Anyone given up on snow foam?

Anyone given up on snow foam?

Author
Discussion

MDMA .

8,849 posts

100 months

Thursday 10th September 2020
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Red 4 said:
MDMA . said:
Wash the car as normal, then clay it all over. Next with the polish, then your wax, then seal it. It's all in the prep. Get that done and it should last 6-12 months easy. Your weekly clean will be so much easier next time.
You're doing it wrong.

Wax is always the final stage. Sealant seals in the shine. Most sealants don't stick to wax.

As you say, it's all in the prep (if you do it right).
Morning. Yes, I always type wax and seal! Seal the polish, wax on top. Currently using Collinite insulator wax on top of mine. I find it needs to be warm for best application.

dhutch

14,198 posts

196 months

Thursday 10th September 2020
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ReverendCounter said:
Are you seriously trying to pass the difference in these images off as being down to snow foam? rofl
I must say, they look the same to me, bar the brightest level and mud around the arches.

TimmyMallett

2,811 posts

111 months

Thursday 10th September 2020
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ReverendCounter said:
Are you seriously trying to pass the difference in these images off as being down to snow foam? rofl

For anyone else being misled by this, the deeper shade of paint, the detail in the gravel, the shadows, even the light clusters have all been affected by, and its purely down to whatever filters, software etc _Hoppers is using to enhance/saturate/increase contrast/vibrance etc etc etc etc!

By the way _Hoppers, did you use it on the conifers as well, they've come up lovely.
I suspect that's his phone software and less likely to do with any 1337 photoshop skillz, but I don't believe for a second it cleaned the alloys like that. The upper inside of the spokes are completely free of any dirt and I have that exact product and it doesn't do anything like that, regardless of dilution ratio.


I cant be bothered with it anymore. It just doesn't make that much difference unless it's mid winter and even then it just slides over traffic film and isn't the panacea it's made out to be.


The one thing in the cornucopia of detailing products that is a time saver is filtered water and after buying one, I wouldn't go back.


Edited by TimmyMallett on Thursday 10th September 11:44

dhutch

14,198 posts

196 months

Thursday 10th September 2020
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gweaver said:
Give it a quick once over with Turtle Wax Hybrid Sealant Hydrophobic Wax. You can get it for £8-10, it's quick and easy to use, and you'll soon find out if having a sealant makes your snow foam more effective.
Interesting, well out of the frame on this, but easy to use and only £8-10 sounds good to me!

This guy appears to rate it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOHcchAB7-0

Presumably still needs a good wash and polish beforehand mind...

_Hoppers

1,176 posts

64 months

Thursday 10th September 2020
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ReverendCounter said:
_Hoppers said:
It works well for me, before and after shots below after treatment with Bilt Hambers snow foam.

Are you seriously trying to pass the difference in these images off as being down to snow foam? rofl

For anyone else being misled by this, the deeper shade of paint, the detail in the gravel, the shadows, even the light clusters have all been affected by, and its purely down to whatever filters, software etc _Hoppers is using to enhance/saturate/increase contrast/vibrance etc etc etc etc!

By the way _Hoppers, did you use it on the conifers as well, they've come up lovely.
I'd have assumed that people who aren't idiots to realise that the phone camera has used different white balance/contrast/exposure settings which has resulted in the images appearing different. I've nothing to gain from over exaggerating the performance of Bilt Hambers snow foam!!

EDIT See LeeJV's post on the matter

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Edited by _Hoppers on Thursday 10th September 12:09

gweaver

906 posts

157 months

Thursday 10th September 2020
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dhutch said:
gweaver said:
Give it a quick once over with Turtle Wax Hybrid Sealant Hydrophobic Wax. You can get it for £8-10, it's quick and easy to use, and you'll soon find out if having a sealant makes your snow foam more effective.
Interesting, well out of the frame on this, but easy to use and only £8-10 sounds good to me!

This guy appears to rate it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOHcchAB7-0

Presumably still needs a good wash and polish beforehand mind...
If I want to do a quick job I just wash the car and use spray sealant. That's the pragmatic approach if you're time poor.

If I want to take my time, I'll get the tar and iron off and use a paste wax/sealant such as Fusso.

I don't have a DA polisher, so I only clay and hand polish the bits that need attention.

dhutch

14,198 posts

196 months

Thursday 10th September 2020
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gweaver said:
If I want to do a quick job I just wash the car and use spray sealant. That's the pragmatic approach if you're time poor.

If I want to take my time, I'll get the tar and iron off and use a paste wax/sealant such as Fusso.

I don't have a DA polisher, so I only clay and hand polish the bits that need attention.
Sounds reasonable to me!

All I need to do now is get the off few 1yo hard as nails tree sap splodges off, presumably mechanically.

Might have to find someone nearby to do it. Wont derail the thread but if anyone knows of one Wirral/Liverpool then msg me.


Daniel

broncoupe

152 posts

225 months

Friday 11th September 2020
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jakesmith
This is a very emotional topic for most people some pionts to help
1- People who prepare and protect their cars as in some of the contributors here
Their prewash snow foam has a much easier job
2-Bilt Hamber products are great and a quick phone call to them will explain that dilution rates are quite complicated even when seemly straight forward
I would guess you are using the product far too diluted I know i did
Use more product its not the foamest but its good on dirt
3-If you can apply a product called beadmaster every month or so..... before you say not more work....... try it just the once and it will convert you why because when you wipe it off the effect can be felt and seen immediately
I wager you will even smile









jakesmith

Original Poster:

9,461 posts

170 months

Sunday 13th September 2020
quotequote all
broncoupe said:
jakesmith
This is a very emotional topic for most people some pionts to help
1- People who prepare and protect their cars as in some of the contributors here
Their prewash snow foam has a much easier job
2-Bilt Hamber products are great and a quick phone call to them will explain that dilution rates are quite complicated even when seemly straight forward
I would guess you are using the product far too diluted I know i did
Use more product its not the foamest but its good on dirt
3-If you can apply a product called beadmaster every month or so..... before you say not more work....... try it just the once and it will convert you why because when you wipe it off the effect can be felt and seen immediately
I wager you will even smile
Thanks for this, I normally put about an inch in the lance bottle but tried 300ml instead last week and much better results. I also bought the recommended hybrid sealant from earlier up in the thread and will give it a go too smile

_Hoppers

1,176 posts

64 months

Saturday 17th October 2020
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TimmyMallett said:
I don't believe for a second it cleaned the alloys like that.
Edited by TimmyMallett on Thursday 10th September 11:44
For all you doubters out there (click for video).This was after a holiday out in The
Lakes and a week’s worth of driving around the stty local roads! Bilt Hamber snow foam left to do its thing for 10-15mins before power washing off

Edited by _Hoppers on Saturday 17th October 12:37

MuscleSedan

1,541 posts

174 months

Saturday 24th February
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Thread revival !

I've been messing around with an AG foam gun / polar blast set up. Could not believe how much of a waste of time it was thought it must be the product. Ordered some Bilt Hamber touchless, used that today and experimented with the dilution in the AG gun. Total waste of time. Anyone using these products with real results ?

mike9009

6,918 posts

242 months

Sunday 25th February
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It is an emotive subject.

I do not use the snow foam as described. I find the initial blast with the jet wash gets many nasties away. After snow foaming, I always find I need to use a wash mit. Just an easier alternative to a bucket and sponge for me ...... Especially with 3 cars to clean....

Thats What She Said

1,151 posts

87 months

Sunday 25th February
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The problem is, most people expect a snow foam to deliver better results than it can. It will never make your car 'clean'. It's really just used to remove a bit of traffic film and loose dirt before you start the bucket of water wash.

As long as the car is coated with something, wax, sealant etc any future washes with snow foam can be quite effective. The only snow foam I found to be of any use is the Bilt Hamber stuff. Everything else is just shaving foam that makes a mess of the driveway and has no cleaning power at all.

But anyone expecting to just whip out the snowfoam and come away with a clean car is going to be disappointed. It is worth it in the winter though. A quick blast on and blast off will get most of the traffic film and salt off.

MuscleSedan

1,541 posts

174 months

Sunday 25th February
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I use traditional tfr constantly at work, have done for years, cheap as chips and cleans a car 90% without touching it at all. Now I know it’s pretty aggressive and I would not use it on anything special that I had just spent a week detailing. But it keeps regular cars clean without doing any harm. Just amazed at the hype surrounding snow foam. I tried the a AG both with and without rinsing first and at different dilutions, tried hot and cold water added to the gun. Decided it must just be a crap product and went for the BH touchless. Played around with it the same as I had the AG, the BH actually performed worse. I will carry on and use what I have bought but unless I find a way to get it to perform it’s a gimmick.

Summit_Detailing

1,876 posts

192 months

Sunday 25th February
quotequote all
MuscleSedan said:
I use traditional tfr constantly at work, have done for years, cheap as chips and cleans a car 90% without touching it at all. Now I know it’s pretty aggressive and I would not use it on anything special that I had just spent a week detailing. But it keeps regular cars clean without doing any harm. Just amazed at the hype surrounding snow foam. I tried the a AG both with and without rinsing first and at different dilutions, tried hot and cold water added to the gun. Decided it must just be a crap product and went for the BH touchless. Played around with it the same as I had the AG, the BH actually performed worse. I will carry on and use what I have bought but unless I find a way to get it to perform it’s a gimmick.
A properly diluted TFR in a pump sprayer as a pre soak is a 1000% better option than snow foam...

25th QV

136 posts

51 months

Saturday 2nd March
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I'm in the camp that doesn't like cleaning my daily commuter cars - I'll wash them once a month and that will include many miles up and down wet motorways in the spray so come wash time, they are hanging and the wheels are black.

I've tried a few snow foams and am currently just getting to the bottom of a 5 litre bottle of Bilt Hamber Auto Foam.

I've made sure the ratios are correct and measured flow rates into buckets and measured time to empty the product container method etc etc to make sure I was using it at the correct strength.

In my humble opinion, for users like myself who do not have pampered and waxed paint, but more like the average car in Tesco during the winter, it does very little indeed.

As an experiment a couple of washes ago, I actually did it twice and was very thorough and up close with my pressure washer blasting it all off again after plenty of dwell time during both applications and still, a white kitchen towel down the lower part of the door came up filthy.

If I've still got to get the bucket out and hand wash the entire car, I might as well just quickly blast off the loose debris with the pressure washer then just hit it with the wash mitt with a grit guard or two bucket method.

Load of faff, time and expense for precious little benefit.

A precious classic, I get it. Daily transport? Nah.

Just my opinion and experience.


shed driver

2,138 posts

159 months

Saturday 2nd March
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I work in the funeral industry - our fleet is sometimes washed 2 or even 3 times in the day. First wash is always snowfoam, 2 buckets and mitts etc and finish with wax. Hopefully then we can just do a rapid snowfoam, blast off and quick towel dry in between funerals. The cars get a full professional detail, paint correction and ceramic coating every 18 months to 2 years.

Winter is harsh on glossy black cars, and we hope that every car we turn out is as perfect as we can get it.

Off topic, but Mason's Black on Jaguars really does swirl very easily.

SD.

dhutch

14,198 posts

196 months

Monday 4th March
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shed driver said:
I work in the funeral industry - our fleet is sometimes washed 2 or even 3 times in the day. First wash is always snowfoam, 2 buckets and mitts etc and finish with wax. Hopefully then we can just do a rapid snowfoam, blast off and quick towel dry in between funerals. The cars get a full professional detail, paint correction and ceramic coating every 18 months to 2 years.

Winter is harsh on glossy black cars, and we hope that every car we turn out is as perfect as we can get it.
I had never really thought about that, but yeah, that's some wash frequency!!

EVOTECH3BELL

786 posts

23 months

Monday 4th March
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I just use a citrus cleaner diluted in a pump sprayer

Only use foam in the summer when I want to quickly spray, run round with a wash mit and dry

vikingaero

10,256 posts

168 months

Monday 4th March
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I acquired a 20 litre container of Turtle Wax bodywork shampoo for £15 on Facebook Marketplace. Even with all the cars in the family fleet, I've barely made a dent, so I thought I've try it as snowfoam in my foam gun and it works OK. Needs more care to mix to produce something that is 85% similar to snow foam and provides the same silky lubed layer.