam to dislodge any particles that are removed by the brush. Brush also passes the "cd test" so i know its gentle. This wash method is probably half the time as a 2 bucket, and is safer imo. Requires 0 setup, just get foamgun and brush and go. You are only going to wash with the tips of the bristles though, in a flicking motion, and using short (4") strokes. All this helps avoid scratching by reducing risk if a particle is not flushed.

[Tato]

That will depend largely... on my own DD I use PBL coating and when I could wash it every week, only foaming and rinsing thoroughly was enough to get rid of everything. To dry, I was using Megs quik wax with a waffle soft towel doing my best to avoid any marring. - I tried some quick detailer first, but quik wax worked better for me. My car is also black, 'damn' softest honda black paint hahaha


Just like Nothing will last forever, I was not able to wash my car in many weeks (like a month), and like you already discovered, the same method wasn't enough. Had to go for conventional wash...

So, if you can wash your car that's coated / well protected every 5-7 days, foam / rinse method will work for you (**sure it'll depend if you traveled 200000 miles in that week on harsh climates and dirty roads or done a Rally).

For general daily use, every 5-7 days foam / rinse / dry is ok. More than that, in my case at least, not enough.

However, whenever I'm to wash a car I foam / rinse / foam again prior to bucket method anyway.

Looking forward to hear from you,

Kind Regards.

[fly07sti]

If you plan to towel dry I would recommend that you use a wash mitt. If you have a master blaster or a leaf blower you can get away with just a power wash and foam bath.

+1 I have done this numerous times on my cars and my truck. If it's just heavy dust and no real road film, it turns out great. Spray wheels/tires with whatever I feel they need, foam vehicle, let dwell for a few minutes then power wash, then free flowing rinse and dry with metro blaster.

[TundraPower]

You will never go wrong with a persoak no matter how "lightly dirty" you think a car is. The goal is to remove as many contaminants as possible using the least aggressive methods possible before a contact wash.

[aim4squirrels]

Awesome responses guys, I appreciate it. What you all have stated are the same things that have been floating through my head: road film probably wouldn't come off, just a dusty mess would probably be fine, but air dry is the only way to go in case any dirt is left on the surface.

Seems to me the possibility of marring by using a wash mitt is probably much lower than the possibility of marring should I take a drying towel to a surface that wasn't properly cleaned.

I'll stick with the mitt.