Spa

Cost: £12.83 for 500ml

Date Of Review: 8th February 2020

The Sales Pitch from Mitchell & King:

Thicker, more slick and thicker foam…perfect for safe washing.

• 500ml to 5000ml sizes
• Thicker SPA
• Bigger Diltuion Ratio
• Pearl Effect 
• New Cap
• Super Sudsy
• More Slick

This year we decided to release a new Shampoo, one with more suds, thicker solution and more slick than any previous releases! 

Ensure your car wrapped in Luxury this weekend and order your super luxurious shampoo today! 
Your hand-blended PH neutral car wash is enhanced by a luxurious scent.

Who Uses SPA ?

SPA is currently being utilised by the Gold Rush Rally, where contestants cars regularly exceed £1m. Other users include Singer Vehicles, Arash Supercars, Venturi Cars, Rolls Royce Edinburgh, Ferrari Edinburgh, Maserati Edinburgh, Beverly Hills Porsche and some of the finest detailers in the world.

Technical Details

PH Neutral

35 Washes  per (250ml)

Detergent Free

Website: https://www.mitchellandking.com/collections/ph-neutral-car-shampoo-wash-kits/products/spa-winter

Product Description:

There are car shampoos and there are dedicated car shampoos, this is the later of those choices. Currently on the market you get the shampoo and wax, or shampoo and seal etc. Those type of products are aimed at the weekend washers who want the job done quickly without fuss.

‘Spa’ is different. Why? This is a product that will only wash your car. No additional wax or polymers added to enhance this or that. This product is designed to shampoo and remove dirt gently as possible. It wont strip what you have already have on the car and wont coat anything it touches either. It’s dedicated for that single purpose only. So the theory is that if you have expensive wax on your car, this wont harm it or coat it with something else. To be honest a bit of a new concept for me to get my head around.

What You Get:

A product that was purchased with my own hard earned cash as usual. I’m not paid for this review or received anything for a favourable review.

To start with there is a choice of colours to choose from; blue, purple or green. The bottle I have here is blue. The smaller bottle was a free sample I got with my last order and is a limited Christmas Edition.

Not only do you get to choose your colour, you get to choose what scent you want as well from this list of options on their website.

You can even get the bottle personalised to you for a very small extra cost.

The bottle I have here is the older style cap, the newer version is a nice solid chrome cap that you don’t have to unscrew. The cap comes with a press down to flip up a pouring hole.

The liquid is thick and creamy and can settle out at the bottom if left for a while. A good shake before use mixes all the parts back together again in no time at all.

Smell of the larger bottle was a Vanilla bean and smells exactly like a vanilla ice cream. The Christmas Edition smells of mince pies and mulled wine, it smelt so good I wanted to eat it!

Instructions:

Pour 10ml into 20ltr bucket. Fill up and you get this.

A bucket of suds and a creamy mixture.

Application:

Simple to use with a soft microfiber wash mitt or something natural. I use the super soft lambs wool mitt from one of the big suppliers. Use the two bucket method for best results. I rinsed the car down to remove anything that could be removed with water alone. This also softens then dirt for the shampoo and mitt.

I deliberately washed the car this way because a little while ago I reviwed some ten waxes on my hood for a comparison. The rest of the car hadn’t had anything in a while except for a ‘wash n wax’. So you have coated and uncoated paintwork for this test.

Starting from the top wash down a panel at a time, then rinse away. The wash was good and removed everything it touched. Some of the more ingrained dirt required a second wipe and I was expecting that. Everything else would need a pre-wash first as well.

With the uncoated roof the was just stayed there, as I expected.

The feel of the water was soft and silky but an oily feel if that makes sense. Rinsed away and the water just laid on the surface so nothing was added.

I washed the hood and the shampoo this time run away from the waxed areas as I would expect. This would mean that nothing was stripped away.

The shampoo and water did eventually run away. The doors were sort of protected as they were not on the upper surfaces. The water runs down the doors and glass.

You can see in the reflection on the door that the bucket still has copious amounts of suds in the bucket.

Removing:

Removing is as simple as rinse over. Wash a panel the rinse as you go along. This will avoid any water spots. Once the car is rinsed down it’s time to dry with your favourite drying towel.

Results:

The panels were left clean and looked shiny with a clean glow, but not a wax deep shine, unless it was already there, such as the hood on the bottom picture.

There was no greasy surface, just what was there before hand as it were.

Rating: 10 out 10

I have given this a top score because it does exactly what it says. It smells nice, it cleans the car and that’s it.

If you leave the bubble bath on for to long it will leave you with water spots as I found out on my first attempt. But, that’s not the products fault as it tells you not to leave it. So to mark it down for not following the instructions would be unfair. Rinse as you go along.

Ease of Use:

Add into the bucket, add water, wash, rinse and dry. Simple.

Finish:

I found no water spots on the car and no streaks. The car was clean it was as simple as that. Nothing extra added or removed. It just washed the car.

Conclusion:

A PH balanced shampoo that does attack the paint or layers of anything else. There are no harmfull detergents either. So how it works is bit of mystery, and I’m sure that some chemist somewhere will know how.

I’m used to having shampoos that wash the car and provide a coating of this or a coating of other as well. So after seeing a product that only washes seems a little bit of a backwards step. If you wash the car which has no wax on it, then after the wash you will need to wax it. The shampoo will not protect the car, but it will condition it ready for the next step.

However, by using a dedicated shampoo it claims to do nothing else except to clean your car. A bit like you don’t by hair shampoo with a dye in it. Same principle applies here, but not such an extreme example obviously.

Spa makes a great value product, at around seventy washes from a 500ml bottle. That works out to around £0.20p for a wash. At that price you can wash the car once a week for still less that half a cup of coffee. So there should be no excuse not to keep the car clean. Keep an eye on the Mitchell & King website as they have offers regulary, so you can get this at a great deal or in a bundle.

No gimmicks, no false claims on the product. I think that I am becoming a convert to the single product and not the mass market of shampoos with extra additives. Yes it’s more work, but then you know nothing else will interfere with your next stage of detail.

Would I Recommend It? Yes.

But, if you want to wash ‘n’ wax like a quick weekend washer, then perhaps this product is not for you. On the other hand, if you want a to clean and continue with what you had before, then this shampoo is the way to go.

Would I buy It Again? Yes.