Wolfgang Foam Gun.

[WEDEL.1]

A couple of pics of my Karcher attachment in use.

[DMS_Dan]

What have you got in there? I did a touchless wash on mine yesterday. I used duragloss car wash concentrate in mine. It produced a really thick foam which i let dwell for 10mins then i rinsed it off and dried it all without a wash mitt!

[WEDEL.1]

Meguiars NXT. I wouldn't say it's really suitable unless it's mixed at somewhere like 30-50%. I thought it foamed up much more using the container attached to the Karcher.

All week it has been overcast until I decided top wash the Polo, then the sun was shinning bright. The foam dissappeared very quickly.

[Dyldo]

hey guys - i finally got a chance to give my filthy car a wash. I don't think i got the results I wanted or expected, so will post what i did (sorry, got right into it and didn't take pics).

i used the normal vario-flow attachment on the karcher to wet/rinse the car - not that it gets super wet like a normal hose but anyway.
Then i attached the Karcher shampoo-er and put in enough Meguiar's Gold Class wash to fill about to the top of the first "knob" of the bottle - a lot more than i'd put in a normal wash bucket mind you.
This produced just enough foam for the car
I let it dwell for about 5 minutes then rinsed it off, but the car was dirty still. admittedly, it was pretty filthy to begin with.
I then filled the bottle with the blue Armor-all "wash and wax" and that foamed the car pretty easily.
Then i got a microfibre noodle mit and washed the car with the soap on, dipping the mit in unsoaped water.
then i rinsed and chamoised and it came up very nicely.

So, given all that, and no photos unfortunately, I wondered if this is the experience of others or if i did it wrong?

[Mrk_Mickey]

How much product did you use in the end?

[Dyldo]

i used two shampoos - the first was the Meguiar's Gold Class and i never measure it. i usually squirt some into a bucket, add water, and wash away like a madman. I've never measured. so in this case i put in about 100mls maybe? just left it like that and turned the karcher on and let the foam fly!!
as for the blue armor-all wash and wax stuff, i filled the karcher shampoo bottle up and let fly again.

[WEDEL.1]

I've used that in the past, and on the Polo that time. I may buy that Duragloss shampoo that Dan was using and see how that goes.

I once used the bottle on the Karcher a couple of times & I think that works just as good.

[Mrk_Mickey]

Hmm...Dyldo, it sounds as though you used heaps of product. I personally wouldn't recommend doing it like that, simply because you'll use HEAPS of wash and it'll cost heaps.

This is from page 2:

... be careful with what you put in. Make sure its PH neutral otherwise it will strip the wax

Stole this from Detail Paradise:


---SNIP---


To get the mix ratio in the Karcher Foam Gun right, I mixed up a 300ml sample concentration of the Shampoo's as follows-

Meguiars Soft Wash Gel - 3:1 (3+1=4 x 28 = 112:1 = close enough!)
Meguiars NXT Car Wash - 4:1 (4+1=5 x 28 = 140:1 = close enough!)
Meguiars Gold Class Car Wash - 4:1
Meguiars Shampoo Plus - 4:1
Meguiars #62 Car Wash Shampoo & Conditioner - 4:1
Meguiars Hyper Wash - 14:1 (this was easier to do by mixing up a coulpe of litres of diluted concentrate.)

By diluting it more, it's making it work the same way it would in the bucket, therefore using the right amount 'per wash'. This means that the products (like my expensive car wash stuff) that don't foam up much inside the bucket won't be very good for the karcher. You'd want to use the cheap stuff (make sure it's still pH neutral and doesn't strip wax) or even the duragloss stuff at the right ratio to get good foam

[Dyldo]

so before i go and get a pH kit, does anyone know the pH of the blue Armor-all?

and i assume the mixes above are diluted with water?

[Mrk_Mickey]

so before i go and get a pH kit, does anyone know the pH of the blue Armor-all?

and i assume the mixes above are diluted with water?

Yes, and yes! No need for a pH kit either because most washes should say whether or not they're pH neutral.

Armour-all is said to be pH neutral, even though it's economy stuff. That's probably the best stuff for your Karcher (although I haven't seen the results from Dan's duragloss stuff) because it does the job best.

Now, to get the ratio for INSIDE the detergent bottle, it's real easy but a tad confusing. It goes like this:
First, get the original ratio for what you'd use in the bucket (ie if the wash says use 10mL in every 4L the ratio will be 1:400)
Second, divide the ratio (ie, 1 divided by 200)
Third, times the answer by 28 (because the ratio of Karcher water-flow to Attachment-flow is 28:1, meaning 28 units of karcher water per one unit of detergent bottle flow)
Fourth, times the answer by 100 (don't ask why, it just works haha)
Fifth, once you've got that number, divide 100 by it, and you'll have your number for your ratio!

Here's a working example:
1) 1 : 400
2) 1 / 400 = 0.0025
3) 0.0025 x 28 = 0.07
4) 0.07 x 100 = 7
5) 100 / 7 = 14.28

Just take 1 off of your answer (because the answer indicates how many parts of mixture in total) and you've got your ratio! For example,
14.28 - 1 = 13.28
Therefore your ratio is 1 : 13.28 (13.28 units water to 1 unit detergent).


If you work back, you'll know you get it right if the answer is the same as the original ratio. For example,
13.28 + 1 x 28 = 400

So, the original ratio of 1:400 is just over 13 parts water to one part detergent, inside the detergent bottle There's no need to go measuring 13.28 units of water though, just stick to 13 and it will be fine. Rounding up or down to the nearest number never hurt anyone



I hope that helps, I know it's stupidly confusing but it does work for me.