Snow foam and Magifoam

[dErZ]

Well I used the above for the 1st time on the misses Civic and tbh Im not very impressed. Filled the litre bottle with an 1" of magifoam and then the rest with warm water. Covered the car in foam and left it for 10mins. Blasted it off with the pressure washer and then waited to see how clean it was.

 

Bearing in mind the misses never cleans her car and spends alot of time on the motorway it was pretty filthy.

 

While it was drying I ran my fingers over the body work and my fingers came away black, leaving dirt marks on the car. So I foamed the car again and left it. This time the majority of the car was clean apart from some stubbon stains and both the front doors, I couldnt even jet wash the dirt off (but you could wipe it off with your hand??)

 

I was under the impression that the magifoam(being the more expensive would break the grime down thus leaving a clean car)

 

Any one else got a lance and magifoam who would care to comment?

[SteveRS]

I've got the autobrite lance and magifoam and found that it didn't always drag all the dirt off as such like its supposed to although it did drag some off because I could see it in the foam. I think it's down to my jetwash though because I can't get really thick foam from it even when I put 2" in the bottle. I went to the autobrite back to basics course and they used a kranzel (if that's how you spell it) which had really good pressure and in turn created really thick snow foam.

 

Some of the autobrite products are really good but some not so. Purple rain is a really good wheel cleaner but stinks like rotten eggs. Citrus wash is a good degreaser for the muck around the bottom of the car.

 

Will 370z used my magifoam, he may have something to add.

[ilogikal1]

Snow foam isn't a replacement for actually washing the car. Foaming will remove an amount of dirt in a touchless manner thus reducing the likelihood of causing scratches/marring to the paintwork when it is washed with a mitt afterwards. It does also make the washing easier and quicker too, I find.

[dErZ]

Cheers chaps. With the lance from Autobrite I also purchased a Nilfisk C120 which is meant to be a good entry level pressure washer. It definately made some awesome foam all over the car.

 

I will have to try it on my car 'which is kept clean' and see how it deals with a weeks worth of dirt.

 

I thought that it might just be to remove the top layer of dirt and then i can use the two bucket method to clean.

 

I wanted to perfect the lance before i get my 350z (which im wanting to get detailed and some paint correction) so that the paint stays perfect.

[Ekona]

I don't even bother with foam any more. It just adds another layer of faffing around to the washing process, with very little gain.

 

Shame, as it's so much fun

[dErZ]

I hope it does work. I was sold hook line and sinker by the snow covered cars

[SteveRS]

I hope it does work. I was sold hook line and sinker by the snow covered cars

 

 

It does something because the foam has dirt in it when it drips on the floor, but like you say you need to also wash the car with the 2 bucket method.

 

Sometimes I do a snow foam then rinse then snow foam again, then wash.

[ChrisS]

Snow foam dwelling is more about getting rid/dissolving road traffic film, (the stuff that make windscreens smeary) and surface dirt.

[rothers2901]

I only use the snow foam when i want to remove all of the wax and polish before a full detail. I was told when buying the foam it wouldnt remove any of the waxes as it was polish and wax friendly but found it not to be the case. My advice is once you have used snow foam re-wax again.

[HaydnH]

I've also just started using the Autobrite snow foam lance and Magifoam (with a Nilfisk c120). The thickness of the foam is excellent, but it doesn't remove that much dirt if you haven't washed the car for a while, but as long as it reduces the likelihood of scratches and swirls I'll keep using it. To me it doesn't really add much faffing, once the pressure washer etc is out anyway, the time taken to fill the bottle and foam the car is next to nothing and you can crack on with the alloys/filling your wash buckets while it's dwelling.

 

I think I'll try Tim's snow foam next.

[Zugara]

Snow foam to " clean" the car is almost as much use as drying your car with a panty liner IMO.

Absolute crap stuff. Although SwanageDave cleanes his chickens with it, and he says it brings them up quite well

 

Yep, you were fished in good nd proper ..........

[Will370z]

I borrowed steves washer, lance ans snow foam and found that although it was alot of fun it didnt really do that much, the car was still covered in light dirt. May have been becuaseit did it wrong or that the foam wasnt thick enough but based on my first attempt i wasnt sold

[Daryl]

Iv got a lance and Magifoam,and have to say that its better than the previous foam i used. (was not Autobrite)

I usually foam,then start to wash my wheels,by the time thats done,i blast the foam off,and find it does remove the dirt pretty well. Try leaving the foam to dwell abit longer,if its not scorching outside,you can leave it a good half hour

[SteveRS]

Iv got a lance and Magifoam,and have to say that its better than the previous foam i used. (was not Autobrite)

I usually foam,then start to wash my wheels,by the time thats done,i blast the foam off,and find it does remove the dirt pretty well. Try leaving the foam to dwell abit longer,if its not scorching outside,you can leave it a good half hour

 

+1

 

I also make a start on the wheels whilst the snow foam does its stuff, I also go around with my detailing brush doing all the edges and badges.

[BulletMagnet]

If you blast the foam off with the PW, then you might as well not be foaming it.

The snow foam is supposed to avoid any pressure durin the clean and it's main job is to pull loose dirt on the surface off. Main point is not to scratch your paintwork, then wash with a wash mitt rather than a sponge.

Snow foam is not a total cleansing solution.

[DannyBoy]

I can vouch for this stuff: http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog/meguiars-hyper-wash-cat2.html

 

It's apparently not as effective as some other foams, but it genuinely does leave my wax alone so I really like it. As has been said, snow foam isn't going to leave you with an immaculate car, but it does remove the top layer of crap from the car and softens any caked-on stuff so you can get away with using less pressure in the hand wash stage. You also end up with less dirt rubbed into the wash mitt, which always seems to happen even if you're using two buckets. I would say snow foam helps, but isn't by any means essential to good detailing.

 

DB

[4RE Leather]

I was under the impression you played a hose pipe over the car and saturated it prior to applying the foam!

[BulletMagnet]

Nope, personally foam touches car before any water during my wash.

[ilogikal1]

Nope, personally foam touches car before any water during my wash.

 

That.

Rinsing the car first just encourages the foam to run off more quickly, if anything.

[dErZ]

Well I foamed my car today and it brought it up spotless. 10x better than the misses car. I do how ever look after my car

 

I'll try foaming It without the prewash next time as I agree with the comments above about it dripping off too quickly.

[BulletMagnet]

Well I foamed my car today and it brought it up spotless. 10x better than the misses car. I do how ever look after my car

 

I'll try foaming It without the prewash next time as I agree with the comments above about it dripping off too quickly.

Perhaps the missus car could do with a good good detail, like proper deep clean and claybar. Then you may also find it easier to clean on a regular basis.

Once a routine is set, it actually sometimes can become a touchless wash, but I still do the whole thing as I find it a tad therapeutic, lol

[dErZ]

Well I foamed my car today and it brought it up spotless. 10x better than the misses car. I do how ever look after my car

 

I'll try foaming It without the prewash next time as I agree with the comments above about it dripping off too quickly.

Perhaps the missus car could do with a good good detail, like proper deep clean and claybar. Then you may also find it easier to clean on a regular basis.

Once a routine is set, it actually sometimes can become a touchless wash, but I still do the whole thing as I find it a tad therapeutic, lol

 

Totally Agree with yr comments but she doesn't seem to care about her car so I'm loaved to spend a day claying it. I too find it relaxing cleaning my vehicles