newish to detailing...couple Qs

That is incorrect. The purpose of foaming and rinsing is to allow the foam to lift and remove as much dirt as possible from the vehicle without touching it. Is it really necessary? That is up to you to decide.

 

Only clay bar when it's needed. You'll introduce scratches/swirl marks if it's done too often. Do the "baggy test" to see if it needs to be done. Put a clear plastic zip bag on your hand and gently feel the surface of the paint. It the paint feels smooth you don't have to clay.

 

Also, you should check out You Tube for detailing videos. There's an abundance of great information there. One of the channels I follow is Apex Detailing.

 

Who says that is incorrect? If you are using a pressure washer to for initial rinse you are wasting soap by only rinsing it with no agitation. I have yet to find any soap that will “lift” the dirt off.

 

It would be nice if this works but I find it just doesn't work in practice. I've got a touchless drive through at gas station up the road and even with the harsher soaps used all it's good for is knocking off a dusting of pollen. It can barely touch the grime picked up while driving in the rain. I find the same with any soap i've used as a snow foam. I find i'm better off using the pressure washer just to knock whatever was going to come off with a simple foaming.

Now maybe with the snow foams they use in Europe would be worth of a prefoam and rinse, they seem to have a few that actually will lift dirt off. Check out the first few minutes of the video below and how well Bilt Hamber Auto Foam can actually lift dirt compared to some other snow foams.

I still use my foam cannon, but mostly because I'm going to use the pressure washer regardless even if I wasn't going to bother with shampoo and use a rinseless wash. But when I use Reset or Hyperwash I like to foam the truck and kind of use it as my soap bucket. Then pull some fresh mitts from a soapy bucket that some residual water from what was left in the foam cannon.

 

That's cool. Everyones experiences are different.

 

Not everyone uses the same products and/or proceedures, so results will absolutely vary. If not doing this works better for you and you're getting satisfactory results, keep doing what you're doing.

 

Absolutely, couldn't agree more. More or less posted that as I see many people new to detailing think that a foam cannon is vitally important to car washing. When really it's just another tool among many, some of which might not be needed at all.

Then you have the rinseless wash users wondering why people are even still using car shampoo at all.

Point is, use what works for you.

 

I have heard of having foam in three ways, and tried them all.
1- foam and let it dwell for a while to emulsify and encapsulate grime and dirt, then power wash it off. So basically a prewash that is more effective than a pre rinse or powerwash.
2- foam the vehicle then start washing it right away with your mitts using the 2 bucket method.
And 3- foam as you go panel by panel,this uses the foam as your "wash bucket" and use a rinse bucket to clean your mitts between panels.
I have done it all 3 ways and I prefer to foam let dwell, then rinse. I really believe that lifts and releases more dirt than water alone. Then i apply another layer of foam and wash using the two bucket method, the way I see it soap is cheap, even though I mostly use Reset lol. I do not do this for every wash, just when heavily soiled. I sometimes do rinseless or waterless washes too.
I have had the best results with using foam as stated above, your results and preferences may vary. I don't this any of the choices are wrong or incorrect, just a matter of preference.
I also like to foam a panel when I am claying that panel, I also use clay lube, I feel the foam adds another layer of lubricity.
Anyway, I don't this there is a wrong way, just preference. But I do think that rinsing after the initial foam is a good idea before touching the paint with a mitt because I think that the foam lifts and emulsifies grime. Sometimes i add ironX to the initial foam, sometimes degreaser. It all is dependent on the situation.