Ask the Detailer

Tons of options out there. CarPro Reset is pretty much the king of all soaps, but I have read that it can weaken sealants and waxes, but does not do that to a coating. I've tried a bunch, and have gravitated back to Reset for coated cars and Meguiars HyperWash for non-coated cars. Other good options are MTM Perfoamance Shampoo, Jay Lenos Vehicle Wash (surprisingly good), P&S Pearl Shampoo and Chemical Guys Honeydew.

 

Yes, it really works well. You might just order the 16 oz to try before getting the gallon though. I've never compared the two back to back.

 

What pressure washer/foam cannon combo are you using?

 

Been using chemical guys honeydew. Want to try the watermelon flavor

 

Karcher K1700 & MTM PF22.2

 

How much soap (and how much water) are you putting in the cannon?

 

I don't measure but try to get it to a 1:5 mix so 150ml of soap to 750ml of water.

 

So you use approximately 5oz of soap each time you use your foam cannon?

 

Correct, although I don't use all of it to foam the truck so part of it goes into my wash bucket.

edit:

So at $40 a gallon that comes out to be $1.60 per wash. If you add another oz for your wash bucket to along with the leftover from your foam cannon its $1.90 per wash. Giving you 21 washes per gallon.

 

Chemical Guys Honeydew Snow Foam. The only one of their products I use regularly outside of some towels. Haven’t found one that works better in a cannon. It’s also available at Walmart.

 

Sho nuff

 

I only use it when I use the foam cannon. Reset is the best soap overall, but doesn’t work well in a foam cannon.

 

Right now....Detailed Image has Meguiars HyperWash for 21.99 a gallon.....best price I've seen. Their dilution rate for bucket washes is 1:400, or roughly 1 oz per 3 gallons. I put in 2 oz in 4 gallons for a bucket wash, and 2 oz in a foam cannon (if I'm using one). Even if I used the foam cannon for every wash, which I don't, that would give me 32 washes per gallon. At the sale price, that works out to approximately 0.68 per wash...very economical.

 

OK... Need some help. I when washing I noticed this "blemish" on the hood of my truck. It appears that something splattered back on the hood of the truck. I have PPF on the front of the hood and both the PPF and the hood paint behind it show the blemish. It did not come off with washing or using Rainex bug and tar remover (on painted surface) which I had on hand. Thoughts on what to try next? Not sure if it is material on the surface or whether the PPF and clearcoat have actually been attacked. Would like to try a bit more at home before I take it to a professional.

 

Does the painted (not covered by the PPF) area feel any different than the area around it? The pics look like it may have compromised the clearcoat, unfortunately

 

Yes, It feels different. Just not sure if it is raised like something is on top or lowered indicating clear coat damage.

 

Try an IPA wipe down see if you can remove the blem…then maybe clay bar it…

 

Well, I still don't know what it was, but it was tough to remove. Had to go all of the way to rubbing compound followed by polishing compound and Meguiar's Ultimate wax. The paint looks almost perfect. The PPF still shows some effects.

Before:


After: That's just reflections of the clouds you see.

 

Yeah, that’s pretty weird. I don’t have any theories, but glad you seem to have gotten it off.

 

Alien bird crap?

 

So I bought a 2016 SR5 in February of last year. First thing I did was remove the factory badges ans stickers. I used a 3M [eraser type] wheel and some adhesive remover I bought on Amazon then washed and waxed the truck. Still had shadowing due to the truck being a few years old.
So then I find this thread and after properly detailing my truck [thanks again to @briarpatch @War Machine and @Swfltoyomafia for all the guidance] i have noticed that the shadowing is disappearing. I hope that after I detail truck again next week that it will completely disappear.

 

I had a little of that on my new Tundra. It was completely gone within a month or so.