Which soap for Foam Cannon?

Okay, this is a two part question. I bought a new foam cannon I found for pretty cheap. I've been wanting to try one out, but didn't want to spend over $100 on one. If I like this one and it breaks over time, I'll buy one that is more expensive. The name brand, I believe, is Trinova, and I got it off Amazon for pretty cheap. I just got back from the beach, so I'm going to wash, clay bar and polish my new truck tomorrow afternoon/evening. I thought I'd try the new foam cannon out. I know there are specific foaming car washes but I have Pinnacle Bodywork Shampoo, Maguair's Gold Class and Turtle Wax Ice in my garage. To try out the cannon, which of these will get the best result in a foam cannon?

If I decide to keep it and it works well, what shampoo would you suggest using in the cannon going forward? I'll order some tomorrow night, if the cannon works okay with that I already have.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you may have.

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Originally Posted by mayberry

Okay, this is a two part question. I bought a new foam cannon I found for pretty cheap. I've been wanting to try one out, but didn't want to spend over $100 on one. If I like this one and it breaks over time, I'll buy one that is more expensive. The name brand, I believe, is Trinova, and I got it off Amazon for pretty cheap. I just got back from the beach, so I'm going to wash, clay bar and polish my new truck tomorrow afternoon/evening. I thought I'd try the new foam cannon out. I know there are specific foaming car washes but I have Pinnacle Bodywork Shampoo, Maguair's Gold Class and Turtle Wax Ice in my garage. To try out the cannon, which of these will get the best result in a foam cannon?

If I decide to keep it and it works well, what shampoo would you suggest using in the cannon going forward? I'll order some tomorrow night, if the cannon works okay with that I already have.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you may have.

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The only one I know on your list is Mequires I have that one as well , but have not used it in either of my Cannons. But what I have used is Snow Foam X by CarPro and it’s pretty good. Have also used SnowFoam and Mr.Pink(think that’s the name)by Chemical Guys and both of them are pretty decent.

The is no 'best' soap out there for any setup...everyone has their favorite(s). Of the ones you mentioned, I've only used the Meguiars, and I think it's a quality soap and a great value. It will foam nicely, but the foam does have a tendency to dissipate quickly.

Do you have an electric PW or gas powered? With an electric, and the standard (1.25mm) orifice in the cannon, you might be a little disappointed at the foam. Swapping that orifice out with the smaller (1.1mm) one will improve your results. There are tons of Youtube videos out there that might help you see what you can expect.

There are a ton of soaps out there that work well. I am currently using the Mckees 37 SiO2 or Extreme Foam. Sometimes I use the Wolfgang Autobathe. They are between $49-63/gallon. Buy some small sizes and try them till you find one you like.


Wolfgang Auto Bathe 128 oz.

128 oz Xtreme Foam Formula Car Wash



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See what I mean. Tons of Threads on this stuff!

Okay, I used the foam cannon last night and I'm a little underwhelmed. I don't feel like it did much. It foamed the entire truck and I let it sit for 5 minutes or so. But, it didn't look like any of the dirt was running off the truck. It still needed to be scrubbed just like normal. I thought this would make washing the truck easier, but it didn't seem to do so. I'm thinking of sending it back.

If you are going to have a cleaning ability from the foam you have to use a dedicated prewash foam. Gyeon Foam or gtechnic w4 citrus foam is a couple of good ones. It don't take away the need of touching the paint. If you where going to do that an acidic based TFR foam would be needed. As they use in touchless car washes. The problem is that most LSP is not chemical resistant enough for effective touchless washes. A coating is if you don't use high alkaline prewash foam.

If you foam with Gyeon or gtechnic and clean with the water pressure from the PW. And then blowdry or drive your car dry. You can handle some light dirty cars. It would be clean enough to do a waterless wash or rinseless wash after prewash foamed. Then if you have a small PW it maybe is not effective enough to spray off the dirt. That's my experience with foamcannon and PW. Since I got a kärcher K7 PW with 2600psi 2.6gpm specs from my old Nilfisk 1300psi 1.1gpm. It's a big difference in the cleaning ability and it's going much faster to clean and rinse with it. And the prewash foams makes a difference in the cleaning ability too. It's more noticed in the harsher winter weather when cleaning. I almost every time follow up with a 2bm wash after prewash foam and use degreasers that handles different kind of dirt before touching the paint.

I think my issues was that it didn't really even seem to break up the dirt very well. And using the pressure washer just seems to be a hassle to break out every weekend, and hook up. I much prefer washing with a regular hose, where I can go from shower, to pressure to just running hose water for different needs. The cannon spit out foam, but didn't seem to do much, other than aesthetically being pretty cool. I felt like it just slowed me down, and didn't do anything to "enhance" the car wash. Am I missing something, or is it all hype and fad?

It comes down to what you have for expectations. But if you are useing the foamcannon you have already taken the PW out? An ordinary hose vs a PW is mileage between in cleaning ability IMO. And the bigger of a PW you have the more cleaning ability you get. If you use the PW as a hose with doing rinsing I understand the disipointment. But if you where to use the PW as a tool to clean with it's pretty effective IMO. If you use a car soap to foam and hope it's effective to desolve the dirt I also understand you are not satisfied with it. A car soap I would use to foam on the car before I went to a 2bm for an extra lubrication as you would use a foam gun. If you where to use the foamcannon as a prewash step or a quick touchless wash and clean with the water pressure from the PW. I only use a dedicated prewash foam. And as wrote before you don't get it so clean that I would be comfortable to drying with touching the paint after that. But you would get a very cleaner surface before you touch your paint and minimize the risk of wash marring scratches. Just my thoughts about it and experience with foamcannon and PW vs hose.

carpro reset:)