# Auto Finesse Avalanche - User Review!



## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

Hi guys,

Thanks to a very kind DW member (Thanks Nick!) i had the chance to try out AF Avalanche this weekend. I actually used it on 4 different cars of varying levels of dirtyness, and my results are below.










So first off, i used it on my own car which hadn't been washed in around 3 weeks.





































So, mixed about an inch of product with a full snow foam bottle of water and got to work:




























Smells nice coming out the lance! It's not shaving foam thick, but i would say it's very similar in consistency to my usual foam, ValetPro Citrus Pre Wash. It's dwell time is around 5-6 mins IMO, any longer than that and it's drying on the car.

Few pics of the dirt removal on a silver car:










This was after about 7 mins dwell time:










It was also tested on Chris' Black 330i, this is after about 4-5 mins dwell time:










So after rinsing quite thoroughly, i allowed the car to dry. I deliberately wasn't mega thorough with the pressure wash, as i wanted to see the difference it made. Results below:




























The car was then washed with Wolf's White Satin, and rinsed. What really impressed me was the sheeting of Bouncers Vanilla Ice after a pressure rinse - look at the doors!










Not bad on the roof either:










Too different prototype waxes on the boot holding up very well too!



















I also tested it on the grey RRS too, and i was much more thorough with the rinsing. I have to say i was much more impressed with it after that.










So i've found that you really have to concentrate and be thorough with the jet wash, more so that with my usual Valetpro citrus pre-wash.

I was able to test it back-to-back with another competitor which i've not tried previously, Chemical Guys No Touch Snow Foam. This stuff really did produce a thick shaving foam over the car. I used it on the white Evoque and Rach's Black Mini, and it was very impressive. I found it dwelled longer than Avalance, but crucially i thought it was fractionally better on the cleaning power.

Thought i'd just add a couple of finished pics of the 2 RR's as i thought they looked particularly good - the Sport is protected with AF Tough Coat x 3 and was wiped down today with Finale, and the Evoque was treated today to a thorough clean and plenty of tar removal with AF ObliTARate, prepped with Rejuvenate and waxed with Bouncer's Vanilla Ice.
































































Hope this was a useful review, thanks for looking!

Jon


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## Ns1980 (Jun 29, 2011)

Nice one Jon :thumb:

Thanks for sharing this!


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## Tips (Mar 27, 2011)

Great review and pichers JB :thumb:

So which do you prefer AF Avalanche or CG No Touch Snow Foam?


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## gav1513 (Apr 16, 2009)

good work there, the foam looks alot thicker in your photos than i had previously seen, some nice cars too


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## Junior Bear (Sep 2, 2008)

Thanks for the honest review


I have been sceptical about avalanche tbh


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## chrisc (Jun 15, 2008)

so it dont shift much then?
is it like a weak tfr


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## Guest (Oct 14, 2012)

Not sure about the results...but the house looks nice.:thumb:


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## great gonzo (Nov 4, 2010)

I find there's a massive difference with snow foam depending what lsp your car has. I was using Magifoam yesterday on unprotected paint and it would have dwelled all day if I had left it but after 20 minutes and a power wash off the results where fantastic, better than I have had on my own car which has DJ Hybrid but can only get it to dwell for 6/7 minutes before it just slides off.


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## Tips (Mar 27, 2011)

great gonzo said:


> I find there's a massive difference with snow foam depending what lsp your car has.


How many owners on here would be applying snow foam on their cars without any form of LSP on it.

Makes you wonder about the whole snow foaming process ... again


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## Junior Bear (Sep 2, 2008)

What do you mean?


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## Tips (Mar 27, 2011)

I mean snow foam sliding off a well protected car, and taking very little dirt away with it.

That sound's about right with my experiences of snow foam.


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## T.D.K (Mar 16, 2011)

Tips said:


> I mean snow foam sliding off a well protected car, and taking very little dirt away with it.
> 
> That sound's about right with my experiences of snow foam.


I've never experienced significant dirt run off as snowfoam slides off the paint work, I just find it softens the dried in dirt giving more or less a 90% clean car after the pressure wash.


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## Tips (Mar 27, 2011)

Now add a couple of capfuls of ONR in a garden sprayer and spray your car and see the dirt physically suspend in the run off - great success. :thumb:


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## T.D.K (Mar 16, 2011)

Tips said:


> Now add a couple of capfuls of ONR in a garden sprayer and spray your car and see the dirt physically suspend in the run off - great success. :thumb:


No way :doublesho:doublesho

Is this stuff wax/sealant safe?


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## ronwash (Mar 26, 2011)

Thanx very much for the review,
the cars are looking really good!.


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## Steampunk (Aug 11, 2011)

T.D.K said:


> No way :doublesho:doublesho
> 
> Is this stuff wax/sealant safe?


Yes.

Steampunk

P.S. Great review, Jon! :thumb:


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

Tips said:


> Great review and pichers JB :thumb:
> 
> So which do you prefer AF Avalanche or CG No Touch Snow Foam?


Personally Tips, i preferred the CG No Touch! Avalanche is very nice, smells great and it does work, but the No Touch had that little bit extra for me.



chrisc said:


> so it dont shift much then?
> is it like a weak tfr


I'd say i found it to remove 60-70% of the crud that was on the cars, which can only be a good thing as it's that kind of crud you don't want floating around in the wash buckets!



great gonzo said:


> I find there's a massive difference with snow foam depending what lsp your car has. I was using Magifoam yesterday on unprotected paint and it would have dwelled all day if I had left it but after 20 minutes and a power wash off the results where fantastic, better than I have had on my own car which has DJ Hybrid but can only get it to dwell for 6/7 minutes before it just slides off.


You've made an excellent point there, and my main reason for trying Avalanche on the 4 different cars was they all had different protection/some none at all on. My car had Bouncer's Vanilla Ice & a couple of prototypes on the boot, the Silver Clio had AG HD wax on, the Black BMW has a number of different LSP's, mainly Bouncer's Blue Lagoon from 4 months ago, and the Grey RRS has Tough Coat x 3 on.

Further to that, i compared it back to back on the RRS and CG No Touch on the Evoque, both cars had the same LSP of Tough Coat x 3.



Steampunk said:


> Yes.
> 
> Steampunk
> 
> P.S. Great review, Jon! :thumb:


Thanks buddy! :thumb:


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## Lupostef (Nov 20, 2011)

Well done pal :thumb:


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## bazves (Mar 24, 2011)

I must admit that having tried Avalanche I was a little underwhelmed (with the cleaning power). I was expecting it to be closer (or in fact equal to) a citrus power pre-wash, but I found it lacking.

Perhaps I was expecting too much or I need to persevere with the dilutions. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt for now and try again. For info LSP was Tough Coat


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## great gonzo (Nov 4, 2010)

Wow is everyone using Hard coat now ?????


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

Ben Gum said:


> The level of foam looks rather similar to I get with the likes of hazsafe and prewashes which are specifically not snowfoam... are you sure your lance is working right? If it is then I'd be inclined to say that avalanche looks more like a prewash/TFR which can be applied by a foam lance than a genuine snowfoam.


I'm fairly sure my lance is fine, using chem guys no touch later in the day it was producing really think shaving foam type stuff.

As far as I was aware, Avalanche was supposed to be more of a cleaner than a thick foam, and maybe I didn't stress enough in the write up how good a cleaner it actually is. Providing you focus the jet wash, (which you'd have to do with a crappy pressure washer like mine) it removes a very acceptable amount of crud from a very dirty car.

I didn't want it to come across negative which having read it back myself, it might have done a little.

However I do have to be honest and give a balanced view, and I did prefer no touch, purely for the longer dwelling time! :thumb:

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2


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## chrisc (Jun 15, 2008)

so the question is is it worth the 30 quid it costs for aa 5ltr and would you buy it?


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

chrisc said:


> so the question is is it worth the 30 quid it costs for aa 5ltr and would you buy it?


Yes I would say its worth the money and yes I would buy it, the other plus point is that it smells amazing so its nice to use.

It dilutes well so the price per wash would be very low. The other USP is that its 100% wax safe so over winter it would be a superb product to have

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2


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## gazzaog (Oct 4, 2012)

Great review cheers


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## chrisc (Jun 15, 2008)

Sohow many mls is needed per wash


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

chrisc said:


> Sohow many mls is needed per wash


I used 50ml product in a snow foam bottle (megs style bottle) for all cars in the test. If we say 50ml per wash, that makes 100 washes from 5l? Is my mental arithmetic right there?!

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2


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## Socal Brian (Dec 4, 2011)

Tips said:


> Now add a couple of capfuls of ONR in a garden sprayer and spray your car and see the dirt physically suspend in the run off - great success. :thumb:


 Really? I never tried it as I didn't think of it to be a strong cleaner and could be used as a pre-wash without agitation (sponge or mitt) but you've got my curiosity going and I think I'll spray it down with ONR first and then pressure wash off and see how it goes.


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## Tips (Mar 27, 2011)

2 capfuls of ONR from a 32oz bottle and add a litre of water in a garden hand pressure pump, depending on size of the car, you may need 4 capfuls ONR and two litres of water in the sprayer.

Spray onto your dirty car a panel at a time, depending on outside temps and the levels of dirt, allow the ONR pre-spray to dwell on the panels and inspect. I gently touch a panel with my finger until I see/feel the dirt lifting from the paint surface.

Once the dirt is shifting easily, you can safely move onto the next phase of cleaning your car.

Snow foam, pah.


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

Tips said:


> 2 capfuls of ONR from a 32oz bottle and add a litre of water in a garden hand pressure pump, depending on size of the car, you may need 4 capfuls ONR and two litres of water in the sprayer.
> 
> Spray onto your dirty car a panel at a time, depending on outside temps and the levels of dirt, allow the ONR pre-spray to dwell on the panels and inspect. I gently touch a panel with my finger until I see/feel the dirt lifting from the paint surface.
> 
> ...


Sounds very interesting, ONR is one product I've always been very reluctant to try but might have a look over winter if that's the case!

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2


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## nickness (Oct 16, 2012)

Thanks for the review, just bought avalanche but never considered chemical guys.


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## jlw41 (Jun 5, 2011)

great review cheers bud :thumb:


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## Brummie_Nige (Sep 5, 2011)

Just thought I'd add my thoughts. The prospect of a snow foam based on the fabulous AF Citrus Power was amazing.

I've used Magifoam for ages and always had excellent results. So, naturally I compared the 2 in my mind as i used Avalanche for the first time last weekend.

The first and most distinct difference between the two is the consistency. Avalanche is rather thin and watery while Magifoam is thick and foamy. I go the feeling that a fair proportion of Avalanche just bounced off the car as it was sprayed on. Typically I'd leave Magifaom to dwell for 15-20 mins. After 10 minutes there was little Avalanche left.

Avalanche scores highly with the fresh citrus smell, compared to the sickly banana produced by Magifoam.

Here are some photos:

Avalanche as soon as it was sprayed on:

201210195 by Brummie_Nige, on Flickr


201210194 by Brummie_Nige, on Flickr


201210193 by Brummie_Nige, on Flickr

After 6 minutes (note how avalanche isn't "touching" a proportion of the paintwork - it looks like it's "beading - not something I've found with Magifoam:

Photos20121013 086 by Brummie_Nige, on Flickr


Photos20121013 087 by Brummie_Nige, on Flickr

After 10 minutes the car's lost most of the foam:

Photos20121013 089 by Brummie_Nige, on Flickr

Once left to dwell, I find the most effective way to use snow foam is to "work" it up the car with a pressure washer using the foam at the point of the spray to "encourage" as much dirt as possible to come off. I then rinse with an open hose before using shampoo and mitt. With Magifoam there's always loads of foam to do this "work". With avalanche there was very little product left on after 10 minutes to spray off.

Some afters (only snow foamed - not yet shampooed with a mitt):

Photos20121013 090 by Brummie_Nige, on Flickr


Photos20121013 091 by Brummie_Nige, on Flickr


201210197 by Brummie_Nige, on Flickr

Looks OK.

I found that when shampooing (with GWash) after using Avalanche I could feel the mitt dragging a little - something I never feel with Magifoam. Is this a sign avalanche has left more traffic film on the car than Magifoam does? The residual water in the buckets was a little dirty - again something I don't find with Magifoam unless the car is very dirty. I just wasn't as confident with Avalanche that I'd got as much dirt off as I could have with Magifoam.

These are my thoughts after one use of Avalanche so it could be me. I will keep going with it. Maybe I need to increase the amount I use in the lance or maybe I need to rinse-off quicker and not let it dwell so long. That said, I am missing Magifoam and Avalanche has some work to do to compete in my books.

Thanks :thumb:


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## sydtoosic (Oct 20, 2012)

been waiting for avalanche. i use the AF Lather and i like it.


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## great gonzo (Nov 4, 2010)

I never rinse snow foam off with an open hose!! Use the preasure washer to remove as this will take most of the dirt with it.


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## great gonzo (Nov 4, 2010)

Brummie Nige 
What setting do you have your snow lance on?
Gonz.


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

Nige,

Many thanks for your input, great review!

Jon


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## Scrim-1- (Oct 8, 2008)

Nige how much foam did you use?


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## Brummie_Nige (Sep 5, 2011)

great gonzo said:


> I never rinse snow foam off with an open hose!! Use the preasure washer to remove as this will take most of the dirt with it.


Just to clarify - I use the pressure washer to wash the snow foam off the car and then rinse again with an open hose. I know it's overkill but ... 



great gonzo said:


> Brummie Nige
> What setting do you have your snow lance on?
> Gonz.


I have the lance almost all the way clockwise (to the +) position. To be precise I turn it all the way clockwise then back anti-clockwise by 3 short turns. This is the way Mark at Auto Brite recommended. With Magifoam this produces nice, thick foam.



Scrim-1- said:


> Nige how much foam did you use?


Here's the amount I used - about an inch and three quarters:

Photos20121013 079 by Brummie_Nige, on Flickr

Will try 2 inches next time. :thumb:


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

It's that little extra that makes all the difference! :thumb:


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