High Pressure Washer with Detergent bottle or Foam Cannon?

[soapboxpreacher]

At Home Depot looking at pressure washers as I have an older AR112 which is good but cant be rolled (no wheels), tips easy, is a pain to wind the cords around it (this really sucks) and seals are going every year on it...cheap to fix but still. Its not a bad unit but moving around with it and winding the cords around it SUCK!! It is however small. I have a foam cannon with it which work as a foam cannon should. So today HD had a Sun Joe SPX3000 for $129 which is pretty good deal, its more powerful...which for cars isnt necessary (but I use a washer for a ton of stuff, the wand is heavier but also substantially better constructed and you can store the cords on it fairly easily although no winder. It has wheels on it and an integrated detergent system. With that said here are my questions?

Can you put car shampoon in the detergent bottle? What is the ratio to mix?

How well does it work?

How does it compare to a Foam Cannon (which to me the jury is still out on these to begin with)?

I only like the high pressure wash on heavy soiled vehicles. I think they are good on certain occasions as I find I get good results without it and just a garden hose sprayer and the no pressure hose rinse works excellent.

[swanicyouth]

You can put any water soluble liquid in the soap bottle that is not corrosive to the bottle, hose, or lance. The soap is being injected after the pump on most of these types of machines. What you will get is a watery soap mixture - which in reality may not look like "snow foam", but likely works just as well and is indistinguishable regardless in the final result.

[SWETM]

It's dilution from the soap container is useally 1:20 on a PW. So dilute car soap or a degreaser as prewash with water in the soap container. It's not a foaming system and just a low pressure chemical mixing. Sure some will foam very little or if high concentration is used. It's not compareble with a foamcannon or foam gun in it's way to foam. Otherwise the dilution from it is often the same at least as a foamcannon on the highest chemical mix setting.

The foam does not clean on it's own. What it does for me is I get a longer dwell time and there for also desolves the dirt and road film better than just use it as a spray on.

The problem IMO is that the US have not come as far with the product development with prewash foams. Just cause it has not been as popular to use. IMO and IME there is prewash foams that actually works with desolving road film and some kind of dirt. Swanicyouth has used the favorite prewash foam I have. But maybe we are not on the same point on how it works for us LOL. There are not going to be a crazy difference between a PW cleaning and prewash foam and PW clean rinsing it off. And it depends on what level of dirt you have on the vehical and also what kind of dirt you have. Different chemicals desolves different kind of dirt and difference in the effectiveness it desolves the specific dirt. And even if the cleaning with the PW don't take the dirt off it's often softened so you need less aggitations to get it off.

I always use a PW when washing my car and sometimes during the summer months I do a couple of touchless washes. It's a superior way to be getting loose dirt off the vehical. And getting it cleaner before you touch your paint I can only see as a benefit. The rinse bucket is almost clean when I'm done with a very dirty vehical. Cause of the prewash foam and other chemicals if needed to be used. And the biggest cleaning ability is from the PW. Then it's also how you use your PW. Some just use it to rinse with the nozzle 2-3 feet away from the vehical or longer. That's not going to be cleaning anything and you are good to be useing a hose instead. But if you actually use the water pressure from the PW to clean with and hit every part of the vehical with it. And hold the nozzle tip just so far away as you get a good cleaning ability from it. Useally with the PW I have with specs 2600psi 2.6gpm I hold between a half a foot or a foot away from the vehical and where the water hits it cleans and I use it as it was a wash mitt to describe it. In the longrun the cleaner you get your paint the better it will look. Then it's also in what environment you live in and what kind of dirt you have. So this is a personal preference and what makes me feel what is needed for doing safe washes.

When it comes to rinse off the car soap it's more effective if you have a great water flow from the hose. The hose is a better choice. But if you have a powerfull PW it's goes almost as fast as a hose and since I already have it out I often use the PW to rinse with too. Sometimes I do a sheeting rinse with a low water flow from the hose to get as little of water to soak up when drying. That's not so good with a PW to do LOL.

3D Super Pre-Soak and GG Foaming Surface Wash is 2 products that looks like good prewash foams. And you have the Gyeon Foam and gtechnic w4 citrus foam that is also good. Often the prewash foams is kind of pricey sadly. Then you can use different kind of degreasers as pretreatment if you don't use a foamcannon. And you can mix in a little car soap in the degreaser and use it in the foamcannon and you can get a great cleaning ability that way too. For an example 1-3oz of Meguiars Super Degreaser D108 depending on how much dirt you have and 1-3oz of Meguiars Hyper Wash D110 and the rest of the 32oz foamcannon bottle with water. Max chemical mix setting on the foamcannon and reduce if you get a too thick of foam. I like in the middle of runny foam and shaving cream thick foam. An effective home made prewash foam I think and also a little more economical too. Useing only car soap to foam on and clean rinse off is not so effective. And almost better to just clean prerinse with only the PW.

[mengelhardt]

I really prefer using a foam cannon with my vehicles. My pressure washer actually has dual on-board soap tanks with independent On/Off valves so you can use one or both at the same time, or none at all. But even with that setup, I still prefer using the foam cannon. The biggest reason is EAZE OF USE. much easier to clean up.

With my foam cannon, I dump in the sump undiluted and set the dial adjuster on the cannon to dial up or down the amount syphoned. When done, I can just dump any remaining soap back into its original container and rinse our the foam cannon tank easily. That isn't as easy to do with my 150# gas pressure washer. Not so easy to dump out those on board tanks or return any unused soap back to another container. Also, the foam cannon creates vastly better/thicker foam than using the low pressure soap nozzle pulling from the on-board soap tanks. My gas pressure washer is big, if you have a smaller electric unit, then maybe dumping out the on-board tank isn't such a pain. my PW is fairly large at 7HP, 3300psi and 3.2gpm.

I now keep house wash in one on my on-board tanks all the time and just use the foam cannon for all my vehicle washes/soaps.

I think I paid about $14 for my foam cannon on Amazon and it was well worth it.

I use my PW for rinsing too, but that's because it has a decently high flow rate of 3.2gpm. If it was less, then just use a hose.

PW's work great on wheel wells, tires and rims too.

[briarpatch]

At Home Depot looking at pressure washers as I have an older AR112 which is good but cant be rolled (no wheels), tips easy, is a pain to wind the cords around it (this really sucks) and seals are going every year on it...cheap to fix but still. Its not a bad unit but moving around with it and winding the cords around it SUCK!! It is however small. I have a foam cannon with it which work as a foam cannon should. So today HD had a Sun Joe SPX3000 for $129 which is pretty good deal, its more powerful...which for cars isnt necessary (but I use a washer for a ton of stuff, the wand is heavier but also substantially better constructed and you can store the cords on it fairly easily although no winder. It has wheels on it and an integrated detergent system. With that said here are my questions?

Can you put car shampoon in the detergent bottle? What is the ratio to mix?

How well does it work?

How does it compare to a Foam Cannon (which to me the jury is still out on these to begin with)?

I only like the high pressure wash on heavy soiled vehicles. I think they are good on certain occasions as I find I get good results without it and just a garden hose sprayer and the no pressure hose rinse works excellent.

I have the exact same PW and really like it. Not the best hose in the world, but more than sufficient psi and gpm for washing cars. An inexpensive foam cannon will work just fine, although after having used the MTM PF22 and a 20.00 Amazon one, there is a noticeable difference. I've not used the soap dispenser bottle(s) on it though, so I can't help you there.

[swanicyouth]

It’s amazing I tell ya... How come I can pressure wash filthy vinyl siding with moss / algae growing on it that hasn’t probably ever been washed & it comes perfectly clean with no soap or agitation... But a car? No.

A car can be washed every week or so. Drive around in the rain & you need soap & agitation to get it clean. I can’t figure it out. Once dirt gets on car paint - it doesn’t want to easily come off. Must be a conspiracy to sell soap and mitts.

We need a scientist to figure this out. I don’t even know what kind of scientist. A dirt scientist? Maybe not. All we have is a bunch of different peoples’ differing opinions & experiences & manufactures’ unregulated and unproven claims.

This soap > that soap? Foam cannon > no foam cannon? Hard water spots can be minimized by a soap type?

Who knows for sure? I know who knows for sure - not a single soul out there. You would think since auto manufacturers are selling $50k+ vehicles they would do some research and recommend what works & what doesn’t.

Nope. All they will do as give you the same story as everyone else. Wash & wax periodically with old fashioned stuff from 30 years ago. And, to the best of my knowledge, none of them recommend a pressure washer, a ceramic coating, or a foam cannon to wash your car. None.

[PaulMys]

It’s amazing I tell ya... How come I can pressure wash filthy vinyl siding with moss / algae growing on it that hasn’t probably ever been washed & it comes perfectly clean with no soap or agitation... But a car? No.

A car can be washed every week or so. Drive around in the rain & you need soap & agitation to get it clean. I can’t figure it out. Once dirt gets on car paint - it doesn’t want to easily come off. Must be a conspiracy to sell soap and mitts.

We need a scientist to figure this out. I don’t even know what kind of scientist. A dirt scientist? Maybe not. All we have is a bunch of different peoples’ differing opinions & experiences & manufactures’ unregulated and unproven claims.

This soap > that soap? Foam cannon > no foam cannon? Hard water spots can be minimized by a soap type?

Who knows for sure? I know who knows for sure - not a single soul out there. You would think since auto manufacturers are selling $50k+ vehicles they would do some research and recommend what works & what doesn’t.

Nope. All they will do as give you the same story as everyone else. Wash & wax periodically with old fashioned stuff from 30 years ago. And, to the best of my knowledge, none of them recommend a pressure washer, a ceramic coating, or a foam cannon to wash your car. None.

Love it.

If cars get any more orange peel in the paint jobs, they will start to resemble vinyl siding.

Also, car manufacturers today do not want your car/truck to last more than a decade. They are under WAY more pressure to provide a reliable product than say, a vacuum cleaner manufacturer, but still not in their best interest to have a product that will keep going strong after the required warrantee period.

[SWETM]

It’s amazing I tell ya... How come I can pressure wash filthy vinyl siding with moss / algae growing on it that hasn’t probably ever been washed & it comes perfectly clean with no soap or agitation... But a car? No.

A car can be washed every week or so. Drive around in the rain & you need soap & agitation to get it clean. I can’t figure it out. Once dirt gets on car paint - it doesn’t want to easily come off. Must be a conspiracy to sell soap and mitts.

We need a scientist to figure this out. I don’t even know what kind of scientist. A dirt scientist? Maybe not. All we have is a bunch of different peoples’ differing opinions & experiences & manufactures’ unregulated and unproven claims.

This soap > that soap? Foam cannon > no foam cannon? Hard water spots can be minimized by a soap type?

Who knows for sure? I know who knows for sure - not a single soul out there. You would think since auto manufacturers are selling $50k+ vehicles they would do some research and recommend what works & what doesn’t.

Nope. All they will do as give you the same story as everyone else. Wash & wax periodically with old fashioned stuff from 30 years ago. And, to the best of my knowledge, none of them recommend a pressure washer, a ceramic coating, or a foam cannon to wash your car. None.

I think that the roads with tires, brakes, fumes and liquids then all the environment stuff makes for an awefull mix of dirt. That's more harder to get clean. Then it's all up to you in what kind of level you want your vehical to look. And how you get there is many ways. Some is simple and some more harder depending on the vehical and environment you live in and have. Then those that don't care and wash like most dealerships does. Useing dirty equipment and touch your paint while it's very much of loose dirt on it. How long before the clearcoat fails and with the newer thinner paints like Mazda. 3-8 years until the clearcoat gives up. But even with a failed clearcoat you have primer and paint left. Most steel and other materials is treated with something useally so there you have some extra years until the vehical it self starts to wear down. And it can be going some more years until the safety to drive it is impacted. So a car works even if it's not looking good. And take you from A to B either way. There are extreme to both ends and those in the middle too. Useally people on a detailing forum is on the extreme of haveing their vehical to look extremly good and clean. Is it needed to be done to be useing the car? No way there comes personal preference of how much you will do. And no right or wrong until you neglect the vehical so safety is comprimised. A trashed paint is no safety problem. But very dirty windows can be it.

Manufactures don't want their products to last forever it's bad business. Also most people don't won't some products to last forever either since it's harder to justify to get a new one if what you got is in a great condition.

[soapboxpreacher]

So got to try the soap dispenser and it works as expected. It creates not foam at all. More like a presoak solution. It works fine. I prefer foam cannon. To be honest I think neither does anything better then the other as they dont encapsulate or lift dirt anymore then other does. Both are easy to work with. I used Megs Wash Wax carnuba and it was fine. Cleaned the heck out of the dispenser and the hose for the bottle as the carnuba can clog it up. Using a different non-wax soap might make this easier. Car came out well.