Cost: £17 for 5ltr
Date of Review: 6/6/2021. Evening and it was very fine spots of the odd rain drop.
The Sales Pitch from Bilt Hamber:
There is absolutely no point in using expensive waxes and sealants striving to achieve a perfect finish if you don’t get the basics right at the outset. Most swirls and paint imperfections have to be addressed later on in the process because of poor detailing preparation and the effects of Foreign Object Damage (FOD) on paint (such as ‘own goal’ damage from grit and grime) having to be removed. However careful we all might strive to be, sometimes we make mistakes and damage happens. So it makes sense to be as methodical and as careful as we can be, from the very first stages of the cleaning process, not just at the end.
auto-foam is the result of extensive in-house research and development. auto-foam will reduce even further the possibility of damage to paintwork by presenting you with beautifully clear FOD free paint, ready for subsequent detailing.
auto-foam is a new generation premium quality, foaming water-based pre wash treatment, designed to soak and saturate soiled vehicle paintwork prior to the application of vehicle shampoo and paint food. auto-foam is gentle too and is for use with all pressure washer foam lances. Applied at a typical PIR (Panel Impact Ratio) of 4%, auto-foam will panel dwell for typically 5 minutes. auto-foam is formulated specifically to offer maximum wetting, it rinses easily too. It is not designed as a superficial high foam product but as a functional material.
auto-foam is made with biodegradable compounds, is extraordinarily tough on soil and grime, yet harmless to paint. The non-caustic formulation ensures that even regular use will not attack paint binders. Our hard working surfactants will attack and penetrate the hardest of road dirt and grime, without the need for manual intervention.
During the panel dwell period, auto-foam’s bubbles will systematically burst and move, encouraging our soaking and cleansing agents to start working. The effects of road grime are neutralised by them, by being bonded within our blend of surfactants, and then lifted from painted surfaces and physically removed, minimising harm caused by swirling and marking during subsequent detailing.
When auto-foam’s work has been done, it may be washed off in a conventional manner, leaving a well presented automotive surface ready for further treatments.
For excessively soiled surfaces, simply increase PIR and/or number of applications.
Source: Auto-Foam | Car wash snow foam treatment for the preparation of paint – Bilt Hamber
What You Get:
(Make sure that you read the conclusion for this review).
A concentrated solution to be mixed as required.
Product Description:
This is a concentrated solution which needs to be diluted in order to prewash ‘Snow Foam’ before you start any actual contact wash with your car.
Instructions:
The instructions on the bottle are very comprehensive. They even guide you to custom mix the solution based on your actual foam canon via their formula.
Fill the foam canon as required and simply apply as you would with all of these types of products.
The recommendations are for a light cleaning the mixture should be 1:100 (1%) or for heavy cleaning could be up to 5:100 (5%)
The mixture I made was not a perfect application by any means. But around 5% as the car was seriously dirty. The colour is a dark green concentrate which doesn’t really smell of anything nice like a melons, strawberries, beer or what ever the latest craze is.
Application:
It’s mentioned on the bottle that one litre will be good enough for four to five washes. The product goes on to mention that it should dwell for a few minutes and ‘avoid allowing it to dry’. If that is the case then you will need to re-apply the solution again just before it starts to dry out. So if you need to reapply then your overall number completed car washes becomes unrealistic to their claims.
I had my foam canon set up to my previous product that gave a good foam which stuck to the vertical panels of the car.
This second application of the mixture mixture was not foaming by any stretch of the imagination.
My daily car was not that dirty, after a second and third application to keep the product from drying out, I had used the full canister about one litre. The car was not that much different to what it was before as it didn’t really have anything to clean off. So it wasn’t wasn’t really a fair test. The rinse off allowed the water to still sheet and bead, so it hadn’t stripped any of the previous waxes off the car. More on this a little later.
The wife’s car on the other hand had been to a few garden centres, and looked like she tried to plant it in a flower bed when it came back! This solution was again the same as before if not slightly stronger.
This was going to be a good test.
My previous experiences with snow foam didn’t touch anything like this on a car, and after rinsing off the other products the dirt and grime still stayed there. Again starting from the bottom and working my way up to the top.
The foam adhesion wasn’t there and most of it run onto the floor.
Again a few resprays applications were needed when it looked to be drying out.
I will state that the drying out didn’t seem to be no foam it dried out – more like the surface stayed wet.
Removing:
After a few minutes I then rinsed off and medium power jet washed the car. The dirt had washed off. The first time I have seen a Snow foam do what it says!
These pictures were supposed to show the close up of the dirt having been removed, but the reflection was there again from the waes.
Results:
I will have to do this in two parts I think.
Foam:
The first being that the “Snow Foam” experience was more like sleet of snow on a damp pavement. It took a little over application to get a foam on the car.
Cleaning:
The cleaning ability of the product was very impressive. It even removed most of the brake dust from the wheels.
It did the job, very well in fact. The best Snow foam I have used yet.
There was no after film left on the car like some other foams I have tried.
Rating: 8 out 10
Why only 8? Well the fact this is classed as an “Auto Foam” it certainly is not, and one of the worst I have used to date. In that respect I barely scraps up a 4 in marks. On the other hand it does the cleaning job very, very well.
For pure cleaning power it smashes the competition and has been the only “Snow Foam” that has removed the dried on dirt debris. This is where the marks are piled back on.
If I didn’t have to re-apply the product to keep it from drying out, then mark would have been higher. After all this is a “Auto Foam” as they call it, not a pre rinse soap.
Ease of use – 10 out 10
Finish – 10 out 10
Conclusion:
More foam does NOT mean better cleaning!!!!
Like many other users of snow foam we are expected and believe the hype. I didn’t and never had liked the idea of Snow Foams, due to the cost, how much I used of the products and how little they actually did.
I never saw any benefit of the step – until now. The caked on dirt was indeed loosened as it should have been. I had a non touched clean car before I started to even wash with the two bucket shampoo and wax.
If this product had been marketed differently as a pre-wash cleaner and not a ‘Foam’ then I would get it and it would be getting a better score. However it’s not a full on Snow Foam experience which was disappointing like other products. I like to see a thick suds goo stuck to the car and hear it plop onto the floor in big dollops. when finished rinsing the car having to jet wash the foam away as it still stays on the floor sort of told me it was a good foam, but not a good cleaner.
I quickly learned that super thick foam that stuck to vertical panels was just a gimmick.
This product on the other hand? It didn’t stick to the panels and slowly ran down the paint taking the debris with it.
I think I have found a go to product for my Snow Foam step should I need it. Thicken the product up Bilt Hamber then you have a really awesome product.
Costing:
The fact that this is mixed 1% – 5% in a bottle makes this a fantastic buy and economical. You can go mad and just keep respraying on a litre of product per wash like I did. It works out a fraction of some other products that require a much more heavy mix of 1:10 or 1:5 ratios which cost more from very reputable brands.
Would I recommend it? Yes
Would I buy it again? Yes