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The problem with pH-neutral snow foam is that it's only any good at removing light dust and pollen. So unless your car has been parked up since you last washed it, it's use case it's pretty slim.

In the real world pH-neutral snowfoam doesn't really make sense because your car, in most cases, isn't just covered in dust and pollen. It's covered in bug splatter, If it's rained since you last washed your car, it's picked up heavier grime. If you haven't washed your car for a little while, you've got brake dust and heavier contamination to contend with.

All pH-neutral snow foam is going to do is make the bugs all over the front of your car shiny and moisturised. Then because you haven't removed them and all the contaminants properly when you go in with the contact wash, you're going to scratch all that leftover deposit into your clear coat, which isn't great.

Just use an alkaline-based snow foam, which is better at removing that dirt, better at removing build-up, and also way better at removing insects, heavy grime, and other stuff across the entirety of your car.

I get it, alkaline-based snow foam is a little bit more harsh on your protective layers but, for me, that doesn't matter.

Doesn't it make more sense to protect your clear coat and ensure that you're not inflicting swirls and marring over preserving your protective layers?

Just use a good alkaline-based (and properly diluted) snow foam all year round, ensure a consistently good and thorough pre-wash everytime and maintain your paint and clear coat as effectively as possible!

I’m 19 in the southwest, I’m looking into starting a detailing business with a mate.

What prices and packages would be good as a beginner ?

Also, what pressure washer would you recommend?

Just bought the karcher k silent and the auto glym polar snow cannon, what do I need and how to use them?
All I know is pre wash, snow foam, tire clean and tyre shine?

Could I ask if anyone whose using Bilt Hamber "Touch-Less" had success using the "IK Multi Pro 2 (360)" Sprayer?

I was using a Spray Bottle previously but doesn't get you round the car fast enough before it starts drying.

Hopefully the IK Sprayer should be just fine (not bought yet) so thought i would ask tge experts here. Im just a Joe public wanting to contactless wash. Im using Touch-less as mentioned.

Thanks..

Hi all, I have just got a nilfisk p180 premium, and need a decent snowfoam cannon, looking at the mjc v3 cannon, but an unsure is the connector type i need . Would really appreciate some advice on this. Thanks

It’s Fly season, what’s the best product to remove them?

Is that an apc before snow foam or something else?

How do you guys adapt your external washes during hot, sunny weather when you're washing outside? Obviously choosing your days is most import but with the recent wall to wall sunny days, there seems to be no choice but to crack on with it.

On my last wash, it was only around 18c (full sun) and I really struggled to beat the evaporation and have been left with streaks.

Any tips?

Hi Guys

Due to commit to a Mercedes “AMG” A35 shortly - still undecided on grey or black paint but regardless…

It’s been years since I had a genuine interest in cleaning by hand but previously I used to use Collinite 476 and Sonax shine detailer.

As a lazy (now 44 years old) amateur, are these two combos still recommend or should I look at some new products?

Thanks in advance.

I’m trying to connect my karcher k2 compact to an aftermarket snow cannon.

The female quickrelease-to-22mm the cannon came with is too loose. Water just pours out and it pulls out with little force. The metal quickrelease bars don’t seem to engage (though idk what they would engage to)

I bought a karcher branded one thinking this would solve the problem. The hose won’t even get past the metal collar of the quickrelease. It’s just too tight.

Am I looking at the wrong connectors here? Someone please tell me what i’m missing.

Looking for a recommendation and decent uk supplier for a wall mount reel for a kranzle high pressure hose. Ideally 20m

I've had a Nilfisk C110.3 for 14 years now and with the exception of replacing all of the seals 5 years ago as a bit of preventative maintenance, it has been absolutely bullet proof and maintenance free. It gets used for the car twice a month and occasionally some patio cleaning.

After all this time I'm wondering if it's time for a change to something a bit newer? Naturally I find myself looking at the E170 but I'm wondering if I'll really notice £350 worth of improvement? Will my existing snow foam fit the new stuff? I assume so.

Am I tempting fate going from something so reliable to something newer?

Hi ,

Im just a normal car owner who likes to keep his car looking clean and shiny.

At the moment ive bought these products after watching a lot of YouTube videos. Because I want to give the car a really deep clean.

Squid ink alkafroth

Squid ink citrus

Squid ink plasti seal

Squid ink tyre seal

Squid ink Fotress

Garage therapy rinseless

Yum Undress

Yum Detailer

Yum Foam plus

Bilt hamber shampoo

Bilt hamber Touch-less

Bilt hamber trace-less

Bilt hamber Ferrous

Ive spent a bit of money, next time round are there any chemicals i should buy instead which you've found are really good or have a missed some out.

thank you

I need some advice to improve my foam lance experience - currently my foam is thin and watery using Meg's Hyper Wash (I know it's not a specialist foam product but I have a huge bottle of it and want to use it). I feel that I should also share that I'm a novice DIY detailer, so limited knowledge and experience.

I have this brass foam lance with the default orifice, which I assume is 1.25mm. I have a relatively low powered domestic Nilfisk PW (specs in the photo) that pushes 5.2 l/min at 85 bar.

AI recommends that I change the orifice to 1.0mm - does this sound reasonable, considering the PW specs?

Second, AI insists that this orifice nozzle should have an o ring, but YT videos of gun teardowns don't appear to show an o ring and none of the replacement nozzles have o rings in the product photos. Should this have an o ring?

I have started to detail my own car and have very quickly realised that the most time consuming part is not washing the car itself but washing and drying the towels and mitts that I use.

Currently I use the following:

Wheels: 1 mitt, 1 wheel towel to dry and 1 towel to buff out wheel dressing

Exterior: 2 Mitts, 2 towels (1 for door shuts and 1 for wiping away excess water when blowing out crevices) and 1 drying towel.

Post Wash: 1 Mitt for ceramic spray on (gyeon)

Now in terms of washing these towels, I have followed what everyone has said and tried to separate them to avoid any cross contamination.

What does that look like for me? Well firstly I will put it on a delicate wash which takes around 58 minutes. After that wash, I will do another cycle to rinse any remaining product or detergent (28 minutes). Now once that is done I will then do another drain cycle at 800RPM to remove excess water before putting in dryer which takes 10 minutes and finally in it goes to dry for 10-20 minutes.

Overall, lets just call in 2 hours to do 1 batch which is ridiculous. Bare in mind that I wash and dry my big drying towel by itself so all the above takes a whopping 6-8 hours...

Surely I am doing something wrong or being too extra because this cant be right.

Any suggestions?

Could someone please help me, I picked my car up from a authorised dealership after having some engine work done.

They have used some sort of chemical to clean the car and this is what it has done to the plastic.

They tried to tell me the vehicle was like that when it was dropped off by the RAC, I then showed them the video of the car being loaded and they suddenly changed their tune!

What is the best way to resolve this?

Thanks.

Bilt Hamber have announced a recent price increase across the board.

Surfex HD 5L: £18.95 to £28.95
Auto-Foam 5L: £18.95 to £28.95
Touchless 5L: £28.95 to £32.95

Auto-Foam vs Touchless only a £4 gap now. Auto-Foam used to be the obvious budget friendly option for casual washes, but at near Touchless money is it worth it? Touchless is more concentrated, lower PIR, and pulls more off the paint without contact, which is what you want from a pre-wash. Anyone switched, or sticking with Auto-Foam at the new price?

Surfex HD now more expensive than Koch Chemie GS - do we make the switch?

Hey everyone!
I created a website with an AI-powered car care diagnostic tool. The goal is to take a picture; you can add some details (for example: a photo of a dirty seat, description: coffee stain), but it's optional. The system analyzes the image and provides a step-by-step guide on how to fix it. You can also download a PDF to consult later. Other tools like image editing and an article section are being developed. Right now it's completely free; I'm in the testing phase and I wanted to invite anyone interested to help me. What I need is people with at least a basic understanding to try and compare the results the tool gives and teach the bot. I have a WhatsApp group, and if you're interested, send me a DM with your name and number, and I'll add you. You can find the link there; you don't need to register.

Thank you all for your help.

Just finished rinsing the sand storm off my car and noticed the guy over the road doing his Cayman (that never moves off his drive) as well. He jet washed it and I just noticed him doing the contact wash WITH A SPONGE!!! The missus laughed at me when I said to myself oh my god he’s using a sponge, but then said herself I bet he’s only using one bucket as well.
Should I have a word with him?

EDIT - The car has not been seen for the last couple of days, I wonder if he cleaned it because he was selling it.

I’ve never owned or used a machine polisher before but I am getting tired of hand polishing and hand waxing and would like a reasonably priced machine polisher between £50 - £100.

It will only be used for applying things like Super Resin polish and glazes etc with occasional marring removal so I don’t fancy spending hundreds of pounds but there are so many Chinese made ones I don’t know which to go for and I don’t want to end up with a 🍋

This is my partner's BMW, the plastic coating on the door handle (?grab bar?) is turning tacky/melting.

I'm borrowing the car today, and I keep forgetting it's like this and accidentally smeared the goop onto my hands twice now.

Is there anything I can do to fix this?

Wow how satisfying! I understand why people take pride in doing it themselves now.

My only question and concern is that I used up 800ml of citrus ore was and all I really used it for was the door shuts, little spritz on tyres and quick lower half of the car. I'm sure this isn't normal so what have I done wrong there?

Using forst citrus ready to use I believe not concentrate

I’m looking to get a power washer for occasional car washing and small patio/cleaning tasks but it’s a minefield trying to figure out what to get. I’ve got a £100 Amazon voucher and only really want to go up to 150 max. Use cases are above, and I’d like to use snow foam then when I’ve got one so something that can handle it. So far I’m kind of looking at:

- Ava go p40
- nilfisk 120 titan xtra (has a load of accessories/bottle thing)

Are these good enough for what I’d be doing, is it a bit of a trap looking always up as I’ve not had one before and don’t know what I’m in for? Any advice is appreciated.