Active foam for non-contact cleaning: advice on choosing

Non-contact shampoo, or, as it is also called, active foam, has recently appeared on sale. Owners of car washes have already studied the possibilities of this tool, but motorists have a lot of questions related to its use. Is the active foam washes more efficiently?

Is it safe to use it for cars and people?

Do I have to buy additional equipment for contactless cleaning and do I need a high-pressure cleaner?

How dangerous is this chemistry for the environment?

What are the disadvantages of contactless shampoo?

Which non-contact shampoo is better?

We will try to understand, what are the advantages of contactless washing, which brands should be preferred and how to use the active foam correctly.

What is the difference between conventional auto shampoos and active foam?

The main difference between active foam for contactless cleaning from traditional car shampoos is the principle of operation. Conventional means provide softening and partial dissolution of the dirt layer and facilitate subsequent machining. It should be understood that solid particles of soil that fall on the car body, for example sand, during mechanical washing, act as an abrasive and scratch the paint.

Active substances in shampoos for non-contact washing break the adhesion( adhesion) of dirt and lacquer coating of the car. Thus, there is no need for mechanical cleaning of the adhered pieces of dirt. This advantage has led to the fact that active foam finds more and more fans.

Advantages and disadvantages of active foam

In addition to the fact that the contactless shampoo prevents scratches of the car's surface, it has other advantages over traditional washing methods.

• The time required for car washing is reduced to 10 minutes.
• No need to exert physical effort, so any motorist can handle the procedure.
• Without additional effort removes persistent dirt: soot, adherent insects, stains from lubricants.
• High-quality active foam is environmentally friendly: after contact with water, it begins to decompose. As a result, the shampoo washed off the body of the machine turns into water and carbon dioxide after a few days, that is, the full biodegradation of the contactless foam occurs.

There are some drawbacks to this chemistry. If the shampoo is improperly selected or the machine is treated with too concentrated a solution, this can lead to tarnishing of the paint, and in the worst case, damage to the paintwork. The same result can be obtained if the time of contact between foam and paintwork is exceeded or if it is not thoroughly washed away. If the remedy is chosen correctly and the washing technology is not broken, then such consequences are absent.

Council

The new tool is worth testing on a small area of ​​the car. If, after washing and drying, tarnish or whitish coating is observed, it is necessary to choose an active foam with a lower level of alkalinity.

Equipment for contactless cleaning

When considering what equipment is necessary for contactless washing, you should divide two concepts - professional washing and cleaning the car at home. On the sink - both tunnel and portal type - for the application of foam professional equipment is used: foam generators and high-pressure apparatus. This fully complies with the recommendations of manufacturers of non-contact shampoo.

For car enthusiasts, it makes no sense to purchase equipment of this class for cleaning one or two cars. However, without a foam generator, you can not do either. For domestic purposes, it is possible to use a gun to apply a low-pressure foam( sprayer).Of course, in this case the quality of cleaning will be worse. Household foam generators and high-pressure devices allow you to approach the standards of professional washing and fully appreciate the effect of active foam.

How to use active foam

Technologically, the process of contactless washing is quite simple.

1. Dilution of shampoo with water. Before dilution, the container with shampoo must be shaken.
2. Application of active foam on the body of the machine with horizontal movements. At the same time, the application should not start from above, but from below. First, the sidewalls are processed, then the trunk and roof, and in the end the front hood.
3. Next comes the activation process of the foam. It lasts up to two minutes.
4. Flushing foam with water supplied by a high-pressure apparatus. The flushing procedure is the same as the application of foam.
5. Removal of water residues by water and drying.

In doing so, you should know that the foam loses its quality at high temperatures, so it can not be applied to a heated car. The diluted solution also loses its properties fairly quickly( 1-2 days), so it is better to dilute the amount needed for one procedure. The proportions of the dilution depend on the concentration of the shampoo. Manufacturers always point them out. Underestimate or overstate these proportions is not recommended, as this can lead to either a poor-quality washing, or a violation of the aesthetic qualities of the paint.

Council

You can not increase the activation time. After drying, the foam turns into whitish hard-to-remove stains. If for some reason this happens, the stains can be removed with the help of liquid polish.

Seasonal features of

In summer, the task is to wash away mostly dry dirt. In the winter, the structure of the mud is different - it contains a lot of moisture. Therefore, in winter it is recommended to first "knock down" the surface layer of dirt with a jet from the pressure vessel, and then apply an active foam. In the summer, if the car is in the shade( not heated), you can immediately spray the foam - it will cope with all layers of dirt. If the machine is hot, it must necessarily be pre-cooled by water.

Precautions

Do not allow concentrate or diluted liquid to enter the hands, face or eyes, or foam( spray) into the respiratory tract. If this happens, wash the skin or eyes. If the foam gets into the lungs - go to a medical institution.

There are precautions for cars. Do not wash with non-contact foam machines that were painted less than 3 months ago. In them the process of adhesion of paint and metal auto has not yet fully come to an end.

Types of contactless shampoos

Shampoo for non-contact washing can differ in the following parameters:

• concentration;
• pH level;
• level of foaming;
• combination of surfactants.

Since surfactants are the main active substance of contactless shampoo, it is the right combination that leads to a qualitative cleaning of the car. However, on the packaging you can see which PAWs - animal origin, synthetic or their combination - are used in a particular shampoo, the consumer can not. This is a commercial secret of the manufacturer, and here one has to act by trial and error, choosing a brand.

The level of foaming can also be checked only by buying a shampoo. Here it is necessary to say that the more dense and magnificent foam is applied to the car, the more dirt it is able to "take" from its surface. On advertising applications, all means for contactless washing form foam coats for cars. In practice, it can be determined only by applying foam with the help of professional equipment.

But the consumer can find out the concentration by reading the recommendations on the cultivation of shampoo. The higher the concentration, the less the agent needs to be added to the water. The alkalinity of autochemistry can be determined from the pH value. If the manufacturer claims that the pH is 7, it is a neutral foam, if this value is within 10, it is a low alkaline product, 11 and higher is highly alkaline, which means it is more aggressive.

Manufacturers of

As mentioned above, the combination of active surfactants is the manufacturer's development, therefore the brand is of great importance here. Let's figure out who is currently trusted by Russian motorists. If you study the reviews of car wash owners, there is no leader among brand premium brands - both domestic and foreign manufacturers. All of them give a good result, and the specific choice depends on the composition of the water used.

The most famous manufacturers of professional active foam:

• Atas;
• Dannev;
• Ekokemika;
• GraSS;
• Nerta;
• Sonax;

When used for household purposes, too, it is not necessary to buy chemistry of unknown origin. Typically, cheap car cosmetics has a low concentration. Even adding it in a larger amount, it is unlikely to get a good cleaning machine.

How to choose the active foam?

When selecting auto chemistry for a car wash, it is advisable to contact a supplier who has not only sales consultants but also technologists. They will help you find the right tools and give recommendations on how to set up the equipment. In case you need shampoo to wash your car, you have to choose it yourself.

When buying an active foam, you should carefully read what it is intended for. After all, the same manufacturer has different lines of auto chemical goods. Professional chemistry is offered in large canisters, and it is there in a more concentrated form than in liter bottles. For the first time, to decide what brand to buy, it is worth taking a small bottle. If the result of use is satisfactory, in the future you can buy a large canister, taking into account the expiration date.

Focusing on the cost, it is worth taking into account the following: a lower price of home-produced shampoo is the result of the lack of transportation from abroad and the duty, and not an indicator of poor quality. But if the producing country is the same, and the cost is different at times - the active foam can not be of equal quality. Comparing the price, you must also take into account the concentration of the product. More concentrated will cost more, but its consumption is much less, and as a result, the cost per wash will be less.