Just ordered a foam cannon. But why double bucket?

Been watching foam cannon videos and noticed that soap companies recommend using a 2 bucket method on top of the mountain of foam on the truck. I get a bucket of clean water to rinse the sponge in but why do I need to add more soap ?

 

The theory is that the foam cannon is supposed to loosen the dirt already on the car. Then you're supposed to rinse that off with a pressure washer. That should have gotten 90% of the dirt off. The remaining 10% will be cleaned off using the contact wash. Which is physically agitating the panels with soapy water and a mitt. The second bucket is clean water which you rinse your dirty mitt in.

 

Always remember your goal is to be moving the least amount of crud across your paint as possible when washing. Welcome to the foam cannon world!!

 

Ok I think I understand the logic. Are honeydew snow foam or mr pink any good in a cannon? My current favorite wash is hydrosuds.

 

Mr. Pink is one of those soaps I think everybody has tried but I've never heard of anybody keep using it, nothing impressive about it. Honeydew will foam plenty good, I think it's heavy on the foam in the formula. I was happy with it for the most part but the below mentioned soaps are better.

This one only sells by the gallon Meguiar's Hyper Wash, great inexpensive per use high concentrate soap.

Personally I'm a fan of CarPro Reset, it's stupid expensive for a gallon (they go by 4 liters) but is even more concentrated and still has great cleaning and suds power at dilution ratios lower than HyperWash or Honeydew.

Autogeek/Autopia usually runs a 25% off sale every few days, stock up with one of those.

 

Regardless of what soap you use, remember, use hot water in the foam canon bottle then add your soap, not cold water. Using hot water will increase foam production. I also use Carpro Reset (3 oz. in the foam canon bottle).

 

While I totally get the two bucket wash method, it doesn't seem worth the extra work to me. I do however use a grit guard similer to this one.

 

perfect explanation. I also highly recommend a dirt trap. I use one in both of my buckets.

 

While you're at it, order one of these. Helps blow all the water off the panels and great at getting rid of water that collects around the emblems, windows, and wheels.

 

Was thinking about getting a hand pump foam cannon. I have to go to one of those coin op do it yourself places as I have no access to water where I live. Currently I use a bucket of my own ceramic soap when going there. Is it just a waste for me to get the hand pump cannon?

 

If you find a good hand pump cannon please let me know, everything I've looked at seems like a lot of pumping to cover a very small area.

 

Marolex brand is what I had plan to get

 

I bought an IK sprayer and the foamer a while back. The sprayer is great and the 32 oz it holds is just the right amount to do a prespray with something like a rinseless/waterless wash. The foamer puts out an embarrassing amount of foam for the amount of work it takes to throw it on the truck. Though from what I've seen the Marolex may be better units.

I always say get a foam cannon because you already have a pressure washer rather than go get a pressure washer so you can run a foam cannon. I'm highly skeptical that foaming the car pulls any more dirt off the paint than the pressure washer rinse you follow it up with. At least in my experience and I try to keep the truck clean enough that it never gets full on filthy. Having said that I've got a great pressure washer setup and I'll continue to use mine.

In your case with the coin op, I'd use the bay for rinse only then pull it out and use a Marolex sprayer (not foamer) with CarPro ech2o, Wolfgang Uber or ONR. Then I'd do the Garry Dean method where you have a bucket of solution already mixed up with 10 towels or so (The Rag Company Eagle Edgeless 350). Wipe away the residue with a plusher a couple towels like a TRC Eagle Edgeless 500 or 600. In the cold months use a bucket with a gamma lid and fill up the solution of towels with hot water, when it's warm you can just fill the bucket in the bay and mix the solution for the towels.

 

I know this is kind of an old thread, but I've been watching detailing videos from Ammo NYC and Detail Geek. From what I gathered from watching those videos is you foam the vehicle, then with the foam still on the vehicle, you hit it with the 2 bucket method (3 bucket method if you have a wheel bucket) - soap bucket, wash mitt, rinse bucket.

I picked up this one a couple weeks back and used it last weekend. It worked great. It's kind of pricey if you get the microfiber towels and his cleaning products.

https://www.ammonyc.com/product/hoseless-lift-kit-150/

If you do go with this bundle, I would grab 2 or 3 more packs of the microfiber towels. You get 6 with the bundle, but that's not nearly enough for a Tacoma.

 

Get yourself about 5-6 good quality microfiber wash mitts. Do the top of truck with one side of the mitt, then flip it and do the hood with the other clean side. Take that mitt and put it aside. Grab another fresh mitt and continue doing the same thing around the truck, switching to a new fresh mitt every 2 panels. By doing this, u can eliminate the 2 bucket method. You are also cutting down on the contamination of grit of using the same mitt on the whole truck . Hope this helps

 

As someone who did the 2 bucket method for over a decade, this is what I've been doing the past 2 years and won't be going back. It's must faster and there is no chance of cross contamination.

 

Yep 4 mitts here. I foam the truck. Basically divide the truck into 1/4s one mitt for each 1/4. Maybe 15 minutes to wash. Separate mitts for the wheels.

 

I use the hose foam gun. Spray the foam first, let it dwell, then rinse it off, then quick bucket wash, dry with a leaf blower then use detail spray. All Griots products.