Karcher k2 -snow foam questions
Discussion
Hi guys always been keen on washing my pride and joy with the good old fashioned 2 bucket method. Beginning to become a choir now has I have a black car and keeping on top is a nightmare. Just picked up a new toy 2 months back, a golf 7R. I was determined to get white or blue as cleaning and swirl marks etc would be a lot more forgiving. However A black turned up with the exact spec I wanted and I just couldn’t resist 
car is 3 years old I assume previous owner financed car and couldn’t care less about keeping the paint work tip top- resulting in car covered in swirl marks.
Fast forward had the car 4 stage machine polished, looks the absolute nuts now, minus the few stone chips on front end but can live with that and it’s always going to happen unless going down PPF route which I don’t really want to do. So anyway bought myself a Karcher k2 washer today, I’m a complete novice when it comes to pressure washers, my questions are do you snow foam the car intially followed by usual 2 bucket method, or do you snow foam car then clean with mitt and then hose off and dry? Surely the second option is asking for more swirl marks and scratches? I’m not a pro cleaner by any means, I only use meguiars products and there reasonably priced and easily accessible, recently bought some dodo juice purple haze which I’m yet to try, but just confused with this pressure washer business at the moment.
Any recommendations for a good snow foam solution? And do you really need the lance attachment? Really want to get this right as the car looks stunning at the moment, was even toying with the idea of getting a electric blower dryer off amazon to further reduce chances of any swirl damage.
Any input appreciated, cheers
car is 3 years old I assume previous owner financed car and couldn’t care less about keeping the paint work tip top- resulting in car covered in swirl marks. Fast forward had the car 4 stage machine polished, looks the absolute nuts now, minus the few stone chips on front end but can live with that and it’s always going to happen unless going down PPF route which I don’t really want to do. So anyway bought myself a Karcher k2 washer today, I’m a complete novice when it comes to pressure washers, my questions are do you snow foam the car intially followed by usual 2 bucket method, or do you snow foam car then clean with mitt and then hose off and dry? Surely the second option is asking for more swirl marks and scratches? I’m not a pro cleaner by any means, I only use meguiars products and there reasonably priced and easily accessible, recently bought some dodo juice purple haze which I’m yet to try, but just confused with this pressure washer business at the moment.
Any recommendations for a good snow foam solution? And do you really need the lance attachment? Really want to get this right as the car looks stunning at the moment, was even toying with the idea of getting a electric blower dryer off amazon to further reduce chances of any swirl damage.
Any input appreciated, cheers
Instead of getting a snow foam lance, get a pump sprayer from Screwfix and use Bilt Hamber Auto Foam or AutoGlanz Spritzer as a pre wash. Use the pressure washer for rinsing it off, and for rinsing off the car shampoo from the hand wash.
There's an older thread on here with a few comments as to why that's a good option.
There's an older thread on here with a few comments as to why that's a good option.
to the OP.
I use a karcher snow foam jug/nozzle, and mix the snow foam at 5 parts water 1 part snow foam. Best i've used so far is Autoglum polar blast.
Also use a 3000W garden leaf blower to blow all the droplets off afterwards to avoid alot of toweling.
Another top tip is, if you can, use waterbutt water. you can fit a hozelock adaptor on a waterbutt tap easily. the water is a a lot kinder, has no limescale or additives in it to make it taste nice, and leaves barely any watermarks even in the sun. I've had black cars so feel your frustration.
My Process:
1.Jet wash car down first, don't use the dirt lance (the one that goes in circles with a ball bearing in the nozzle). no closer than 4 inches
2. Use snow foam to pull the grit and muck off the car. they're not actually that much of a gimmick in my opinion. you want the dirt to be pulled off the paint and not get in your mitt
3. use a decent mitt. not a sponge. with each load of suds i put a decent glob of car shampoo on each run. provides lubrication.
4. dont let anything dry and jet wash off the suds. I helpful tip is to only wash in the shade, or early morning/late evening. Spesh with black !
5. use leaf blower. i've got a special nozzle where the end of the blower tube is quite small. this gets alot of the water off the paint.
6. don't scrimp on towels. use decent ones like meguires drying towels or similar. water should be dabbed/wiped off, not rubbed off. as soon as you do that you'll get swirl marks.
Some of my cars using this method. As you've got all the swirls out, definately worth doing all you can to prevent them going back on.
I've found on German cars the lacquer is really good and if you get the odd reappeared swirl mark, a quick rub down with Meguires ultimate compound gets the swirl out.
HTH.
Adam.
I use a karcher snow foam jug/nozzle, and mix the snow foam at 5 parts water 1 part snow foam. Best i've used so far is Autoglum polar blast.
Also use a 3000W garden leaf blower to blow all the droplets off afterwards to avoid alot of toweling.
Another top tip is, if you can, use waterbutt water. you can fit a hozelock adaptor on a waterbutt tap easily. the water is a a lot kinder, has no limescale or additives in it to make it taste nice, and leaves barely any watermarks even in the sun. I've had black cars so feel your frustration.
My Process:
1.Jet wash car down first, don't use the dirt lance (the one that goes in circles with a ball bearing in the nozzle). no closer than 4 inches
2. Use snow foam to pull the grit and muck off the car. they're not actually that much of a gimmick in my opinion. you want the dirt to be pulled off the paint and not get in your mitt
3. use a decent mitt. not a sponge. with each load of suds i put a decent glob of car shampoo on each run. provides lubrication.
4. dont let anything dry and jet wash off the suds. I helpful tip is to only wash in the shade, or early morning/late evening. Spesh with black !
5. use leaf blower. i've got a special nozzle where the end of the blower tube is quite small. this gets alot of the water off the paint.
6. don't scrimp on towels. use decent ones like meguires drying towels or similar. water should be dabbed/wiped off, not rubbed off. as soon as you do that you'll get swirl marks.
Some of my cars using this method. As you've got all the swirls out, definately worth doing all you can to prevent them going back on.
I've found on German cars the lacquer is really good and if you get the odd reappeared swirl mark, a quick rub down with Meguires ultimate compound gets the swirl out.
HTH.
Adam.
Thanks mate appreciate the help 
have you got a link to the blower you got? And also the attachment to connect on to the hose to make the water less harsh? I bought myself some autoglym snow foam just the other day, but also noticed the polar wash as you mentioned, are they essentially the same thing? Because they both mention using with a pressure washer? From what I can make out it’s just a shampoo, which you use after snow foaming the car, would it be okay to maybe rinse the car down, snow foam it, rinse it off, then do a once over with the polar blast and using 1 bucket of clean water (with a grit guard) clean it down with a mitt? The part I don’t want to get wrong is the drying, a blower would certainly make life a lot easier, I do have the meguiars supreme drying towel and the water magnet, the towel is very thick and impressive but it’s just awkward to use because it’s so big and thick, you can’t help but rub it on the paint work. I wanted to apply some sort of wax once cars dry, I’ve bought some dodo juice purple haze which I’m itching to use, I’ve also got the finger applicator they do- problem is again I’m going to be rubbing the car down, which if I’m honest I’m abit frightened to do now. Have some meguiars ceramic wax and quick detailer too, which is just a spray wax, it works well but not very long lasting esp this time of year where rain is abit more frequent.
have you got a link to the blower you got? And also the attachment to connect on to the hose to make the water less harsh? I bought myself some autoglym snow foam just the other day, but also noticed the polar wash as you mentioned, are they essentially the same thing? Because they both mention using with a pressure washer? From what I can make out it’s just a shampoo, which you use after snow foaming the car, would it be okay to maybe rinse the car down, snow foam it, rinse it off, then do a once over with the polar blast and using 1 bucket of clean water (with a grit guard) clean it down with a mitt? The part I don’t want to get wrong is the drying, a blower would certainly make life a lot easier, I do have the meguiars supreme drying towel and the water magnet, the towel is very thick and impressive but it’s just awkward to use because it’s so big and thick, you can’t help but rub it on the paint work. I wanted to apply some sort of wax once cars dry, I’ve bought some dodo juice purple haze which I’m itching to use, I’ve also got the finger applicator they do- problem is again I’m going to be rubbing the car down, which if I’m honest I’m abit frightened to do now. Have some meguiars ceramic wax and quick detailer too, which is just a spray wax, it works well but not very long lasting esp this time of year where rain is abit more frequent. The Autoglym Polar Blast is a snowfoam. You're meant to put it on and hose it off after it's had a soak to loosen dirt off, whereas the Polar Wash is more a pressure-washer applied shampoo that you use as a contact wash, i.e. agitating with your mitt. Autoglym say you can use Polar Blast for a contact wash if you wish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK6e97gkeBE
I have some Polar Blast and I also have some Bilt Hamber snowfoam. Both seem good, Bilt Hamber is cheaper though (mine certainly is, I pinched it from a mate!)
The Meguiar's hybrid ceramic wax I've started using myself - seems to be differing opinions on best application technique versus the instructions. I've used it by misting over a wet car (it's meant to be used on wet paint) then spreading/drying it with a microfibre, seems to work nicely enough. They say once used for an initial coat, you should treat it as a mist-and-rinse-to-spread/remove product. It seems good, and it's been gettign good reviews, but I've not used it very long or on many cars yet.
The Meguiar's quick detailer isn't a wax, it's just what it says, a quick detailer. Good for things like last-touch wipe after a watch or a quick spot clean (dunno about you, but the birds round my work carpark are like some kind of diarrhea-afflicted pterodactyls some days), but not meant to be used as a wax/sealant itself. Before I started trying the Meguiar's HCW, I usually used Meguiar's Gold Class or Ultimate wax followed by some Ultimate Quik Detailer.
Collinite waxes are supposed to be good, but not used them myself.
Good luck! Black cars look fantastic when nicely detailed, but it's a proper Forth Bridge job keeping them that way...
On the mitt front, I actually use a noodle sponge, it's like a microfibre noodle mitt, but instead of putting your hand in it, it has a sponge inside. I like it because it lets you really soak up a good "dose" of water with it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK6e97gkeBE
I have some Polar Blast and I also have some Bilt Hamber snowfoam. Both seem good, Bilt Hamber is cheaper though (mine certainly is, I pinched it from a mate!)
The Meguiar's hybrid ceramic wax I've started using myself - seems to be differing opinions on best application technique versus the instructions. I've used it by misting over a wet car (it's meant to be used on wet paint) then spreading/drying it with a microfibre, seems to work nicely enough. They say once used for an initial coat, you should treat it as a mist-and-rinse-to-spread/remove product. It seems good, and it's been gettign good reviews, but I've not used it very long or on many cars yet.
The Meguiar's quick detailer isn't a wax, it's just what it says, a quick detailer. Good for things like last-touch wipe after a watch or a quick spot clean (dunno about you, but the birds round my work carpark are like some kind of diarrhea-afflicted pterodactyls some days), but not meant to be used as a wax/sealant itself. Before I started trying the Meguiar's HCW, I usually used Meguiar's Gold Class or Ultimate wax followed by some Ultimate Quik Detailer.
Collinite waxes are supposed to be good, but not used them myself.
Good luck! Black cars look fantastic when nicely detailed, but it's a proper Forth Bridge job keeping them that way...
On the mitt front, I actually use a noodle sponge, it's like a microfibre noodle mitt, but instead of putting your hand in it, it has a sponge inside. I like it because it lets you really soak up a good "dose" of water with it.
f
k me that looks like some sort of bazooka haha, is it any good? I’ve come across a similar power one on amazon for 50odd quid but does look as well built as the Homebase one, very tempted! Does it dry quickly?
Thanks for the YouTube vid on the autoglym range, picked myself some polar wash up today and already had the blast so might just do the method as shown in the video. So rinse car, polar blast it (snow foam), rinse again, followed by polar washing it (also with pressure washer) then using a clean bucket of water (grit guarded) and a lambs wool mitt to wipe the car down? Next step would be either air blow dry or towel dry, I’ll skip the autoglym seal part and just apply either meguiars hybrid ceramic or dodo juice, seem okay? I did also previously have meguiars quick wax which I finished on my previous car, which was a black bmw, thing is the bmw paint seemed a lot better than VW paint, car was a 59 plate and honestly puts the 16 plate golf to shame. That’s another topic for another day though lol would really like some feedback on collinite if anyone out there is familiar with it, apparently a lot of keen detailers swear by it.
k me that looks like some sort of bazooka haha, is it any good? I’ve come across a similar power one on amazon for 50odd quid but does look as well built as the Homebase one, very tempted! Does it dry quickly? Thanks for the YouTube vid on the autoglym range, picked myself some polar wash up today and already had the blast so might just do the method as shown in the video. So rinse car, polar blast it (snow foam), rinse again, followed by polar washing it (also with pressure washer) then using a clean bucket of water (grit guarded) and a lambs wool mitt to wipe the car down? Next step would be either air blow dry or towel dry, I’ll skip the autoglym seal part and just apply either meguiars hybrid ceramic or dodo juice, seem okay? I did also previously have meguiars quick wax which I finished on my previous car, which was a black bmw, thing is the bmw paint seemed a lot better than VW paint, car was a 59 plate and honestly puts the 16 plate golf to shame. That’s another topic for another day though lol would really like some feedback on collinite if anyone out there is familiar with it, apparently a lot of keen detailers swear by it.
chan61922 said:
fk me that looks like some sort of bazooka haha, is it any good?
Yes it's very good. the larger of the two tubes is for sucking up leaves. you take that off. the smaller tube with the decreasing end is the 'blower'.k me that looks like some sort of bazooka haha, is it any good? dont be tempted by a weedy cheapo blower. you want 3000W as that is gonna give you a decent amount of blowing power.
after blowing the car dry there is barely any toweling required. remember every time you touch the paint no matter how careful, there is potential for swirl marks.
the least you can touch it the better.
chan61922 said:
Thanks for the YouTube vid on the autoglym range, picked myself some polar wash up today and already had the blast so might just do the method as shown in the video. So rinse car, polar blast it (snow foam), rinse again, followed by polar washing it (also with pressure washer) then using a clean bucket of water (grit guarded) and a lambs wool mitt to wipe the car down? Next step would be either air blow dry or towel dry, I’ll skip the autoglym seal part and just apply either meguiars hybrid ceramic or dodo juice, seem okay?
Sounds fine to me. I would do a traditional 2 bucket wash after rinsing off the snow foam, but that's just my preference really.If using the Meguiar's HCW, don't dry the car after rinsing from washing. Mist it onto the still-wet car and spread it about/dry with a towel for first application.
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