Foam cannons are great for pre-washing your car and removing all the stubborn dirt with minimum effort, but only when used with suitable soap.
Three factors are crucial to producing a lot of thick suds –
1. Pressure Washer
2. Foam Cannon
3. Foam Cannon soap
We’ve reviewed the best pressure washer and best foam cannon already. Now it’s time to pick the best foam cannon soap to start sudsing right away.
Let’s get started.
Our Top Picks
Best Foam Cannon Soap Reviews
Let’s get deep into the best options available in the market in the form of reviews.
Adam’s Ultra Foam Shampoo – The Best Pick
Last update on 2024-08-08 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
The top product in our list proves a crucial point at the get-go: car wash shampoos and foam cannon soaps are not the same things, and they’re designed for a different type of washing. How?
The Adam’s Ultra Foam Shampoo is a concentrated, pH-neutral car wash soap. You can use it in a bucket wash, foam gun, or foam cannon with a electric or gas-powered pressure washer or garden hose to produce a massive quantity of thick, lubricating foam.
Well, this thing, Adam’s ultra foam shampoo, is four times the cleanser concentration of their very own regular car shampoo. It is meant to produce a ton of thick suds for pre-wash rather than precision cleaning, unlike the car shampoo, and it’s made that way.
There are other chemical formulation differences to serve other ‘pre-wash’ purposes. For example, it contains a lubricating chemical in the solution, which is meant to avoid paint scratches when the soap is rinsed off.
It features a polymer in the chemical mix that creates a thin protective layer on the car’s body when you’re done with washing.
However, these are added benefits of foam cannon shampoos. But that doesn’t mean that all the shampoos have that. There are reasons why this is the top choice on our list.
Now it’s nice to have those added benefits, but the top priority of a foam cannon shampoo is always to create suds. Adam’s foam cannon shampoo produces a lot of thicker foam. The foam is thick, rich and it does not evaporate quickly as some bad-quality cannon soaps do.
A crucial factor of a foam cannon shampoo is that it needs to be pH neutral not to harm the previously applied wax or sealant on your car. Adam’s foam shampoo tick marks that box as well, and it removes all of the grime, pollen, dirt, and other gunk that’s accumulated without harming any of the previously applied protective coatings.
Another benefit of this soap is that it lets you wash your car even in good sunlight. Usually, cloudy days are preferred for this type of foam wash, but this soap seems to break that stereotype.
All these benefits come at a cost, and this is one of the most expensive soaps out there. If you can get it home, you’ll be highly appreciating it, though.
Pros:
-A lot of thick and rich suds.
-pH neutral, doesn’t harm any protective coating.
-Lubricates with every wash.
-It creates a thin layer of protective coating.
-Highly concentrated.
Cons:
-Expensive.
Chemical Guys Snow Foam Soap and Cleanser – The Best Value
Last update on 2024-07-18 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
I like to put it this way – you can’t go wrong with any chemical solutions or soap from the Chemical Guys. These guys know what they’re doing, and they’re one of the best in business.
The honeydew flavored cannon soap is one of the most popular solutions among car owners for three primary reasons:
- It cleans pretty as well as Adam’s ultra foam cannon.
- It takes less amount soap for every use.
- It costs way lower than Adam’s.
It needs just a capful of this soap with five gallons of water to get the ultimate scrubbing power. The solution is good enough to eliminate dirt, grime, and other environmental contaminants.
Chemical guys use a unique PPM (Parts Per Million) formula that allows them to get a lot of suds using less soap. But, again, this has to do with utilizing the full potential of the cannon.
However, though you get a lot of thick and rich foam with less soap, the foam tends to slip off the car a tad faster than Adam’s ultimate foam.
And don’t worry about any protective coating on your car. It’s pretty expected that chemical guys won’t mess up with pH neutrality. So it won’t damage any sealant, wax, and gel as well, nor will it harm any vinyl, rubber, paint, or plastic.
It comes in two flavors – honeydew and watermelon. I like the honeydew personally since I like the scent to be as subtle as possible. I mean, you don’t want your car to smell like you’ve just driven through and forth of the local flower garden, or do you?
There’s barely anything to criticize about the foam soap because it stands at the sweet point of everything: price, performance, and effectiveness.
Pros:
-A lot of suds with lesser amounts of soap.
-Cleans well.
-Not harmful to any protective coating or other parts.
-Competitively priced.
-This soap’s cleaning process is more time-saving.
Cons:
-Slips off the car a tad faster than the best foam cannon soap: Adam’s.
Meguiar’s Gold Class Car Wash
Last update on 2024-08-05 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
The foam soap that takes the most tender care of your car’s protective coating is probably Meguiar’s Gold Class Car Wash foam soap. It has a specialized pH-balanced formula that cleans without doing any harm whatsoever to your wax protection.
Another lovely thing about Meguiar’s foam soap is that it cleans and conditions simultaneously. In addition, it’s loaded with rich conditioners, which reduces the time and effort needed to get a shiny finish. The conditioners reveal clarity, improve paint gloss, and leave a brilliant shine behind.
There’s one more thing that makes this soap stand out a little from the other few other soaps on the list. This soap is quite helpful to hand-clean your car as well. The result is decent enough.
When using cannons, the dilution ratio should be one-to-five with water. As a result, it produces thick suds that’ll remove the road grime, dirt, and other contaminants that you expect to be removed in the pre-wash.
Merguiar well justifies the name of this soap: gold class car wash, as it leaves a glow on the car when the soap is rinsed off. It has to do with the conditioners and probably other chemical elements unique to this cannon soap.
Whatever it is, such a glow after a pre-wash is overwhelming.
And as I’m a person that likes a subtle aroma, I’m pleased with the solution. It leaves a very gentle and pleasing scent that is not offensive.
Pros:
-Leaves a glow on your car.
-Washes and conditions at the same time.
-Concentrated, one bottle lasts long.
-Very gentle to the wax coating.
Cons:
-It tends to dry off quickly if it’s exposed to sunlight.
Mothers Triple Action Foam Wash
Last update on 2024-08-08 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
If I put it dramatically, I would be like – the Mother’s triple-action foam wash creates a protective layer on your car after the pre-wash as if a ‘Mother’ is taking care of her baby. Yeah, I know that probably was terrible, but I couldn’t help resisting to put the name of the foam wash in perspective with what it does.
I know you’re already familiar with this thing because our premium product, Adam’s cannon soap, does it as well. But, the mother foam wash does it standing at a way lower price point than Adam’s.
If I compare, Adam’s soap is more than double the price of the Mother’s foam cannon soap, so it’s a great feature to have at this price point.
When it comes to the core job, sudsing and cleaning, the Mother’s soap does not disappoint at all. It could remove almost all the tough dirt, grime, and other accumulated contaminants with thick foam.
But there’s a doubt regarding the pH factor. It says ‘pH-optimized,’ not pH-neutral, and there was no mention of how close this solution’s pH is to 7.0, which is the pH neutral point. So it might not be as friendly to your wax coating like most other soaps on the list.
The scent is not clarified either, but it was nice and not overwhelming or offensively strong, just the way I like.
It says triple action on the labeling for advertising purposes, which can be confusing. It has everything to do with the amount of soap you put on the cleaning bucket. Put 1 oz of soap in a gallon of water and it’ll act like a super sudsing shampoo.
Put 3 or 5 ozs to get ‘Extra strength’ or ‘Ultimate power’ respectively. I think these are just fancy names because, simply put, you have to use 3 to 5 ounces to use this soap in a foam cannon, where these fancy names are regardless.
Pros:
-It creates a protective layer after rinsing.
-It does an excellent job of cleaning.
– It is very cheap and an excellent value for money.
– The Foam Wash will not remove wax, sealant, or ceramic coatings.
Cons:
-pH-neutrality is not guaranteed.
Chemical Guys Mr. Pink Car Wash Soap – Best Versatile Formula
Last update on 2024-08-05 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Guess what? Chemical Guys are back, this time with a product that puts ‘Mr.’ with ‘Pink.’ Well, let’s not stereotype and acknowledge that guys could like pink too; it’s not a bad thing.
I guess they’ve named it so because the solution is pink.
Alright, enough of the names, that’s not so important.
What’s essential is this soap is one of the proper versatile washing solutions out there. I mean, this can be used as a shampoo for precise cleaning or a cannon soap for pre-wash, and it works just as well in either case.
I know many other car shampoos or foam soaps claim similar things, but they don’t do equally well in either purpose, but this solution is different, and it does what it says.
That said, it is another very well pH-neutralized solution that is very gentle to the wax or sealant coating. This solution is a superior surface cleanser that removes all the unwanted dirt, grime, or any other build-up but stays very gentle to any coating on your car.
And it leaves a shine and no residue as you rinse it off. It is an extra slick car wash solution for a scratch-free washing experience.
Chemical Guys’ innovative chemistry is the backbone of this brilliant foam cannon soap. It blends the super polymers with the hyper-surfactants that capture and lift all the dirt & debris from deep and do all other good things – thumbs up to those chemistry nerds.
Pros:
-A true versatile washing solution.
-Nice and gentle to your wax.
-Leaves a shine to the car.
– It eliminates the danger of scraping the automobile cleaning process.
-Cost-effective
Cons:
-Not so concentrated solution.
Trinova Gold Standard Car Wash Soap and Conditioner
Last update on 2024-08-08 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
TriNova makes great foam cannons. Not just great foam cannons, they make the best foam cannon, as I suggested in my foam cannon reviews. However, now they want to complete the system of pre-washing your car, and thus they’ve introduced a foam cannon soap.
And that gets the job done.
I mean, this foam gun soap is nothing groundbreaking; instead, it does the job well that it’s supposed to do.
It produces a decent amount of suds when you put a good amount of soap in the cannon. It cuts through all the grime, dirt, grit, grease, and other build-ups and leaves a nice shine to your car. I mean, the amount of suds is on par but cleans well somehow.
Now, I want to emphasize the shine because not many foam soaps can leave as noticeable a glow as it goes in your car. I didn’t expect such a glossy and amazing shine from this moderately priced foam soap.
TriNova says that this soap is safe for any wax or sealant coating. However, they say this solution is ‘pH-balanced,’ which I do not like to see; instead, I want it when manufacturers can confidently claim that their solution is ‘pH-neutralized.’
However, I might be nitpicking as it didn’t seem to damage the coating I had in my car.
It offers an excellent value for money as they include a plush scratch-free mitt with the soap, which you would have to buy otherwise. So it saves you a few bucks, and you won’t be using any old rag, towel, or sponge, which could leave scratches on your car.
Pros:
-Leaves a noticeably lovely shine on your car.
-Takes away all stubborn build-ups.
-It comes with a mitt in the package.
-The cleaning process of this soap is more time-saving.
Cons:
-Needs more soap than mentioned to create optimum foam.
-Lubrication is not the best.
Sun Joe Premium Snow Foam Soap – Best Biodegradable Foam Cannon Soap
Last update on 2024-08-08 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
I knew Sun Joe more for making great lawn mowers, snow blowers, and electric pressure washers, but it seems like they’re taking part in a different game now. They make snow foam soaps as well, and I must say, they’ve maintained just as good quality as their mowers and blowers.
It is a high-viscosity biodegradable soap, and it does a great job of soaking off all the gunk in your car. The foam it produces isn’t as thick as the chemical-based foam soap solutions, but it does an equally excellent job cleaning, if not better.
You don’t have to worry about damaging the wax finishes either because this biodegradable formula produces harmless foam to paint and other substances. The pH terminology is regardless here.
Another major thing that is entirely different from all other soaps that I recommended is that this soap comes non-concentrated. Do you know what that means?
It means you’ll have to put the soap undiluted in your cannon to create foam. Now that’s something which is not great about this soap.
You’re going to need a lot more of this soap for every wash than you need for other soaps. So your 1-gallon jar will empty up way faster than other traditional chemical foam cannon soaps. It increases the effective cost of the soap.
Another drawback of this is that you don’t get to control the concentration of the final cleaning solution, which you might need to do sometimes, depending on the strength of the dirt you’re looking to remove.
However, if you can afford the extra effective cost, this soap performs excellent, and it is probably the safest solution for your waxing. Many car owners love this soap, and so do I.
And by the way, go for Pineapple or Orange-vanilla scent as someone like me who wants minimum to zero scents on his car loved the smell this particular soap spread.
Pros:
-Biodegradable soap, very safe for wax and sealant coating.
-Suds are limited, but washing is on point.
-High-viscosity soap.
-The pleasant aroma it leaves.
Cons:
-Non-concentrated soap, the effective price is higher.
Why do you need foam cannon soap?
A question I often get asked is, why do you need a foam cannon soap particularly? Why won’t a regular car wash shampoo work?
Well, it’s a common mistake to mix car shampoos and snow foam cannons and think that they’re just the same. Of course, they’re similar products, and I get why people confuse between two, but one is not the perfect alternative to another.
Foam cannon soaps are best used for pre-wash, and they’re usually a lot more concentrated than car shampoos. Take Adam’s car wash shampoo and ultra foam shampoo, for example.
The same manufacturer manufactures both, but the ultra foam shampoo, specially made for use in foam cannons, is four times the concentration of the regular car wash shampoo.
So, it’s clear that foam cannon shampoos need different formulations in concentration. There are differences in the chemical formula as well. And they’ve their purposes that they serve best.
However, there are a few solutions that you can use for either purpose, which are specially manufactured. So, it won’t be wise to think that all other car wash shampoos and foam cannon soaps are good alternatives for each other, just because a few examples are there.
And to be honest, those few formulas out there are not the ideal solution either. I prefer dedicated solutions for different purposes to get the maximum performance and utilize the purpose of the products to the fullest potential.
Types of foam cannon soaps
There are not many types to define if we talk specifically about foam cannon soaps and not mix car shampoos. But you can categorize into two types:
Concentrated: Most of the soaps we talked about come in a concentrated state. That means you have to dilute them as recommended before putting them in operation.
The benefit of concentrating soaps is that you can control how thick you want the foam to be (by varying soap: water ratio) depending on the various parts of the car you want to wash.
Non-concentrated: You can use this type of soap undiluted in your cannon, and that’s what is recommended by the manufacturer to get the best performance. I find no direct benefit of non-concentrated soaps but other benefits are dependent on it.
Biodegradable soaps are most gentle on your wax, and they’re eco-friendly as well, and most of the biodegradable formulas have to be non-concentrated.
Buying Guide to Foam Cannon Soaps
It would help if you cross-checked a few things to find out the best soap for foam cannon. Let’s find out.
Dedicated vs. Versatile Formula
I have already stressed the differences between a car wash shampoo vs. ultra foam shampoo. It’s clear that they’re made for different purposes, and one is not the perfect alternative to the other.
But the fact that there are few versatile formulas makes things a little confusing. Should you go for a dedicated recipe or settle for a versatile one?
The answer is quite simple, though. I prefer dedicated formulas every time to get the best performance. I know how much you love your car and you probably want everything best for it.
However, versatile formulas are not too bad either, especially a few specific ones. And the effective price of those is a tad lower. So if you don’t want multiple containers to hang around and save a few bucks, versatile formulas are ago.
But make sure you don’t get fooled by the advertisement and pick the actual versatile formulas, like the Mr. Pink car wash soap by Chemical Guys.
pH Neutral
Another major factor to consider is the pH-neutrality of the solution. Finally, it is crucial to ensure that the soap does not harm your previously done wax or sealant coating.
The either acidic or basic formula is terrible for the coating. So you want to pick a soap that is pH neutral. pH-optimized or pH-balanced could be disguising terms on occasions, so if your soap says that, make sure you go through the reviews left by other users to ensure that it is harmless to the coating.
Cleaning Power
Cleaning power is the core factor of a soap that you could already tell. In a general sense, cleaning power has a lot to do with the amount and concentration of the foam a soap creates.
The more thick and rich foam a soap produces, the better it cleans. However, you also want to ensure the foam doesn’t slip off the car too early, in which case it won’t be able to do its job correctly.
However, few biodegradable soaps do good cleaning without much foam, like the Sun Joe premium wash.
Biodegradable soaps
Talking of biodegradable soaps, it could be a factor as well. If you care about eco-friendliness, you will be proud of using biodegradable soap. They’re less harmful to the environment as they biodegrade over time and lose their toxic existence.
Sun Joe premium is an excellent biodegradable soap if you want to pick one.
How to use the soap for foam cannon?
Using soap in the foam cannon properly is nowhere as hard as picking the best foam cannon soap. The only thing you need to be concerned about is the dilution ratio.
Manufacturers are likely to recommend the best water: soap ratio for the best performance. You want to follow their instruction.
However, you could ditch them too on a few occasions. If you’re not getting the expected suds, consider using a bit more soap in the same amount of water. If you want to be efficient while cleaning areas with less stubborn dirt, you may use less soap than recommended.
Another little yet valuable practice is to put the water first.
So take water in the cannon, put your soap in that, shake and dilute well, tighten the cannon and start busting tons of suds.
The Best Foam Cannon Soap 2022 – Wrap Up
Picking the best car wash soap for foam cannon is just as crucial as choosing the best cannon itself. That’s the whole purpose of this piece, and I hope I could help you with my foam cannon soap reviews.
Adam’s ultra foam shampoo is the winner if you care highly about performance.
If you’re looking for an excellent price-to-performance ratio, you can’t go wrong with the chemical guys honeydew.
The Mr. Pink from chemical guys is undoubtedly the best option for a versatile formula.
If you want to be environmentally friendly, which I’d highly appreciate, consider the Sun Joe premium car wash shampoo.
Shoot me any questions in the comments. Happy foaming!
FAQs
What’s the best soap for a foam cannon?
Hands down, the best soap for foam cannon to me is the Chemical Guys Honeydew foam soap. I would have named Adam’s ultra foam shampoo, but the chemical guys offer a way better price to performance ratio, so that’s my pick.
Do you dilute soap for foam cannon?
Put the water first in the cannon and then put the necessary soap. Finally, tighten the cannon and shake well.
How much soap do I use in a foam cannon?
It depends on what soap you’re using and what area you’re going to wash. Usually, the standard ratio is 3 to 5 ounces in a gallon of water.
Can I use shampoo to pre-wash the car?
We’ve had a long talk on that already. I recommend using a dedicated foam cannon soap for this purpose.
How do I make my foam cannon foamier?
Dilute in the proper ratio and consider shaking a bit before using it.
What is the best homemade car wash soap?
You can prepare homemade soaps using dishwasher gel and baking sodas, but I will highly discourage using that. No homemade soaps are as good as proper car wash formulas. They can harm your car’s coating and paint as well.
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Last update on 2024-08-08 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
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