Snow foam or Bilt Hamber surfex HD deagreaser

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Luton Town

Active Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2016
Messages
88
Location
BEDFORDSHIRE
Car
A45 and loving it.
what would be the best for light soiling.I wash the car every 2 weeks.Cheers.
 
Depends on what you're looking to do, they're different tools for different jobs.

The snow foam is intended for no-touch loosening of surface dirt before hand washing, whereas I would expect Surfex to be agitated for more intensive cleaning of specific areas.
 
Definitely Auto Foam. I'd suggest forking out for a Hozelock Pump Sprayer to accompany, good piece of kit.

Surfex is a great product and even though you can dilute to suit it's one for degreasing tyres, and cleaning engine bays, arches and shuts for me.
 
Surfex HD is pH14 and therefore an alkaline solution. Whilst your SiO2 paint protection is as hard as nails there is no point in trying to compromise it unnecessarily. A snow foam is the better option. Bilt Hamber snow foam won't deliver the theatre of a fragrant whipped cream coating but is one of the best foams available for sheer cleaning power. I suspect the glass coating sealant on your A45 is quite dirt repellent anyway so there will be many occasions where a BH foaming will suffice.

I'd suggest a purpose-made hand foamer rather than using a general purpose Hozelok sprayer to deliver the foam. The German-made Mesto brand is very popular for around £21 delivered:

Mesto 1.5l Pump Foamer

Of course if you already have a Karcher K-series pressure washer, eBay is awash (see what I did there) with suitable snow foam lances. Here's the one I use:

Snow foam lance £15.99 delivered

If you do need to wash the car, Bilt Hamber also do an excellent uber-concentrated shampoo. A mere 5ml teaspoon added to a bucket of warm water creates amazing suds with excellent lubricity.

Bilt Hamber Laboratories Website
 
I have been using BH snow foam for a couple of years now with a pressure washer. Found that with well prepared paintwork, clawed and AG SRP & HD wax that the dirt falls off even in winter. Quite often the car does not need the bucket wash at all, foam over rinse off and it's done.... Oh and Sonax bad used after each proper wash helps I guess, a real convert to that stuff.
 
BEA76 said:
I have been using BH snow foam for a couple of years now with a pressure washer. Found that with well prepared paintwork, clawed and AG SRP & HD wax that the dirt falls off even in winter. Quite often the car does not need the bucket wash at all, foam over rinse off and it's done.... Oh and Sonax bad used after each proper wash helps I guess, a real convert to that stuff.


That should read clayed, IPad text correct arhhhhh
 
Toobad said:
I'd suggest a purpose-made hand foamer rather than using a general purpose Hozelok sprayer to deliver the foam. The German-made Mesto brand is very popular for around £21 delivered:]

I have the Hozelock and Mesto. Whilst the Mesto is a good piece of kit the versatility of the Hozelock wins every time.

1. Greater capacity;
2. You can cover the whole car without having to stop to pump the pressure back up;
3. The wand makes accessing areas like the roof, wheel arches and sills much easier;

My Mesto is pretty redundant now, I sometimes use it to mix up a citrus pre wash or similar for discrete areas.

Link for anybody who wants to look into the Hozelock...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/360820955577
 
I was thinking of the Hozelock Spraymist 1.25-litre pump sprayer when suggesting the Mesto but that 5-litre badboy is definitely the way to go for all the reasons you list. You can get one at the link below for £28.99 delivered which makes it a no-brainer against a 1.5-litre Mesto at £21. I like the backpack portability for easy manoeuvring around the car and the 3-year guarantee isn't to be sniffed at either.

Hozelock 4705 Plus 5-litre Pump Sprayer
 
Got any video or photos of the weed sprayer being used to snowfoam?

Tony.
 
jotter22 said:
Got any video or photos of the weed sprayer being used to snowfoam? Tony.

If I get to clean the cars this weekend I'll try to think on to do a clip. It doesn't foam up as such but trust me it's at least if not more effective than applying it via a dedicated foam lance or something like the Mesto. Hard to describe but the Autofoam bubbles on the paintwork and you literally see the dirt run off. I always follow up with a snow foam anyway to get it as clean as possible before hitting the paintwork with the wash pad.

Also no science in this as far as I know but warm, not boiling water in my eyes gives better cleaning power.
 
Toobad said:
... Of course if you already have a Karcher K-series pressure washer, eBay is awash (see what I did there) with suitable snow foam lances. Here's the one I use: Snow foam lance £15.99 delivered
Thanks for the tip. It looks good value so I've just ordered one to use with my Karcher K7. I've never used snow foam in 50 years of car cleaning so it should be interesting to see how effective it is.
 
@ knighterrant. Be sure to apply your snow foam in a place where all the neighbours can see you. You will become a detailing God in their eyes :D

The correct dosing for the lance can be a contentious issue and you will find forum threads on the subject running to several pages. There will be complex formulas to calculate the delivery rate based on the concentration level of the detergent that makes the snow foam and the throughput of your pressure washer. People have been driven to the edge of madness by the maths.

On the other hand you can just do what I do. Namely, put and inch of snow foam in the lance container and top up with warm water. Close down the valve on the top of the lance fully then back it off about an eighth of a turn. Open the nozzle blades so they sit about 1.5mm apart. For me this produces a fine consistent fan shaped spray delivered at a dosing rate that will allow you to do two medium sized cars, including wheels and arches, before the contents of the lance bottle is gone.

I swear by Bilt Hamber Auto Foam. It doesn't produce the street theatre of a thick whipped cream topping emitting fragrances of exotic fruits from far flung lands that keeps onlookers mesmerised and captivated by your total awesomeness. Quite simply, if left to dwell on the car for between 5-10 minutes, it will shift the type of dirt that has many more esoteric snow foams wincing with embarrassment.

Here's a couple of pictures taken this afternoon. Granted the car wasn't particularly dirty as we haven't had any rain in the last two weeks. The surface was more an amalgam of tree sap and dust. Anyway, a foaming with BH followed by a rinse using the low pressure Karcher lance and a dry off with my Cobra Guzzler Korean microfibre waffle weave drying towel and Robert did indeed turn out to be my Dad's brother.








Retina-burning paint finish courtesy of Blackfire's Wet Ice Over Fire kit applied 6 weeks ago.
 

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