Pressure washer foam cannon

[CumminsCrazed]

ring i picked up a gas powered 2600 PSI pressure washer and id really like to buy a nice foam canon for it for pre soaking etc. Not really sure where to look or any of that jazz. Whats a good branded, well built and reliable foam cannon to look into?
thanks guys!

[Nezil]

Re: Pressure washer foam cannon

I recently bought an MTM Hydro foam cannon as it appears to be the same as the branded ones on autogeek and other retailers on the 'net. I've found it to be awesome when used with Meguiars Hyper Wash, and my pressure washer is a Karcher electric 1800 PSI / 1.5 GPM model. I'm pretty sure that with your washer you'd have even better results.

One thing that you will need to check is the connector on the end of your trigger gun. The MTM comes supplied with a 1/4" mail quick connect, and an M22 male screw connector that you can substitute if you wish. The actual thread in the foam cannon is a female 1/4" NPT, so if yours is not one of those two, you can buy adapters from various places.

For reference, I got mine from Wayfair for about $50 if I remember correctly. Adapters for my Karcher were additional.

[DogParkGuy]

Re: Pressure washer foam cannon

Sorry, I never thought it made much sense to buy a "foam washer". You still need to apply your washing mitt to really clean the surface thoroughly. Why spend the money for the gear and hoses?

[Nezil]

Re: Pressure washer foam cannon

DogParkGuy, you're absolutely right that you need to apply your washing mitt to really clean the surface thoroughly. The foam is best used as an initial pre-wash to loosen the larger dirt particles and start soaking the car before you start touching it.

I actually bought my pressure washer for a different reason - I wanted to be able to rinse my car with De-Ionised water (to prevent water spots, and remove the need for trying it entirely) without the expense of buying and running a CR Spotless system.

I'm able to produce totally pure 0 ppm TDS De-Ionised water at just over 50 Gallons / day, at very low cost (ask if you want more details about this). I store this water in 5 gallon drinking water bottles, and then use a Karcher K3.740 to pump this water directly from the bottles at my car. I've since refined this method slightly, and now have a 5 gallon bucket with a hose connection on the bottom. I upturn the 5 Gallon bottles on the top of this bucket through a lid with a hole in the middle of it. This gives me a 10 Gallon reservoir of DI water, and swapping bottles over is easy. Washing a car takes between 10 and 20 Gallons including the initial foam pre-wash and a nice long rinse.

I have found that the foam cannon makes a fair bit more foam (I would guess about 20% more) if powered with De-ionised water; standard tap water where I live is ~400 ppm TDS.

Once I had the pressure washer anyway, the additional cost of the foam cannon was negligible.

Before anyone complains about the use of a pressure washer on paint... I never use the pressure washer to actually clean the car; that's what my lambs wool wash mitts are for. My pressure washer makes foam, and rinses, that's all.

Back on topic... I have found that if you foam up a car a second time, it makes doing a two bucket wash so much fun, the amount of suds is obviously incredible, and your wash mitt will glide across the paint. So even if you don't pre-wash, using a foam cannon is a great way to enhance your two bucket wash

The best approach would therefore be:

Foam the car up -> Wait for a few minutes -> Rinse it off -> Re-foam it up (potentially a section at a time) -> Two bucket wash -> Rinse.

[CumminsCrazed]

Re: Pressure washer foam cannon

what is the link for the MTM Hydro Foam Cannon

[Nezil]

Re: Pressure washer foam cannon

I don't have enough posts to allow me to post a clickable link I'm afraid, but I did a Google search for "Wayfair MTM Hydro Foam" and it was the top response. The price is $42.99 + Shipping (and tax if applicable).

[CumminsCrazed]

Re: Pressure washer foam cannon

anyone else? i know nick uses one....

[Murr1525]

Re: Pressure washer foam cannon

http://autogeek.commerce-search.net/search?keywords=foam+cannon

Some of these maybe.

[Nezil]

Re: Pressure washer foam cannon

My understanding... and I might be wrong, was that all of the foam cannons on the Auto-Geek site are the same, and they're all identical, or extremely similar to the MTM Hydro product I mentioned.

When I was searching, I did find a Chinese company making the same thing. MTM Hydro is an Italian company, and their product is manufactured there. I only mention this because as I was searching I thought... wow, these could be identical and much much cheaper.

There is a British company selling one that also looks the same, from a company called PA, also Italian I believe.

Finally, the other product that has received good reviews is the Cam Spray, though it's a little more difficult to get hold of, and made of plastic which some users didn't like.

I did the same research a few weeks back, and I don't think you'll find any other options.