Guide: How to Use a Foam Cannon on your Tesla

Why should you even use a foam cannon? Is there magic in the foam? Nope. Just good ole soap! Teslas are known to have soft paint, so it’s easy to scratch when washing. However, if it’s sprayed down with foam first, this creates a lubricant barrier, making it easier for dirt and grime to loosen up before we grab our wash mitt.

Another important factor is what time of day you wash your Tesla. Avoid direct sunlight, so in the early morning or at sunset is best. This will avoid the harsh sun rays drying out the soap too soon. This isn’t ideal, because you don’t want to be rushed when wiping the car down. The longer you can let the soap start breaking down the dirt and grime the better.

Steps

1. First we’re gonna fill up our bottle with WARM water and pour in a generous amount of shampoo. I like to use about the same as I would for a 5 gallon bucket. Anywhere between 5-10 bloops (yes, that’s a scientific term.) Also, don’t shake it up! Just swirl it around and you’ll get a good solution.  
2. Sit that aside and lets rinse down the car. With a correct pressure set up and nozzle angle we should be safe from damaging the clear coat. Look for any paint chips and take a mental note of these areas so you can keep the nozzle a little further away as you move around the car. We wanna soak the whole car down and try to knock off any major debris and bug guts. *Note: The higher the degree of the nozzle, the wider the spray, so a 0 degree nozzle will be pushing out water in a straight stream. Spreading out that angle allows you to cover more area as you clean, while a narrow stream will help get into crevices. It’s always good to start with the widest angle and start spraying 5-7 feet away from the vehicle, and then start moving forward and/or closing down that angle until you’re getting good coverage with a good amount of force.
3. Once you’ve got the car soaked, let’s switch to our cannon and spray it down. Work top to bottom and cover the whole car. There’s a few different controls you can use while spraying, like altering the angle of spray by flipping vertical to horizontal. You can also change the soap output, but let’s be honest, we want all the soap! Use whatever’s left in your bottle to go back and hit those trouble areas (rockers, and bumpers).
4. Grab your wash mitt, dunk it in your rinse bucket, and start at the roof by gently gliding the mitt over. Work top of car to bottom. Flip and wash your mitt out after a few passes to avoid picking anything up that might scratch the paint. Once you’ve got it all wiped down, grab the spray gun and rinse off the rest of the soap. Take note to really wash out all the gaps and trims around the car.
5. Now that everything is rinsed off, we’re gonna grab our towels and dry the car. I know this seems like an extra step, but if you aren’t using a water filter, your water probably has some type of minerals in it. Letting this dry on its own can cause water spots where the water dries, leaving the minerals on the paint. If this sits for too long, you may have to polish these out.

If you don’t have a pressure washer or foam cannon, check out this video on how to use the 2-bucket method to get a good wash. We go into detail on what order to wash your car in as well.