Gilmour/Foam Lance Guns

[GaryMan]

Spending too much time on Detailing World

Anyways, these too much info on DW so was wondering whether anyone will be kind enough to explain to me.

These guns- i think the Gilmour ones just attach to your hose whereas the Foam Lance ones need to be attached to a Karcher (sp) but what are the main difference between the two?

I presume the connection and the power?

Also, whats the benefits of using these?

From what i gather, you "snow foam" the car and let is soak for a bit and then rinse, but then you still have to wash with 2 bucket method.

So by "snowing" the car, it this just to pre-wash the car as such? and then the 2 bucket to give the car a good clean?

Quite tempted with the Gilmour one with 5litre of snow solution in the GB at the moment for £55

Help and advise will be greatly appreciated as usual

Gary

 

[SpaceMonkey]

So by "snowing" the car, it this just to pre-wash the car as such? and then the 2 bucket to give the car a good clean?

Spot on mate

If your going for a big clean including clay etc, then I'd say soak with a diluted solution of APC, THEN wash with 2 bucket & the rest of your planned wash.

Or alternatively you can just snow with with a strong mix of shampoo which will make 2 bucket washing easier.

 

[GaryMan]

so is it worth getting IYO Lee ?

 

[SpaceMonkey]

so is it worth getting IYO Lee ?

I don't use one tbh mate.

Seen my pal use one & it's great for very heavily soiled cars as a pre-wash treatment, but imo if you keep your paint work up to scratch then its overkill in my book.

 

[Gunn79]

I have just orderd the AB heavy duty foam lance, and 5L of super snow foam, so will be able to comment on how good they are soon.

 

[paul.goffin]

I bought a Gilmour and I'm not too impressed.

It may be I don't have a much water pressure from my hose.
I only used the Snow foam, that came with it and may need to try some new stuff.

As it doesn't foam up like the pics you see on detailer world.

It seems to clean ok on dusty stuff, but doesn't really loosen tough grime like I thought it would.

I think the Lancer foam gun is better, but you need a pressure washer.

 

[GaryMan]

I think the water pressure around mine is pretty good and i done want to splash out on a pressure washer so thats why i was thinking about the Glimour ones.

Still not too sure, i think i will give it a couple of days/weeks to think about it but if its a case of getting this is purely effectively a prewash then might pass as these gadgets/ products arent cheap!

Paul>i'll be interested in more of a detailed "review" from your own personal experience if you dont mind.

thanks

Gary

 

[nes2002]

Was thinking along the same lines but couldn't justify spending £45+ on a hose attachment. Instead, went for this...

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/washing-drying/super-spray-hose-end-sprayer/prod_335.html

Supersprayer - 2 parts SSF one part shampoo, topped up with water, use is as a pre wash (soakes and losens grit and dirt on the surface), which reduces chance of swirling during washing. And also as a quick wash if it hasn't been used much since its last wash - Spray over, let settle, rinse, spray and a quick wash with a mitt (no buckets) a final rinse and its clean and shiney again in 10 mins

Yes you don't get the merengue type foam, but it does a very god job..

Nes

 

[GaryMan]

That looks good Nes- might give that a shot instead.

dont suppose i could just use "normal" shampoo like Megs NXT in this?

 

[SpaceMonkey]

dont suppose i could just use "normal" shampoo like Megs NXT in this?

You can use whatever you want tbh Gary.

I use NXT Shampoo & get decent results.

 

[Gunn79]

Received the AB heavy duty foam lance, 5L super snow foam this afternoon (plus Meg's APC + spray bottle).

I had to give it a go, so first up was my GF's Ibiza GTI. I think I was a bit keen with the mix of super snow foam and Meg's Hyper Wash, her car literally looked like it had been blasted with whipped double cream, so thick!! It took ages to start moving. Rinsed it off with the power washer, and left it to drip dry.

I then tried it out on my Teg. A much more sensible mix ratio, and an adjustment to the foam gun, pics below....

Teg sprayed down before ready for foam;

Teg foamed;

The foam I had on the Ibiza was 5 times thicker than the Teg pics, but the Teg mix seemed more effective. Once again, I rinsed the Teg down with the pressure washer.

As for the results, not totally sure yet. I guess it does help as a pre-hand wash, and loosened up the bugs on the front end nicely, but I would not like to substitute it for a hand wash. It doesnt leave your car clean, just gets rid of some grime, and loosens up any hard stuff. I will have to try it out a bit more, see how it goes, as I cant really make a sensible comment after 1 or 2 goes.

 

[karl_tate]

what kind of mix did you use, there is alot of different products and its mind boggling as to which one to choose??

 

[Gunn79]

what kind of mix did you use, there is alot of different products and its mind boggling as to which one to choose??

I used one 'pump of Meg's Hyper Wash, and topped it up to about 1cm with super snow foam, and filled the 1L bottle with warm water.

 

[GaryMan]

DOH!!

I'm completely useless

I will be getting this next Saturday off a local lad, Richie from DW- hes the same guy that detailed my car a couple of months ago.

Getting the Gilmour gun with 5l of snow foam included for £40 so saving about £15 on the GB price.

 

[GaryMan]

I used the Glimour gun with the snow foam for the first time over the weekend- forgot to take some pics but i wasnt very good with it anyways

Need to experiment with the mix as there wasnt that much foam and i must have put about 1-1.5in of snow foam in the bottle and filled the rest of the bottle with warm water (this is what Richie told me to do).

I had to run around the car as the mixture was going down quite quickly so again, i just need to get to grips with this.

I left the foam on for about 5-10mins then rinsed off and followed it up with washing the car with Meg NXT two bucket method with Meg wash mitt.

After washing, another rinse then i used my new Sonus der wonder drying cloth for the first time and was amazed how much this towel absorbed the water I think i might have managed to dry the entire car without wringing(sp) the cloth.

Best of all, there was hardly, if any, dirt on the cloth which meant the combination of the snow foam and NXT had done its job :smt023

Dead chuffed with the purchase and most likely have another go with it this weekend.

 

[jules86]

I use 2cm of snow foam with 1cm of shampoo (poorboys in my case)

Karcher and foam lance

Applied

After 5 mins