Tornador Air Foamer HP

Its been almost a year since my last up date.  So what's new this time round?  Well its the Tornador Air Foamer HP.  Its basically a tool which foams up your car shampoo and creates a rich foam to wash your car with.  You can virtually use any car shampoo you wish.  In this test I used a regular "Over The Counter" (OTC) car shampoo called Kit Car Shampoo made by SC Johnson so you can see how this tool foams up with regular car shampoo.

The foamer is easy to use just fill up your shampoo mix add air pull the trigger and start foaming.  For the foamer to work you obviously would need an air compressor which you can easily purchase from your local hardware shop which retails tools and equipment.  You will need 60-90 psi of air pressure.  I have a 3hp air compressor with a 35 litre tank.  This will just be enough for the foamer.  It wont have enough air capacity for you to foam the whole car at one go but it will allow you to foam the car in sections at a time.  Here in Malaysia where the temperature is around the 30 degrees Celsius, I don't recommend foaming the whole car.  Because of the fact that by the time you get to the rear section of the car some of the foam would have dried out.  The best I have found was to foam and wash the car sections at a time.  This would also help my small compressor to fill up in between foaming sections as well.

The shampoo concentration that I used was 1:40.  Which works out to be 25ml:1000ml.  The container which holds the mix is a 1000ml container.  I have found that this would just be enough for a mid sized car like a Toyota Camry excluding the wheels.  In order to do the whole car you would need about 1.5liters.

Remember that this is a 1:40 mix of concentrated foam that you are spraying on the car, so its much stronger that your regular bucket wash mix. You don't really need to foam the whole car until the whole panel is hidden away by foam.  As usual you should always hose or wash the car down. Hose the car down with water first to remover excess dirt and dust to reduce marring of the paint.  This also would help to further dilute the foam wash mix as the foam will be slightly diluted by the water on the car.  It also help with further lubrication as the foam itself is quite "dry".  I found that 1:40 would be about the minimum mix for the foamer to foam properly.  But obviously this would vary with different products from different brands.

Ok, so lets start foaming.  Here are some pics of the car being foamed.

 The foam that you see in the last picture of the bonnet is more than enough.  You don't need to completely cover the car with foam as the foam is concentrated and you will very shortly see that any more will be wasted.

This next set of pictures are of the foam being spread evenly by the wash sponge.  By doing so helps to spread out the foam more evenly and gets it ready for the actual wash.  All you need to do to spread the foam is just to glide the wash sponge over the foam, about 1cm away from the surface of the car.  This will allow you to spread the foam with the sponge with out actually having the sponge touch the car.  This will reduce the chance of you causing any marring on the paint.  If the car wasn't very dirty to being with you could actually rinse the car.  But if the car was originally quite dirty, after spreading the foam you would continue to wash the car as you would normally.  But I would actually tilt up the sponge at the front leading edge up slightly so that the foam will be pushed under the sponge which helps cleaning.  If not you may be pushing the foam off the car. I find that with this method you need very little pressure to clean the car as the foam also helps to lift the dirt off the car helping to reduce the chance of marring in the wash process.

Sponge actually floating on the foam

Lift whole sponge 1cm to spread the foam.  Then ONLY lift the leading
edge to wash the car and to push the foam under the sponge.

Sponge covered by a layer of foam to reduce marring on the paint

By now continue washing as usual then rinse to wash away the dirt and foam.  Then move on to the next section of the car.  Remember to have a clean bucket of water to wash your sponge whenever it gets dirty or between sections of the car.  Here are more pictures of the car being washed and foamed.

Roof Foamed

Roof Foamed

Roof Foam Spread

Roof Foam Spread

Roof Foam Spread

Roof Foam Spread

Side Foam Sprayed

Side Foam Spread

Side Foam Spread

Tyre Foamed

Tyre Washed Ready For Rinse.
The foam looks clean because the wheels are quite
clean as the original brake pads are extremely low dusting.

So here we come to the end of the is review.  All in all, I think this Tornador Air Foamer HP works really well.  Its a very nice experience washing the car with such rich foam.  To put it in words, while washing the car it feels like it cleans very well but very gently.  Partly due to the fact that you are using 1:40 concentration shampoo mix and that you have the foam to help lift off dirt and contaminants which also reduces the chance of marring and very little pressure and effort is needed to wash a car which is relatively clean to being with.

Personally I think this is a great tool to have even for a novice DIY detailer to a serious detailer.  Mainly because it can greatly help to reduce marring on the car and its easy to set up and use.  Not to mention the kids love the foam and will find great pleasure in washing the car.  That is if you let the kids.

For those living in Malaysia, the Tornador Air Foamer HP is available at Duragloss Malaysia.  At the time of writing its not posted up as yet at the Duragloss Malaysia website, but just call them to place an order to purchase.  Call Duragloss for Malaysian pricing.