# Good snow foam for a K2 K'archer



## theador

Can anyone recommend a good liquid to use with a foam lance on a K2?

I'll be getting a K2 pressure washer in the next few days, not the biggest machine I know, but surely better than a naked hose. 

I want to get a foam lance and wouldn't mind some advice on which one to get and the best product to use. I will want to use the foam lance in the winter when it's too cold to spend loads of time outside cleaning the car, as well as part of a two bucket standard wash.


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## Rabidracoon28

This is very competitively priced http://www.directhoses.net/products/snow-foam-lance









Any foam is suitable and each member will have their own personal favourite.


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## fatdazza

do not get the karcher foam lance (below) they are not very good.









The ones like rabidracoon linked to are the ones to go for :thumb:

My that's a big picture - sorry lol


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## Kimo

Yeah get a direct hose lance

May aswell get car chem snow foam too

It's cheap, good, and the same as most other companies sell as their own :lol:


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## Jedi

+1 to everything said above - I have the K2 Compact, and with the Directhoses lance it's very very good.

The downside to the K2 is the very short hose, it's only 4m long - but the bonus to it is you can basically think of it as a portable pressure washer, I just carry mine on a strap from my shoulder it's that small and light.

I use Bilt Hamber Auto Foam neat in the lance, turned up full then back half a turn. Gives a lovely thick gloopy foam that slowly slithers off the paintwork, taking the dirt with it - the stuff that hits the deck looks like cappuccino froth.

I've seen the foams that stick to the paint like shaving foam, and whilst they look very pretty they don't seem to actually _do_ very much other than sit there. The BH stuff really does work, and the evidence is clear in the dirty foam that slides off.

There's a really good review of the BH foam on here somewhere showing how much crap someone cleaned off their Rover 75 with it.


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## Dougnorwich

I'm having a bash at te cg no touch foam tomorrow


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## theador

Thanks guys, again, really useful. I nearly did buy the K2 snow foam lance but thought I better come on here again first.

So as an interim wash, would it be enough to 'just' use pressure washer and something like BH through a snow foam lance? During winter, sadly I probably only wash the cars every two-three weeks.



Jedi said:


> +1 to everything said above - I have the K2 Compact, and with the Directhoses lance it's very very good.
> 
> The downside to the K2 is the very short hose, it's only 4m long - but the bonus to it is you can basically think of it as a portable pressure washer, I just carry mine on a strap from my shoulder it's that small and light.
> 
> I use Bilt Hamber Auto Foam neat in the lance, turned up full then back half a turn. Gives a lovely thick gloopy foam that slowly slithers off the paintwork, taking the dirt with it - the stuff that hits the deck looks like cappuccino froth.
> 
> I've seen the foams that stick to the paint like shaving foam, and whilst they look very pretty they don't seem to actually _do_ very much other than sit there. The BH stuff really does work, and the evidence is clear in the dirty foam that slides off.
> 
> There's a really good review of the BH foam on here somewhere showing how much crap someone cleaned off their Rover 75 with it.


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## Kimo

Snow foam is a pre wash, not a full on clean, so no just snow foam is not adequate, it will still need washing properly


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## theador

Did you get it through the group buy?



Dougnorwich said:


> I'm having a bash at te cg no touch foam tomorrow


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## theador

Could someone briefly walk me through the steps?

I imagine

1. Rinse(maybe or is it first straight into 2.)
2. Snow foam
3. Wash with micro fibre cloth (shld you rinse off the snow foam first?)
4. Rinse
5. Dry



Kimo73 said:


> Snow foam is a pre wash, not a full on clean, so no just snow foam is not adequate, it will still need washing properly


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## Rabidracoon28

theador said:


> Could someone briefly walk me through the steps?
> 
> I imagine
> 
> 1. Rinse(maybe or is it first straight into 2.)
> 
> 2. Snow foam
> 
> 3. Wash with micro fibre cloth (shld you rinse off the snow foam first?)
> 
> 4. Rinse
> 
> 5. Dry


The steps I use are:

1) Snow foam onto dry car

2) Leave to work whilst attending to wheels or using an apc on gaps/badges

3) Rinse with pressure washer

4) 2BM

5) Rinse

6) Dry (could always use a QD to assist with the drying)


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## theador

QB? I'm a beginner you may have noticed :wave:



Rabidracoon28 said:


> The steps I use are:
> 
> 1) Snow foam onto dry car
> 
> 2) Leave to work whilst attending to wheels or using an apc on gaps/badges
> 
> 3) Rinse with pressure washer
> 
> 4) 2BM
> 
> 5) Rinse
> 
> 6) Dry (could always use a QD to assist with the drying)


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## msv

QD not QB quick detailer. Used as a drying aid it helps reduce water marks


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## theador

Ah yes, I have some QD spray. Thanks.



msv said:


> QD not QB quick detailer. Used as a drying aid it helps reduce water marks


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## hobbs182

Kimo73 said:


> Yeah get a direct hose lance
> 
> May aswell get car chem snow foam too
> 
> It's cheap, good, and the same as most other companies sell as their own :lol:


He knows it, dh lance and Car chem


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## theador

I ordered up some BH foam as it was coming in around the same price as car Chem. I'll try car chem afterwards to compare 



hobbs182 said:


> He knows it, dh lance and Car chem


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## Dougnorwich

theador said:


> Did you get it through the group buy?


No mate just bought it from shop and shine I don't think the group buy is still going the thread was old anyway


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## Focusaddict

Isn't there still a group buy going on these from Autobrite?


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## theador

I've gone for some Bilt Hamber for now


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## potter88

I use direct hose lance with valet pro ph neutral snow foam seems to work well for me although I'm going to try something different once I'm out of this stuff


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## Kimo

Focusaddict said:


> Isn't there still a group buy going on these from Autobrite?


More than the price of a direct hose landce and 5l of car chem for a lance with a fancy sticker and 500ml of **** foam that hardly cleans, from a company who won't send it out for weeks?

Yeah well worth it


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## Rabidracoon28

Kimo73 said:


> More than the price of a direct hose landce and 5l of car chem for a lance with a fancy sticker and 500ml of **** foam that hardly cleans, from a company who won't send it out for weeks?
> 
> Yeah well worth it


My initial thoughts exactly


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## SarahS23

Autobrite Lance and their foam for me


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## theador

I've gone for one of these:
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=271424356037

With some of this:
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=111454622048


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## ScottyNS

I went for the HD Autobright lance and their magi foam, but I do find the foam lacking with my K2, so would be interested in how you get on with the BH on your K2.

I will be trying something else once I'm through my current stuff.


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## SarahS23

ScottyNS said:


> I went for the HD Autobright lance and their magi foam, but I do find the foam lacking with my K2, so would be interested in how you get on with the BH on your K2.
> 
> I will be trying something else once I'm through my current stuff.


So did I and had to really mess on and eventually got it right


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## Jedi

theador said:


> I've gone for one of these:
> http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=271424356037
> 
> With some of this:
> http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=111454622048


Good choices.

Managed a completely touchless wash on my car today using those, applied the BH snowfoam at maximum strength via the lance, allowed it to dwell and slide down the paint, then rinsed off and allowed to dry.

Because I sealed the whole car last weekend with ArmorAll Shield, absolutely no dirt was left on the car and no watermarks either. All the water beaded and slid straight off.


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## ScottyNS

SarahS23 said:


> So did I and had to really mess on and eventually got it right


I've even tried doing a 50:50 mix, diluted with warm or cold water and I simply don't get near a shaving foam consistency, or anything like on their website.


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## theador

That's exactly the effect I'm after. What pressure washer are you using?



Jedi said:


> Good choices.
> 
> Managed a completely touchless wash on my car today using those, applied the BH snowfoam at maximum strength via the lance, allowed it to dwell and slide down the paint, then rinsed off and allowed to dry.
> 
> Because I sealed the whole car last weekend with ArmorAll Shield, absolutely no dirt was left on the car and no watermarks either. All the water beaded and slid straight off.


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## Jedi

The BH foam isn't like shaving foam, it doesn't stick to the panels and just sit there, it slowly slides down the paintwork.

This is mine after a five minute dwell, applied at max strength with a K2 Compact pressure washer and a Direct Hoses foam lance...


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## Jedi

Bear in mind that this is one week after a deep clean... last weeks routine was:

Pre soak with Bilt Hamber Surfex HD, 5% PIR
Alloys soaked in Astonish alloy cleaner
PW rinse
BH Auto Foam via foam lance, maximum strength
PW rinse
2BM wash, BH Auto Wash 2000:1, MF noodle mitt
PW rinse
MF waffle weave dry
Armor All Shield to all paintwork and lights
Armor All Shield Wheels to alloys
Carplan Tire Slik to tires
Astonish glass cleaner to all windows

The Armor All Shield is just utterly amazing. Even tree sap and bird crap rinsed off without touching.


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## theador

From my limited research, the ones that slide down are better as they take the dirt with them.


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## theador

How long did that little lot take??? :-D

So the Armour all shield, that's a spray on thing right?



Jedi said:


> Bear in mind that this is one week after a deep clean... last weeks routine was:
> 
> Pre soak with Bilt Hamber Surfex HD, 5% PIR
> Alloys soaked in Astonish alloy cleaner
> PW rinse
> BH Auto Foam via foam lance, maximum strength
> PW rinse
> 2BM wash, BH Auto Wash 2000:1, MF noodle mitt
> PW rinse
> MF waffle weave dry
> Armor All Shield to all paintwork and lights
> Armor All Shield Wheels to alloys
> Carplan Tire Slik to tires
> Astonish glass cleaner to all windows
> 
> The Armor All Shield is just utterly amazing. Even tree sap and bird crap rinsed off without touching.


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## theador

Sorry, its the wheel one that's spray on.

Is it more like a liquid wax?


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## ScottyNS

theador said:


> From my limited research, the ones that slide down are better as they take the dirt with them.


To be fair, the AB magi foam does clean very well, so maybe i should ignore the fact that I don't get much of a foam, more of a white thick soup!


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## Jedi

theador said:


> How long did that little lot take??? :-D
> 
> So the Armour all shield, that's a spray on thing right?





theador said:


> Sorry, its the wheel one that's spray on.
> 
> Is it more like a liquid wax?


It's a liquid sealant, just apply with a foam pad then buff straight off. No drying or hazing time or anything like that. The wheels one is a spray, you just spray it on and let it dry for an hour.

All in, last weeks wash took around 2 hours, including tea breaks while stuff dwelled and worked its magic.

Todays took 20 minutes.


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## SarahS23

ScottyNS said:


> I've even tried doing a 50:50 mix, diluted with warm or cold water and I simply don't get near a shaving foam consistency, or anything like on their website.


I found I had to adjust the dial at the top more and the one on nozzle until I got the consistency good.


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## SarahS23

Here was mine, car has been sealed previously


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## J4KE45

SarahS23 said:


> Here was mine, car has been sealed previously


What did you use?


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## SarahS23

J4KE45 said:


> What did you use?


Autobrite magifoam


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## ScottyNS

SarahS23 said:


> Here was mine, car has been sealed previously


Thanks Sarah, I'll be having a go with mine later today, will post a pic as I think I get similar to you.


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## Jedi

That's a good effective foam there. Not one of those all show and no go meringue type foams.


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## Faddio

Jedi said:


> +1 to everything said above - I have the K2 Compact, and with the Directhoses lance it's very very good.
> 
> The downside to the K2 is the very short hose, it's only 4m long - but the bonus to it is you can basically think of it as a portable pressure washer, I just carry mine on a strap from my shoulder it's that small and light.
> 
> I use Bilt Hamber Auto Foam neat in the lance, turned up full then back half a turn. Gives a lovely thick gloopy foam that slowly slithers off the paintwork, taking the dirt with it - the stuff that hits the deck looks like cappuccino froth.
> 
> I've seen the foams that stick to the paint like shaving foam, and whilst they look very pretty they don't seem to actually _do_ very much other than sit there. The BH stuff really does work, and the evidence is clear in the dirty foam that slides off.
> 
> There's a really good review of the BH foam on here somewhere showing how much crap someone cleaned off their Rover 75 with it.


I use the k2 just for snow foaming and it's a good little machine compared to bigger karchers which tend to blip on and off due to having too much pressure for a foam lance.

I have the autobrite snow foam lance, Bh is a good cleaner when the correct amount is used, you will go through it quicker than the autobrite snow foam as you only need half as much to create the same amount of foam.


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## theador

Regarding how much to use of the BH, should I just follow the instructions on the bottle, or is there a more suitable dilution ratio?

Having never used a snow foam lance (mine hasn't been posted yet), what are the optimum settings on the dials for snow foaming?



Faddio said:


> I use the k2 just for snow foaming and it's a good little machine compared to bigger karchers which tend to blip on and off due to having too much pressure for a foam lance.
> 
> I have the autobrite snow foam lance, Bh is a good cleaner when the correct amount is used, you will go through it quicker than the autobrite snow foam as you only need half as much to create the same amount of foam.


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## theador

Quick question: with the Bilt Hamber Auto Foam, do i put the liquid neat into the foam lance bottle without adding water?


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## Jedi

That's what I do, and that's what the guy on here who cleaned his Rover 75 with it also did. I use about 400ml of neat AF to do my car, a 2014 Toyota Yaris.


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## Faddio

theador said:


> Regarding how much to use of the BH, should I just follow the instructions on the bottle, or is there a more suitable dilution ratio?
> 
> Having never used a snow foam lance (mine hasn't been posted yet), what are the optimum settings on the dials for snow foaming?


I fill the 1L bottle with upto about 2 inches of bh then add around 700 ml of water. I never fill the bottle to the max as I find the ratio is too thin and adding more snow foam means I never use it all up unless I do more than one car. For the foam lance, set to max twisting the nob towards +. Then re-adjust once you start foaming. You will know where to re adjust to from there as the foam will start running off the car rather than clinging as you turn the direction towards -. Hope that helps


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## theador

Great. Thanks.



Faddio said:


> I fill the 1L bottle with upto about 2 inches of bh then add around 700 ml of water. I never fill the bottle to the max as I find the ratio is too thin and adding more snow foam means I never use it all up unless I do more than one car. For the foam lance, set to max twisting the nob towards +. Then re-adjust once you start foaming. You will know where to re adjust to from there as the foam will start running off the car rather than clinging as you turn the direction towards -. Hope that helps


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## theador

Probably got the mixture slightly wrong but the lance worked very well with the k2 once I worked out that going closer to minus on the dial gave more foam haha


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## Faddio

Sorry my mistake! - increases the foam so I usually start there and adjust slightly to +. Bilt hamber is not as concentrated as autobrite so try using slightly more if the foam is disappearing quickly


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## craiglancs

Right I'm defo going for the direct hose lance off eBay then after reading this thread


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## theador

The one I bought is good. I have no reference to compare it to though


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## craiglancs

Which did u get?


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## theador

This one:
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=271424356037



craiglancs said:


> Which did u get?


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## craiglancs

Cheers Ye I'm gonna order that one!


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## craiglancs

Got it and it's a good piece of kit. Just dunno if I like magifoam now. It didn't stick for very long


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## steve-w

Just ordered my lance off the back of this.... Thanks all


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## theador

You won't be disappointed. I'm not sure about BH Autofoam though. Not too keen on the smell of it, maybe I diluted it a little too much.


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