Foam gun and tire cleaners?
- Thread starter bwalker25
- Start date
ajnavo61490
AJ Auto Detail, LLC
foamed* 
Setec Astronomy
Well-known member
I'm not sure exactly what products you are referring to, but since you mentioned wheel cleaners, I would NOT put any wheel cleaners which contain HF or ABF into a foam gun. If you use other acid or caustic wheel cleaners, please be very careful about incidental splashing of these onto you, shrubbery, or other non-wheel surfaces of your car or house.
Also note that wheel cleaners are usually not meant to be diluted (except in the case of some of the HF/ABF types), so that may reduce their cleaning power, and that use of more corrosive cleaners my accelerate corrosion of the brass parts of the foam gun, which means you should follow the directions and flush with clean water after use (which I never do for regular car shampoo).
On the other hand, the foam gun's main market is for industrial/food preparation cleaning and sanitizing, so people certainly use it with some strong stuff, although germ-killing chemicals are certainly different than brake dust-eating chemicals.
Also note that wheel cleaners are usually not meant to be diluted (except in the case of some of the HF/ABF types), so that may reduce their cleaning power, and that use of more corrosive cleaners my accelerate corrosion of the brass parts of the foam gun, which means you should follow the directions and flush with clean water after use (which I never do for regular car shampoo).
On the other hand, the foam gun's main market is for industrial/food preparation cleaning and sanitizing, so people certainly use it with some strong stuff, although germ-killing chemicals are certainly different than brake dust-eating chemicals.
Accumulator
Well-known member
Some sorta random thoughts follow:
Many wheel/tire cleaners are sorta low-sudsing IME, dunno how foamy/clingy they'd get if aerated by the foamgun. I wouldn't expect much myself, but that's just a guess.
I find it hard enough to keep wheel/tire cleaners off surfaces where I don't want them, no way I'd want to spray them with the foamgun.
I'd only try this with products that won't do damage (e.g., Griot's or P21S wheel cleaners). No way I'd try it with an acidic cleaner.
I'd want a dedicated foamgun for such work, rather than trying to clean it out thoroughly.
Most of the wheel/rubber cleanrs I've used worked OK diluted, but they did get *very* mild, and that might not be desired.
Many wheel/tire cleaners are sorta low-sudsing IME, dunno how foamy/clingy they'd get if aerated by the foamgun. I wouldn't expect much myself, but that's just a guess.
I find it hard enough to keep wheel/tire cleaners off surfaces where I don't want them, no way I'd want to spray them with the foamgun.
I'd only try this with products that won't do damage (e.g., Griot's or P21S wheel cleaners). No way I'd try it with an acidic cleaner.
I'd want a dedicated foamgun for such work, rather than trying to clean it out thoroughly.
Most of the wheel/rubber cleanrs I've used worked OK diluted, but they did get *very* mild, and that might not be desired.
Chris@Optimum
Optimum Product Support
jordanrossbell
New member
I would have to think that these chemicals would cause premature wear of the foamgun???? I wouldnt do it...i know autodetailingsolutions has an actual foaming trigger spray head that i have seen in person produce a good foam with Meg's APC...
BlackElantraGT
New member
2KLS1 said:
+1
Not only would it be much cheaper, but you'd get better results (i.e. more clingy foam) and a more effective product than diluting it down with a foam gun.
I have a foam sprayer from ADS
and 2 cheap sprayers from Sam's Club
If any of the sprayers go bad, I can easily replace it with another for a few bucks at most.