Pre wash Snow Foam recommendations?

[JC220]

Hi all,

Wondering what snow foam members use and that is readily available online. Does it clean well or foam up and not do much?

I have a professional level Kranzle washer with snow foam cannon. However I have found that the snow foams I have tried to date do very little to actually remove dirt on the body. Yes they take a little off but not much for the dwell time and cost....

The sbow foams I have had so far I had bought from detailing online UK. They smell great and foam like heck which is fun I must admit but the panels still have dirt on them after. And the dwell time is quite limited. The foam is so thick that it starts to slide off on the tops of the fenders etc quite quickly and start to dry off.

Just ordered 5L of Bilt Hamber snow foam so I hope it works better and appears to get very good reviews. It doesn't foam up half as much according to the reviews but if it cleans better that wont matter

 

[nocfn]

just a thought, forgive me. Every now and then its not a bad idea to just use a high phosphate dish soap like dawn or joy to remove all the hard water, wax and polishes. Then give her a nice clay bar and apply the choice of finish you use or series of corrective action. For me, I find that hand washing works best and nothing comes clean (as you found out) from a suds soak alone. I also use a camper inline water filter screwed into the spigot and my hose at the other end of the filter. The quality of the water really makes a difference for a cleaner clean.

 

[gerryvz]

I agree with @nocfn, hand-washing is generally going to be best, particularly if done using the two-bucket method.

 

[JC220]

Guys - I am not suggesting only snow foam and rinse!

A PRE wash scenario. Which is the common way snow foam is used. I do of course hand wash after the snow foam pre treatment and rinse. Just wanting to share suggestions for which snow foams are good

 

[alabbasi]

I have a cheapo amazon one that I picked up for $20.

It does a good job of being a pre soak

 

[brigadier]

I've just started using the bilt-hamber autofoam - only used couple others in the past, but autofoam seems to clean better, I can actually see dirt dripping down with the foam, it doesn't foam as much as the others and you still have to wash by hand, but very good pre-wash

 

[JC220]

I've just started using the bilt-hamber autofoam - only used couple others in the past, but autofoam seems to clean better, I can actually see dirt dripping down with the foam, it doesn't foam as much as the others and you still have to wash by hand, but very good pre-wash

Thanks for that and yes that's what I have heard on many reviews. Not as foamy but great cleaning power. What ratio do you use?

When it gets here I'm thinking about 150ml per 1l snow foam bottle and top off another 500ml or so with warm water

 

[vatc5637]

I've been using this from Chemical Guys ($10 for 16 oz.) Works pretty well considering that I just use it with street water pressure (no pressurewasher). Love the scent though.

 

[brigadier]

Thanks for that and yes that's what I have heard on many reviews. Not as foamy but great cleaning power. What ratio do you use?

When it gets here I'm thinking about 150ml per 1l snow foam bottle and top off another 500ml or so with warm water

Depends on your setup - see this thread on dw - https://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=400542
This is the way you calculate dilution ratio:
1. Fill your snow foam bottle with exactly 1L of water. Measure this as it must be exact.
2. Connect your foam lance up and make sure the foam nozzle is turned to full foam output (Usually all the way to -).
3. Grab a large container, I used my 20L wash bucket and spray the foam lance into the bucket until the 1L bottle is empty. Add a little food dye to the water within the bottle if your struggling to see the water level.
4. Measure the total amount of water contained within the bucket. I done this by scooping the water out in my measuring beakers.
5. Once you have your total volume (mines is 12.76L), simply multiply this figure by 0.04. This tells you how much auto-foam needs to be used to achieve the 4% PIR.

 

[JC220]

I have been using the Bilt Hamber Auto Foam for a few weeks now and this is it! I will be using this snow foam from now on. Whilst others go on inches thick and look great they do nothing to really shift grime and they end up laying on your driveway for hours or even days in cold weather.

This product is thinner but very effective. I give it 5 – 10 mins dwell time and it can be seen to break down and slide grime off panels. The caveat is that we have alot of bugs smashed into our car front ends this time of year so there is blood and all sorts stuck to the car. I pre treat those particular areas of dead bug mess with TFR detergent first, then snow foam, then contact wash.

I use just under an inch height fill in my snow foam bottle and top off almost full with water – works a treat. The 5L will go a long way. I’m so pleased with this product I have bought more Bilt Hamber products which got great reviews on you tube. Their standard clay bar and Auto-wash concentrated shampoo. I also ordered a 5ml syringe so I can correctly dose the shampoo.

I may get a go-pro and do a “detail wash” video of my 500E soon

 

[8899]

I have been using the Bilt Hamber Auto Foam for a few weeks now and this is it!

Is this what you are using:

Amazon.com: Bilt Hamber Auto Wash 300ml, Concentrated Vehicle Shampoo: Gateway

Buy Bilt Hamber Auto Wash 300ml, Concentrated Vehicle Shampoo: Cleaners - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

 

[JC220]

Is this what you are using:

Amazon.com: Bilt Hamber Auto Wash 300ml, Concentrated Vehicle Shampoo: Gateway

Buy Bilt Hamber Auto Wash 300ml, Concentrated Vehicle Shampoo: Cleaners - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

The product I have used already is their snow foam product called Auto Foam



That shampoo you linked called Auto Wash I have also ordered but not arrived yet. It is super concentrated so you need a syringe to dispense it. Not a case of just tipping it out onto a bucket....

 

[JC220]

This is a good video on the Bilt Hamber product range which I found useful

 

[JC220]

Bumping this thread as it is back to car washing / detailing season for me! There is something uber satisfying about breaking out the Kranzle, devils blood wheel cleaner and a snow foaming

The Auto Foam is lasting very well. Too well infact so to make things a little more interesting whilst washing 3 or 4 of the fleet each Saturday I have ordered Autoglym Polar blast snow foam to try it out. Might try a Dodo Juice snow foam too since their products are usually top notch IME

 

[brigadier]

Let us know how the others compare to auto foam

 

[JC220]

Let us know how the others compare to auto foam

Yes certainly I will report back when testing a couple more of these foams myself. The Auto Foam may be hard to beat to be fair and it's also great value (in the UK at least)

 

[8899]

Yes certainly I will report back when testing a couple more of these foams myself. The Auto Foam may be hard to beat to be fair and it's also great value (in the UK at least)

About US$125.00 for a 5L jug here in the States from Amazon.

 

[JC220]

Wow that's quite the markup! Price delivered for 5L here is approx 28 bucks equivalent which makes it very good value. All Bilt Hamber products are very good. I use their Auto Wash super concentrated shampoo also.

 

[JC220]

I've also ordered Wax Planet 8 Below Snow Foam to try it out. It is winning product tests and here is a new video putting it against Bilt Hamber Auto Foam

 

[JC220]

The Eight Below snow foam arrived - decent dilution ratios might go far



Which is just as well as it looks like the Postie dropped kicked it a few times on the way here!



I'll try it out in the next day or two.... this stuff has been beating even Bilt Hamber on testing so I'm keen to try it

 

[JC220]

OK so today I tried the Wax Planet Eight Below snow foam - unfortunately it was a complete bust! Goes on thick etc, dwell time was good at about 8 - 10 minutes before I rinsed it off.

But the cleaning power is just not there at all. Even at 10parts concentration it was surprisingly useless given the You Tube videos raving about it. Fortunately I only bought a litre of the stuff to try it out so I cam use it on lightly soiled cars but the Bilt Hamber Auto Foam is still my favourite and most effective.

The Autoglym Polar stuff is coming in a few days so I'll try it next and report back

 

[8899]

The Autoglym Polar stuff is coming in a few days so I'll try it next and report back

Ok...keep us posted. Only US$50.00 for a 2.5L jug here in the States!

 

[Harv]

Watch Obsessed Garage. His foam goes on like shaving cream. Obsessed Garage | Home Of The Obsessed

 

[8899]

Watch Obsessed Garage. His foam goes on like shaving cream. Obsessed Garage | Home Of The Obsessed

Yea, his exhaustive reviews of pressure electric washers is worth the investment of time before buying one.

 

[8899]

@JC220 Have you tried CarPro Reset yet?

 

[JC220]

@JC220 Have you tried CarPro Reset yet?

Hmmm no I havent tried this one yet but I see it is available on Ebay UK. Is it something you have tried or are interested in? I'm always interested to try a detailing product I havent used before so could give it a go!

Amazon for some reason still had not dispatched my Polar snow foam order for over 2 weeks. Really strange but I just cancelled it. I will order it from Ebay soon

 

[JC220]

Watch Obsessed Garage. His foam goes on like shaving cream. Obsessed Garage | Home Of The Obsessed

Yea, his exhaustive reviews of pressure electric washers is worth the investment of time before buying one.

I had watched all these before and really enjoyed it. I did buy the Kranzle washer he recommended and it is worth every penny. Karcher etc is just cheap dirt in comparison to a Kranzle! Amazing german quality machines. I didnt buy his lance kits at the time but plan to

 

[gsxr]

Amazon for some reason still had not dispatched my Polar snow foam order for over 2 weeks. Really strange but I just cancelled it. I will order it from Ebay soon

Dunno about the UK, but on this side of the pond, "non-essential" items are being delayed by Amazon for 2-4 weeks to provide supply chain capacity for more important things like toilet paper and hand sanitizer. Screen shot below.

 

[8899]

Hmmm no I havent tried this one yet but I see it is available on Ebay UK. Is it something you have tried or are interested in? I'm always interested to try a detailing product I havent used before so could give it a go!

Amazon for some reason still had not dispatched my Polar snow foam order for over 2 weeks. Really strange but I just cancelled it. I will order it from Ebay soon

No, but it is apparently all the rage among the detailers here in the US. Fire up your YouTube and search around. Was hoping that you had given it a go already...