Griot's Garage Foam Cannon v2 experiences

[SWETM]

i have a power washer but didn't when i bought my foam gun years ago. the results are adequate just using megs gold class. What's the advantage of using a pressure washer to apply foaming soap, given that you're really just looking to cover the car with foam, and can someone convince me that it's worth the gas, setup and cleanup to use my pressure washer and spend the $100 on the cannon?

hobbyist only here

For me it's about getting the car as clean as possible before I do the touching wash. A really good and effective prewash foam helps me to get it cleaner. The heavy cleaning is from the PW if you are useing it to clean with. And not just wisp it around and rinse off the prewash foam. But use the water pressure from the PW to clean every part of the car as you will be doing with a wash mitt. Especially clean rinsing the nocks and crannies thoroughly with it. The foam part is not so important actually. And the benefit with foam is a longer dwell time and easier to apply than a spray bottle or pump spray bottle IMO. I always has the PW when washing my car. The use of an ordinary car soap is not effective at all for the prewash step. As it's made for being aggitated with. A video I saw when the GG Surface Wash was released and one from GG showed how to use it. Made me think at least that they have taken in what many of us do in the EU. If your car is not to dirty you could get away with a touchless wash when you useing a good dedicated prewash foam. Have not tried GG Surface Wash but just to hear about it is a step forward. Gyeon Foam and gtechnic w4 citrus foam is 2 other products that is dedicated prewash foams and good ones. The results is easiest noticeble in your rinse bucket after a wash as you would not have the amount of dirt in it that you useally have. On a well maintained vehical you almost don't see that much difference. The difference is more noticeble in the longrun then. Often your LSP is on a high water repellent level longer and you will have less contaminants when it's time for decon and reapply the LSP or polishing.

I think that one part of why prewash has not been as popular before. Is that you have a 110v electric power grid. This gets you to have a less effective electric motor than we that have 220v-240v. And PW uses and a lot of power to be effective. You are on the edge for getting the great cleaning ability from the electric PW. It's good but if you have a gas PW the difference are there on the difference in cleaning ability. Then it's also much what environment you live in and what dirt you have on the cars. I know I was recommending to switch to the 1.1mm orifice in the foamcannon when I joined the forum. That's is needed in a PW with 1.5gpm or lower. So think that many that tried a foamcannon and a smaller specs PW and a foamcannon with the standard 1.25mm orifice in it. Was very disappointed with the foam they where getting. Then when you don't have much of dedicated effective prewash foam offered and used car soap. You don't see more of a difference between clean rinsing it off with or without foam.

Some use the foamcannon to foam on the car soap when you do a contact wash. And if you like suds from your car soap you like the amount of suds/foam you get on your car with car soap and foamcannon. I personally like a car soap that has an awesome lubrication and cleaning ability. If it suds from it good but not the most important for me.

[irvsmith]

I like how the Surface Wash seems to cling on great. Do you guys see the run off part from the foam too on the ground? As I understand it it's a 2 part foam that 1 layer run off easier and the 2 part leaves a thinner wet foam left. This is useally very effective to have on for a long dwell time without it to dry on the paint. It's also useally makes a big difference in the cleaning ability when you have it to dwell as long as possible on dirtier vehicals.

That was my experience. There seemed to be two layers of foam. When I was rinsing after the foam there was this thin foam layer which required a bit more ‘attention’ to rinse off.


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[Belo]

For me it's about getting the car as clean as possible before I do the touching wash. A really good and effective prewash foam helps me to get it cleaner. The heavy cleaning is from the PW if you are useing it to clean with. And not just wisp it around and rinse off the prewash foam. But use the water pressure from the PW to clean every part of the car as you will be doing with a wash mitt. Especially clean rinsing the nocks and crannies thoroughly with it. The foam part is not so important actually. And the benefit with foam is a longer dwell time and easier to apply than a spray bottle or pump spray bottle IMO. I always has the PW when washing my car. The use of an ordinary car soap is not effective at all for the prewash step. As it's made for being aggitated with. A video I saw when the GG Surface Wash was released and one from GG showed how to use it. Made me think at least that they have taken in what many of us do in the EU. If your car is not to dirty you could get away with a touchless wash when you useing a good dedicated prewash foam. Have not tried GG Surface Wash but just to hear about it is a step forward. Gyeon Foam and gtechnic w4 citrus foam is 2 other products that is dedicated prewash foams and good ones. The results is easiest noticeble in your rinse bucket after a wash as you would not have the amount of dirt in it that you useally have. On a well maintained vehical you almost don't see that much difference. The difference is more noticeble in the longrun then. Often your LSP is on a high water repellent level longer and you will have less contaminants when it's time for decon and reapply the LSP or polishing.

I think that one part of why prewash has not been as popular before. Is that you have a 110v electric power grid. This gets you to have a less effective electric motor than we that have 220v-240v. And PW uses and a lot of power to be effective. You are on the edge for getting the great cleaning ability from the electric PW. It's good but if you have a gas PW the difference are there on the difference in cleaning ability. Then it's also much what environment you live in and what dirt you have on the cars. I know I was recommending to switch to the 1.1mm orifice in the foamcannon when I joined the forum. That's is needed in a PW with 1.5gpm or lower. So think that many that tried a foamcannon and a smaller specs PW and a foamcannon with the standard 1.25mm orifice in it. Was very disappointed with the foam they where getting. Then when you don't have much of dedicated effective prewash foam offered and used car soap. You don't see more of a difference between clean rinsing it off with or without foam.

Some use the foamcannon to foam on the car soap when you do a contact wash. And if you like suds from your car soap you like the amount of suds/foam you get on your car with car soap and foamcannon. I personally like a car soap that has an awesome lubrication and cleaning ability. If it suds from it good but not the most important for me.

got it. so as I thought, it's not really anymore or less beneficial for the foam application, it's just that you already have the powerwasher out for the other applications.

[SWETM]

got it. so as I thought, it's not really anymore or less beneficial for the foam application, it's just that you already have the powerwasher out for the other applications.

Yeah you can prewash with just a ordinary spray bottle with the right chemical to desolve the kind of dirt you have on the car. But to get as clean as possible before I touch wash the PW is needed. Not many other tools is as effective as a capable PW IMO. Then it's how far you want to be as safe as possible. Do you not have any wash indused swirls and marring when you correcting the paint it's all good. And do you have swirls and marring that you can see is from the washing. Then it's always improvement to be done in your wash methods. And this depends on so much as how scratch sensitive paint you got and the environment you live in and what kind of dirt you have where you drive and if you have garage or not and how often you wash your car and so on. If you don't have any problems as you see now then keep doing what you are doing. If you have more marring and swirls than you would like. Make it effective to take out your PW and set it up. Filling the foamcannon bottle and then foaming and dwelling don't take long. And if you have a great LSP that the sheeting of water is great and a good blowdry equipment. Then during the summer months you can get away with a touchless wash weekly and the 3rd or 4th wash or so you need to be doing a touch wash of some kind. Even a prewash foam step followed by a waterless wash or rinseless wash is very much more safe to do. Than those on it's own.

Here's Forensic Detailing Channel doing a shootout between snow foams. Hope it's okay to link this video but AGO sells a couple of the products in it. He sums it up great and explain a little more. And also you are able to see the difference between good snow foams. Remember also that we have even stronger products than these that is knowned as TFR (traffic film remover). You can mix in a little of an APC with a car soap and get a little like the cleaning ability some of these have. For the record I use the winner in this test and it's crazy good. If you are on the Autopia forum too. Go over there and see my thread about this video and more information about products.

YouTube

[ssnimrod]

My experience with the Griots Boss Foam Cannon was negative.

The included quick connect fitting to 1/4" MNPT is machined incorrectly, will not fit into my pressure washer or any other pressure washer.

I took the Foam Cannon, with the fitting to Harbor Freight and Lowes (to confirm), its to long (?) confirmed, will not snap into place.

Also contacted the vendor (Amazon), unable to help, then contacted Griots directly. Griots sent another fitting, wrong one won't work......

Also went to the local hardware store as griots suggested, to get another quick connect fitting, the hardware store do not have the correct fitting.

At this point I started the return and learned that Amazon doesn't cover the return freight. Its not a huge deal the return freight, but its annoying considering its a manufacturer defect and the Boss Cannon was never used.

I'm sure Griots is a stand up company, however the Boss Foam Cannon was disappointing to me.

[bob m]

Sorry to hear you had so many issues with the GG Cannon. What PW are you using? I would mention that GG IS a standup company with excellent customer service and a no hassle return policy, which of course is part of good customer service. IMHO, I would rather buy directly from the manufacturer or other retailers - AutoGeek or Autopia rather than from the Amazon, which is known for fast shipping, but not so good/easy customer service. I know this is against the wind, since Amazon is EVERYWHERE and again my opinion, but if we don't support other other retailers, one day they just won't be there any longer. Off my soap box.

I'm sure you will get this taken care of even though you may have to pony up for the return shipping, but I would and do recommend GG products, they are good products, fairly priced and have customer service to back them up.

[Thomkirby]

My experience with the Griots Boss Foam Cannon was negative.

The included quick connect fitting to 1/4" MNPT is machined incorrectly, will not fit into my pressure washer or any other pressure washer.

I took the Foam Cannon, with the fitting to Harbor Freight and Lowes (to confirm), its to long (?) confirmed, will not snap into place.

Also contacted the vendor (Amazon), unable to help, then contacted Griots directly. Griots sent another fitting, wrong one won't work......

Also went to the local hardware store as griots suggested, to get another quick connect fitting, the hardware store do not have the correct fitting.

At this point I started the return and learned that Amazon doesn't cover the return freight. Its not a huge deal the return freight, but its annoying considering its a manufacturer defect and the Boss Cannon was never used.

I'm sure Griots is a stand up company, however the Boss Foam Cannon was disappointing to me.

Sorry but I just have to comment on your situation. Like Bob M, I have the GG Foam Cannon, newest version. It works on my SunJoe, Greenworks, Ryobi, and my new MV925 spray gun.

I know this sounds stupid but is your quick connect the wrong one? I ask this only because a air fitting looks similar but will not properly seat for a water quick connect. I have done the same thing using what I had in my tool box. That is when I saw that the connections are machined different. Compare the fitting to your spray tips for the wand. I sure you will find the solution!

And if you want to sell the GG foamer, I would be interested it, send me a PM!

[oneheadlite]

The included quick connect fitting to 1/4" MNPT is machined incorrectly, will not fit into my pressure washer or any other pressure washer.

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. I know exactly what you’re referring to as far as the fitting not working with your pressure washer connection - the included fitting is not “machined wrong”, it’s simply not compatible with your pressure washer quick connect.

For clarification for other folks, It’s not a matter of the threaded portion, it’s the “barrel” of the fitting where it inserts into your wand is slightly longer than what your PW calls for.

My understanding is that the fitting that comes with the Griot’s cannon is for more industrial pressure washers, not the smaller ones that many people run. I’ll freely admit it’s a bummer that they don’t have the alternate quick connect fitting for the rest of us.

I ended up getting helped out by a forum member here who sent me an appropriate stainless quick connect, but you can find them on Amazon as well. Like you, I also didn’t have luck with the hardware store + big box store I tried having the right style fitting.

Sorry to hear you’re giving up on it, I love mine. Works great with the little Ryobi PW I’ve got once you get the fitting sorted.

[bob m]

Sorry but I just have to comment on your situation. Like Bob M, I have the GG Foam Cannon, newest version. It works on my SunJoe, Greenworks, Ryobi, and my new MV925 spray gun.

I know this sounds stupid but is your quick connect the wrong one? I ask this only because a air fitting looks similar but will not properly seat for a water quick connect. I have done the same thing using what I had in my tool box. That is when I saw that the connections are machined different. Compare the fitting to your spray tips for the wand. I sure you will find the solution!

And if you want to sell the GG foamer, I would be interested it, send me a PM!

Sorry, just to clarify, I have lots of GG products, but not their foam cannon. Again, hopefully all will work out well with ssnimrod.