# Too many shampoo's - foam lance test



## JJ_

Ok guys, here is the final instalment this time I am using the Foam Lance with a karcher. I have soft water so you may have to change the amount of shampoo used. Each product has about 5 minutes to dwell on the surface. The idea behind this is which product dwells the best, does it add anything to the paint, does it take away anything, is it a nice consistency etc.

This time I used hot water to evenly disperse the solution with the container, this should help with even dispensing, i.e. no globs or gloops.

The foam lance in general has better foaming properties and also with respect to the karcher £10 foamer and Gilmour the foam last longer, I feel both the karcher and gilmour add TOO much water even at 1:10 ratio on the gilmour, therefore I only use my gilmour for suds while actually washing the car.

The tools needed










First up we have Hyper wash, I expelled one pump (30ml) but this didn't give the desired effect, so I put another pump in and we were good to go. I felt hyper wash was not lubed enough even at 60ml through the foam lance, which was strange considering the foam but when I felt the surface of the car it was sticking i.e. not allowing me to glide my hand over it.



















Next a favourite shampoo plus, very lubed wash, good size container one of my winter washes. Good foam, not as thick as hyper wash but a slicker feel to it. The actual shampoo is thinner in consistency so I wasn't really expecting it to cling to the paintwork for long. Good shampoo maybe just not geared up for a pre-wash. Did leave the paint brighter and glossier.



















Chemical guys wash n gloss, what can I say this is a real contender here excellent foam, excellent cleaning properties, nice and glossy, lubed wash, it ticks all the boxes. Still clinging on even after five minutes!



















Chemical Guys Maxi Suds II

Ok so same again, very good foamer, just lacks slightly in the finish, apart from that it is 2nd in this contest.



















Next up is a higher end shampoo zymol cleanse, not much to say, poor foam, poor longevity, poor slickness. Shame as I thought this might perform better in the foam lance.



















Now 1z perls shampoo, the monthly gloss enhancing shampoo from 1z. Promises quite a lot, very thin shampoo almost water like but it doesn't deliver the foam however it does help with the gloss and also leave some form of protection (good when Im testing all these shampoos!) You can see the protection forming on the windows, similar to a rinse aid. Didn't last long but I feel this would be good for a wax'd finish when using a bucket as it would enable water to sheet off easier.



















The final entry for today is 1z Exclusiv, the weekly shampoo, much better foaming, very nice smell too! Struggling to stick to the windows after 1z Perls. Left a nice glossy finish and didn't appear to strip the Perls protection so ideal for a soft nuba'd garage queen, since it isn't damaging the wax.



















Now I have put this aside, as I feel snowfoam isn't in the same category so it would be unfair to test side by side. Instead I tested snowfoam with the karcher foam gun, the foam lance and Gilmour foam gun.

Foam Lance









After 5 Mins









Karcher foam gun 









After Mins









Gilmour









After 5 Mins

















All that foam even with klass sg and collolnite 476s it struggled.

Ok so next one is the Autoglym consumer wash .

I used 4 ounces in the foam lance, about 7:1 I think.



















If you look to the left hand wing, I have zymol titanium on this, the soap can't even stick to it :LOLOL excellent !

It doesn't really clean very well, it is slick and would be fine in a bucket I imagine obviously just not suited to the foam lance.

Thanks, John. P.S. look at this for a beading shot !










Any questions or if any manufacturers/members want me to try their shampoos of choice fire me a PM.

P.S. I have to add at this point, there is not SET way or SET dilution to use in your foam lance, my water is very very soft and so I can get away with lower dilution ratios. Finally, it's also just a bit of fun cos I had too much shampoo :lol:


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## magnumsport

Thanks a lot for taking so much time to do this for us  Must of took a while!


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## JJ_

I don't really know what it proves to be honest I just fancied it ! lol


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## Judas

the things we do.....lol


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## Avanti

Good play session, don't know about anyone else but now I 'm thinking of getting my windows replaced :lol:


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## JJ_

lol it was probably the cleanest van outside the detailing trade. Got a Golf recently hence the change near the end lol.


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## alan_mcc

Your drains must hate you! :thumb:


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## tosh

That's a fantastic test - as you say it's relevant to you and your method/water, but if you're following the same method every time, it's comparable!

Nice one!

T


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## Igloo

I've started using Supa Snow Foam and a little bit of BTBM (about 2 inches of product in total 1.5 snow foam .5 BTBM?)

I then use this instead of having a "clean" bucket, and use a single rinse bucket.

Seems to work quite well! Method is used was:

Foam with Supa Snow Foam
Rinse
All shuts / wheels
Foam up again with another bottle containing the BTBM mix
Clean with Meino mit using single rinse bucket
Rinse down

Consider how much time i've saved 

I do prefer the 2BM with BTBM but i must say, It didn't work too shabby :thumb:


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## jimmy_b_84

very intresting test enjoyed reading it, might give it a go


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## JJ_

I kinda just ended up choosing snow foam as my goto foamer lol, good fun though.


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## p1tse

nice test pics


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## johnnyc

nice test little off topic but do you think shampoo + gave a better shine over hyper wash. 
or shall i just stick to hyper wash cos its got awesome mix ratio


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## JJ_

Yes shampoo plus definetely added gloss, there is no doubt. 

P.S. I have another 4 shampoos to test just received them today!


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## whitemonster

i just got my HD lance today and plan to use it with CG citrus wash & gloss , wanna know how much you guys put in the foam bottle of 1liter that won't strip the LSP


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## PJS

Without wishing to rain on your parade, all you've done is demonstrate some shampoos are bulked out with filler ingredients, some leave gloss enhancing properties (as claimed), and some don't have high build foam ingredients.
From a novelty aspect, you get a round of applause, but I don't think there's anything you can take away from this exercise, unfortunately (apart from the above).


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## JJ_

Hmm, 

I think we can take away which shampoo's can be doubled up for use in the foam lance using a reasonable ratio.

We can take away which what shampoos leave what finish. 

Which foam the best

What shampoos clean the best 

Some just are not capable.


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## Cullers

Sorry but have to agree with PJS to some extent. One of the reasons we don't do head-to-head tests in official reviews is that it is not the easiest of tasks to have identical conditions for each product. Basically, the goal of a shampoo is to clean the car QED. Gloss enhancement is a different issue and can dull D) or fog the comparative.

As for how long the foam stays together.... well, thats largely a novelty issue. Which would we rather have - a foam which can stand for 5 minutes and do not a lot or one which dissolves after two minutes and take a lot of the dirt with it?

If we go on the primary reasoning for the existence of shampoo (cleaning ability) then there are inconsistent issues. A car is foamed, allowed to work and then rinsed off. The car has had some dirt on it which has been removed as a result. Most shampoos will leave SOME residue of themselves on the vehicle. So when we come to the next shampoo, the product has less to work on in terms of dirt as well as a possible finish left by the previous product. And so on. 

The test does show very clearly which products LOOK good foaming and which can stand longest though so it has good value in that.


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## JJ_

It was more of a novelty but it is one of the highest rated threads on Autopia. 

Just thought I would post it here. 

Not everyone is going to agree with my findings thats part of doing these reviews.


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## PIT

Really good test


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## PJS

JJ_ said:


> Hmm,
> 
> I think we can take away which shampoo's can be doubled up for use in the foam lance using a reasonable ratio.
> 
> We can take away which what shampoos leave what finish.
> 
> Which foam the best
> 
> What shampoos clean the best
> 
> Some just are not capable.


Nothing that I've read, shows anything remotely takable in regards to cleaning ability - they've all cleaned the paintwork, or you'd have said otherwise, I'd have thought.

As for reasonable ratio - you still think 60mls of Hyperwash constitutes a reasonable measure?
Moreover, there's no mention of what measures was used by all the others, but you did caveat that with soft water in your area, you were able to use less - I dread to think what someone in a hard water area must use of Hyperwash, to get the same output as you've demonstrated!

As I said, for novelty value you get a round of applause, and if the "test" is viewed in that manner, then all's well and good - but to try and extrapolate something wholly meaningful from it, then you've got the wrong end of the stick.

Regarding shampoos as a make-shift snow foam pre-cleaner - sure, if you're stuck without a proper snow foam, but the two are quite different chemically, believe it or not.

Point in case - if you get hold of some Surfex HD, and Auto-foam, use them at the same dilution, and you'll see a massive difference in how much foam they generate, and how effective it is at latching onto the grime and removing it.
That demonstrates the aspect of some ingredients being high foam builders - only of so much use itself.


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## JJ_

PJS said:


> Nothing that I've read, shows anything remotely takable in regards to cleaning ability - they've all cleaned the paintwork, or you'd have said otherwise, I'd have thought.
> 
> As for reasonable ratio - you still think 60mls of Hyperwash constitutes a reasonable measure?
> Moreover, there's no mention of what measures was used by all the others, but you did caveat that with soft water in your area, you were able to use less - I dread to think what someone in a hard water area must use of Hyperwash, to get the same output as you've demonstrated!
> 
> As I said, for novelty value you get a round of applause, and if the "test" is viewed in that manner, then all's well and good - but to try and extrapolate something wholly meaningful from it, then you've got the wrong end of the stick.
> 
> Regarding shampoos as a make-shift snow foam pre-cleaner - sure, if you're stuck without a proper snow foam, but the two are quite different chemically, believe it or not.
> 
> Point in case - if you get hold of some Surfex HD, and Auto-foam, use them at the same dilution, and you'll see a massive difference in how much foam they generate, and how effective it is at latching onto the grime and removing it.
> That demonstrates the aspect of some ingredients being high foam builders - only of so much use itself.


30ml of hyper wash is what you use in a bucket so 60ml isn't ott in a foam bucket. Considering you use about 1" of Snow Foam.

Anyway I can't be bothered I am in a **** of a mood.


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## GeeTeeEye

Sorry but I'm going to be a bit picky here, but I hope those bottles etc were not on direct contact with the ground before you had them sitting on top of your roof potentially scratching it ?


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## Blazebro

Great post there JJ. It's given me some food for thought.

It's been said before that CW&G works well in a foam lance and I know that Dave has used CWC as his foam before. Don't see where alot of the criticisms are coming from other than incorect ingrained thought.

I could quite easily find shampoos which are similar to some snowfoams, conversley the very same shampoos could be different to other snowfoams etc. The main difference is that shampoos are more concentrated than most  snow foams. The manufacturers have to pad out their packaging in an attempt to make us think we're getting more product, hence they can be watered down.

With this 60ml of a product seems quite reasonable.

well done on the post and test JJ, now I bet your cars showing signs of rust


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## JJ_

GeeTeeEye said:


> Sorry but I'm going to be a bit picky here, but I hope those bottles etc were not on direct contact with the ground before you had them sitting on top of your roof potentially scratching it ?


No, they are stored ontop of an MF on the shelfs in my garage. The MF is there to catch any product leaking out from the pump action bottles.


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## JJ_

Blazebro said:


> Great post there JJ. It's given me some food for thought.
> 
> It's been said before that CW&G works well in a foam lance and I know that Dave has used CWC as his foam before. Don't see where alot of the criticisms are coming from other than incorect ingrained thought.
> 
> I could quite easily find shampoos which are similar to some snowfoams, conversley the very same shampoos could be different to other snowfoams etc. The main difference is that shampoos are more concentrated than most  snow foams. The manufacturers have to pad out their packaging in an attempt to make us think we're getting more product, hence they can be watered down.
> 
> With this 60ml of a product seems quite reasonable.
> 
> well done on the post and test JJ, now I bet your cars showing signs of rust


Thanks man! Its makes it all worth while when members get some use out of it.


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## whitemonster

Hey JJ , what are the ratios that you used for your CW&G ?


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## JJ_

whitemonster said:


> Hey JJ , what are the ratios that you used for your CW&G ?


Hi matey, I have no idea it is quite an old thread. Go with the wash solution first i.e. 29ml to 15L then work from that. CW&G is good at foaming so 30ml might just be enough.


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## Cullers

> Originally Posted by* JJ *
> It was more of a novelty but it is one of the highest rated threads on Autopia. Where there are more experts per person. No disrespect of course.


Errr.... not sure why you felt the need to put that however, I'd dispute your figures somewhat.

What I am saying is that in my view, this isn't a review.... its an observation. Its not 'testing' the products 'per se' as the conditions are not the same for each product. By the time you test the last product, you are putting a shampoo on a shampoo, on a shampoo, etc. I'm not knocking you for doing the thread as it is interesting but I just think that when you are testing or reviewing *head-to-head* you have to be totally fair to all involved.


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## JJ_

There will always be variances with products like these, it can't really be an exact science. Just more fun than anything but I do feel it wasn't wasted time. 

My aim was to provide members with a quick link to which shampoos foam the best and then which will provide good cleaning ability. I think I manage this. 

My thread on autopia had in the region of 20,000 Views which is one of the highest in the click and brag section on autopia. With those who have knowledge of Autopia they will know this is hard to achieve for an "outsider"

I mentioned there are more experts on autopia because there are, at any one time you can have a handful of detailing vets at your dispense. I always put my reviews over there to see the response, I'm sorry if that came off wrong.


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## chillly

God JJ that took you some time to do all that. Great read mate. sorry i missed it first time round. Chillly


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