Car Shampoo & Snow Foam

A good car shampoo & snow foam soap is a necessity for anyone washing their car, especially detailers. Many people think that washing your car with green soap or dish soap is good enough and will do no harm. But this is anything but the case. Snow foam is the product that is going to make sure that as much dirt as possible is already off the car even before you wash the car. It also loosens trapped dirt so that when you go to wash with your 2 bucket method and a wash mitt you can more easily remove the dirt. So it determines to a very large extent whether you are going to scratch your car even before you have touched it. Of course, it also helps considerably if your car is protected with a wax, spray coating or a real coating. Because of this, in many cases you don't even have to wash the car with a wash mitt and a car shampoo anymore. A good snow foam will ensure that your car is already as good as completely clean by simply spraying a thick layer of foam onto the protection with a foam cannon.

So you have 2 different types of snow foam shampoo. You have pH neutral shampoo and alkaline shampoo. If you don't have any protection on your car then we recommend using an alkaline snow foam shampoo. These will remove and loosen as much dirt as possible. If you do have protection on your car, even an actual coating then we recommend using a pH neutral shampoo. These are the gentlest on the protection and don't break it down, if at all. Alkaline shampoo is much more aggressive and can break down protection, with repeated use this can even break down a coating's water and dirt repelling properties. If you have a coating and still have an exceptionally dirty car you can exceptionally use this as it is still better to remove as much dirt as possible and reduce wax scratches. The pH neutral shampoo despite being a shampoo that can be safely used on protected surfaces will still clean very well, especially compared to green soap or dish soap.

This is the same with a car shampoo. A car shampoo, as the name implies, is specifically designed to be used as a car shampoo. It breaks down dirt specifically found on cars where dish soap breaks down dirt specifically found on cutlery and dishes. Therefore, the formulation and use of both soaps is completely different. A car shampoo is also available in pH neutral and alkaline. Although these are primarily pH neutral. The idea behind choosing between pH neutral and alkaline is again the same here as with the snow foam shampoo.

Also, in car shampoo, there are 2 types of soap. You have the regular car shampoo and a 2 in 1 product that is going to wash and protect at the same time. There are also car shampoo & snow foam shampoos that have a 2 in 1 formula where they will clean and protect at the same time but we ourselves are not in favor of this. This is because they are often based on wax. Wax is a sticky product and it clogs the filter in the foam cannon. As for car shampoo, this can sometimes come in handy when you already have protection on your car. This allows you to revive the water and dirt repelling properties of the protection. It also creates a protective layer for the protection that you have applied which means that, for example, your wax or coating has less to endure and they will last longer. However, we recommend using a shampoo and wax only on a waxed car and not on a car that has ceramic or graphene protection. This is because the wax will clog the pores of the ceramic and graphene parts and actually make them less effective. We recommend using a ceramic shampoo for this purpose.

The most important feature in both a regular car shampoo and a 2 in 1 car shampoo still remains lubricant. Many think that an aggressive shampoo is best so that the dirt can be dissolved properly. In the detailing world, this is just the opposite. Snow foam shampoo usually has a different formula as a car shampoo. While both can work for all two uses, they work best when used specifically for the task for which they are designed. In fact, a snow foam is always used before car shampoo. It is designed not to slide, but rather to stick to the surface and loosen the dirt. The car shampoo is made to make your wash mitt glide across the surface as smoothly as possible. This is because wax scratches occur when your wash mitt glides over the paint. When it glides smoothly over the paintwork, you make considerably fewer scratches than when you use a shampoo that does not glide smoothly. Your mitt will still remove dirt even with the most slippery car shampoo as smoothly as with a shampoo that is more aggressive but less slippery.

At Custom Car Care we have already tested a huge number of different shampoos and have done extensive research on them. This allows us to give you the best advice and recommend the best products. We always advise to use 2 specific products. Namely, a good sliding pH neutral car shampoo and a pH neutral snow foam shampoo. We are also big advocates of using as many specific products as possible for specific applications. So we prefer to recommend buying a shampoo and a wax or spray coating separately and not as 2 in 1 products. Although of course we respect and understand everyone's needs, free time and budget. Are you interested in a car shampoo & snow foam soap? We offer all kinds!