# ********** snow foam mix guide. Please add yours.



## T-5ones

After reading many requests for recipes of snow foam mixes and many tips from folk who have found a good mix of a specific snow foam and a mixer such as maxi suds II etc. 

How about a list of what you have found to be good and also the things that didn’t work? It was just a thought.


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## John-R-

Ok, I'll go first,
Current set-up for the standard size AB lance/bottle

30ml Supa Snow Foam
30ml Wax Wizard Shampoo (Basically Megs Hyper)
Warm Water
Flow rate set at 3/4

Allows me to give a big car (X5) a good coverage.


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## Detail My Ride

50ml Snowstorm
50ml Snowfoam 
50ml Maxi Suds
Warm Water

My mix


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## dhracer

It would be helpful if people could mention what equipment they use too :thumb: (or would something that works well in a PW be just as good in something like a superspray  )

My first try with a superspray today and I used 5:1 water to max suds II, I didn't get loads of foam (just suds really) but it seemed like a good prewash


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## Guest

Yes please list which equipment you use and include a photo of the results if possible. I think this thread would be of great help.


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## mouthyman

will get some pics up later, but i usually go for about 1/2 insh of maxi suds and 1/2 inch of super snow foam topped with warm water, and with my foam lance gives very good results and thick foam


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## wilbz11

AB HD foam lance with 1L bottle.
inch of Snowstorm
1/2 inch of CG Maxi Suds 11
fill up with warm water
make sure the dial for the valve is closed, turn about half a turn and away you go


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## T-5ones

Thanks folks, (I thought this tread might fall on its ar*e.) Please keep the info coming. It will be very useful


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## T-5ones

Bumpety, bump. Any more?


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## SimonW

I use a standard foam bottle that come with an average PW so my mix goes something like this 

1/2cm - Maxi Suds II
4cm - Tesco cheap shampoo (79p per Litre)
fill with B&Q universal PW cleaner

Makes a good mix, but nothing special! 

Sometime i do fill with water but the PW adds water to the mix anyway so the thicker the mixture the better!

Si


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## linty264

AB foam lance with 1lt pickup bottle
1 inch SSF + 1/2inch maxi suds2 + topped up with warm water

and cranked it up full as it was my first time usin it and frig me foam bath wouldnt be the word, id say half way would be fine for normal use unless the car is really bad.


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## evojkp

AB foam lance with 1lt bottle

1" SSF
1/2" AG Shampoo
1/2" CG Citris degreaser (depends on how dirty the car is)

Dial at about half way. Makes a nice foam that slides the heavy stuff of the car.


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## linty264

I think i wouldve needed that citrus degreaser today as i used the lance on my boss' car in work, his volvo v70 hasnt been cleaned nevermind waxed etc in a id say nearly a year and he does 25-30kmiles a year. Strong wash didnt seem to shift alot of the really bad stuff. Does the citrus degreaser remove tar, flies etc or just stubborn dirt?


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## Blueberry

Do I tak it that some of you do not add any water to the bottle, you just use SSF and a shampoo for example?

I have just got a lance and foam and used it last week but did not get as thick a foam as I thought I would.

My mix was 1 inch SSF + 1 inch ***** autowash then filled with water (1 litre bottle on lance).

I thoughy next time I would only half fill with water.

What do you think?


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## fordy

As said i do 200ml foam with 30ml (squirt) of meg hyper wash then top with water.. works for me :thumb:

Thats in a 1 ltr bottle!


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## Glossmax

Blueberry said:


> Do I tak it that some of you do not add any water to the bottle, you just use SSF and a shampoo for example?
> 
> I have just got a lance and foam and used it last week but did not get as thick a foam as I thought I would.
> 
> My mix was 1 inch SSF + 1 inch ***** autowash then filled with water (1 litre bottle on lance).
> 
> I thoughy next time I would only half fill with water.
> 
> What do you think?


If people are saying they put 1" of this 1" of that. The rest is always filled with water to the top. Allways fill your container!

I quite like a 50/50 mix of DW SF mixed 20:1 (water) and SSF 20:1 (water)
in my AB lance. Works well on the halfway setting:



















Same mix at Max setting:









Not yet found the right mix though. Don't think this cleans enough.


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## Slick 77

Interesting thread.

I'm using about 1cm of SSF and a capfull of Maxi Suds II in a 1/2 litre bottle topped up with water with a Karcher PW and AB HD Lance. Still working out the best settings to get the right amount of foam to give me a good cleaning ability, need to figure this out before winter, hopefully this thread will help!


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## efunc

so everyone's mixing snow foam with normal shampoo? Is snow foam just a foaming agent without any cleaning ability? I was planning to just use zym0l auto wash in my karcher foam lance on it's own because I don't want to buy any more products/solutions, etc. But now I'm not sure. So basically you need the foaming agent to give it body and the shampoo to do the cleaning?


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## Fishlock

Does anyone use say, super snow foam and a citrus degreaser for a stronger pre-wash?


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## Glossmax

Fishlock said:


> Does anyone use say, super snow foam and a citrus degreaser for a stronger pre-wash?


I sometimes use APC for a strong foam.


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## OutLore

Pug_101 said:


> If people are saying they put 1" of this 1" of that. The rest is always filled with water to the top. Allways fill your container!


That must depend on the container size though - I mean 1" of something in a 1 litre container is going to be 1/2 the concentration of 1" of the same product in a 500ml container?

So I guess people really need to state what size container they have?

I have a 500ml on mine, and am still messing around with various products and mixes...

Does using warm water in the container really make that much difference?


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## Glossmax

^^^ yep your right.
That's why I like to see a mix ratio.


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## Dave^

well, today was my first time using my foam lance bought from Raquel on here (same as the 'ab' one aparently).

drop of Duragloss 901 (just enough to cover the bottom of my 500ml container
and an inch of Snow Foam

quite impressed really, although it was pretty windy, so i ended up with more on me and our lasses new car than mine (oops)!!!

what i did find was that the foam didn't 'cling' to the car as well as i'd expected, and if i was doing a proper job (and it hadn't started raining) it would of needed a 'bucket wash' too.

What do i need to make it cling more? more shampoo? or a richer solution? had it set on about half way i think.......


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## beardboy

I used my new lance yesterday, but wish i'd taken pics!

I used a mix of;

Autosmart Tardis,
SSF,
APC,
Megs Safe Degraser,
Water

The foam was unreal, on max setting it was about an inch thick in places and just stayed on the car for ages!


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## Thomas-182

lol I bosh an inch of SSF, a cap or 2 of maxi suds 2, fill with warm water, shake and squirt!!!!


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## racquel

AUTO RAE-CHEM Snow Foam 1cm in 500ml bottle topped up with water.


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## xlfive

Im using the standard bottle on the Autobright foam lance,foam lance is set to 50% 
The mix 
half inch of ssf,half inch of megs hyper,1 inch of apc topped up with water


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## m0bov

Does'nt the APC strip the wax off? Not sure I would add a surface cleaner unless I was going to wax the car.


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## Guest

Yes APC will strip wax.


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## dhracer

Thought I'd update this after my last few experiments.

I'm using a superspray, my water pressure is fairly good.

My current mix is 

Max Suds II - enough so there is a continuous puddle over the bottom of the container (looking at the max suds bottle it's 1/2cm from the max suds bottle)
Snow Foam (from clean your car) - fill up to the 2:1 marker (200ml)
Warm water up to the max mark.

I find this is enough (ie. one superspray bottle) to do 2 cars

I'm now achieving a near touchless wash (put it this way - it removed dried bird droppings from my other half's Ibiza without me touching the car, car is waxed). To say I'm pleased with the results is an understatement, considering the cost of the equipment it's a great result IMO


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## bpsmith

So for a touchless wash, what is the routine?

How long are you leaving it on and how many times are you spraying it on so that it cleans the lot off without actually touching it?

I plan to upgrade from my Karcher Foam Lance to the AB type and still plan to use 2 bucket method but wondering if, now and then, when time is short whether I can get away with a quick touchless wash too?


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## dhracer

I can't comment on anyone else but last night I foamed the car once, left for 3-4mins, rinsed off - there were still some signs of bird poo at that point and I had foam left in the bottle so I foamed again and rinsed again after a couple of minutes. Car was then clean :thumb: 

I expect in the future one foam will be fine unless there is something tough like dried bird droppings on the car (as long as the car still has plenty of wax on it)


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## AdamA4avant

this is a very helpfull guide as to what to use. Will be getting a Karcher and foaming lance soon.
can't wait for the foaming to begin.


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## joe_c70

its great mine arrived today makes cleaning the dog sh*tlot easier aswell


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## jonnie5

1cm of Supa Snow Foam
1cm of any Shampoo
Rest fill with warm water
Applied with autobrite foam lance. I use about 1/2 to 3/4 on the dial and set at quite a wide fan about 600mm hiting the car.


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## somouk

I use 6 squirts of hyperwash and a touch of APC in my gilmour bottle then top it up with warm water.

On the max setting of the gilly, it gives me a great amount of foam!

I've never had a problem with the APC stripping the wax though, I only use nattys at the moment and it is easily lasting 2 - 3 months between top ups.

Mart


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## dundeered

i had being using a karcher foam gun for about 5 months then decided to buy a gilmour.
wow so much better , my mixture ration is as follow s for gimour .
3 cm ssf from autobrite
1cm of cg maxi sudds 2
2 cm of ag car shampoo
cap full of megs gold class

fill up rest with water , give it a good shoogle, then off we go - i am totally blown away with how good the foam is , 
my wash stage consists of :

pre rinse with hose
foam as above - minus gold class

leave to dwell untill all foam has ran off body of car 

go over with hose again 

second blast with gilmour body section at a time , washing with lambswool mitt , rinsing mit in bucket of water after each panel.

rinse car again to remove any sudds :detailer:


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## gti mad man

why not use just snow foam or super snow foam on its own?


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## dhracer

gti mad man said:


> why not use just snow foam or super snow foam on its own?


AFAIK the snow foam isn't _that_ great at cleaning, hence mixing with something like max suds II, the foam ensures max dwell time and the shampoo added does a lot of the cleaning work. That's my interpretation anyway


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## jonnie5

For me a touchless wash is very difficault as the amount of miles I do, and the car is kept outside that no matter how many times I prewash it would still need a washmit and I have a pritty powerfull karcher (in which I try not to stand to close). Your car would have to be only slighlty dirty ie wash everyday or every otherday to keep on top so that you would never need a washmit.


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## NoisyGriff

First off, thank you so much to all the guys who have taken the time to post great information on this thread.

I am new to some of this, having not bought all the kit yet, so this thread has been great. I thought it might be useful to summarise some of what's been said (and also suggest a basic 'starter-for-ten' and ask whether ti sounds sensible):

*Ideal mix:*
(assuming 1 ltr bottle)
1 inch of some kind of foamer
1 inch of car shampoo
1/2 inch of citrus degreaser (see question below, though)
Top up the rest of the bottle with warm water

*Best kit*
Autobrite foaming lance, on 50% to 75% setting

*The questions*
To add to the summary, I would be very grateful if somebody could answer a couple of questions:

What is SSF?
Will the Autobrite lance fit a Karscher pressure washer?
Which foamers/shampoos do not strip the wax (and can be used for regular washing)?
Can anyone recommend a retailer for the Autobrite lance and the fluids required?
Does the citrus degreaser strip the wax?

Thanks again for the thread. I know for sure that this will be really useful to anyone in my position. Please have a look at the summary and add your comments.


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## gti mad man

ssf=Super Snow Foam

apc or citrus degresear willr emove wax only really add for very heavily soiled cars

ssf and maxi sudds etc wont strip wax


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## jonnie5

What is SSF? Supa Snow foam
Will the Autobrite lance fit a Karscher pressure washer? YES
Which foamers/shampoos do not strip the wax (and can be used for regular washing)? Most good brands will be ok ie megs / cg/ pb
Can anyone recommend a retailer for the Autobrite lance and the fluids required? www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/washing-drying/cat_1.html
Does the citrus degreaser strip the wax? Yes


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## Gleammachine

I use through a 1ltr bottle

a touch of Duragloss wash con

a touch of citrus pre-wash

and fill remainder with water.

Perfect foam without stripping the wax.

Alternatively

Valet-pro orange snowfoam on it's own topped with water,

Best foam I've seen and won't strip wax either.


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## Dave^

i've got a gallon container of turtle wax extreme wash/wax crap, and a gallon container of triplewax shampoo.....from the days before my time on DW :shy:

would these be anygood to put in with the snowfoam as an 'inbetween' wash while the weather's a bit pants, as foam on it's own isn't that cracking at cleaning.......?


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## Glossmax

Dave^ said:


> i've got a gallon container of turtle wax extreme wash/wax crap, and a gallon container of triplewax shampoo.....from the days before my time on DW :shy:
> 
> would these be anygood to put in with the snowfoam as an 'inbetween' wash while the weather's a bit pants, as foam on it's own isn't that cracking at cleaning.......?


Both are fine.


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## Dave^

cool, i'll be giving those a try this weekend......


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## gti mad man

be carefull of the one with wax as if you dont remove all the dirt it can "wax" them in


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## Bossman

Have just stumbled across this thread, great help as I'm new to all this and have just ordered some snowfoam.

Cant wait to have a play will post results when I get my hands on it.
Cheers


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## Alsone

racquel said:


> AUTO RAE-CHEM Snow Foam 1cm in 500ml bottle topped up with water.


Is that the correct ratio Rachel?

I'm getting superb results with the snow foam bottle full of neat snow foam and then just sprayed on using a low setting.

Get around 5 washes to 500ml. But goes on really thickly - like 1/4 inch thick!!

Cleaning is really good for a pure snowfoam as well. Most of the time I can get away without a wash.


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## apmaman

cap full of triple wax car wash and 5 pumps of snow foam with it ayt about 3/4 turn


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## 03OKH

Interesting thread and very helpful as there are many newcomers still perfecting the mix in the bottle including myself.


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## james_death

Autobrite lance and supplied bottle.
Tried 2 inch of ssf and also 1 inch, not much difference to my eyes.
Can do 2 cars with this with one treatment each.
Nothing else added other than warm water to the bottle.
I normally just foam rinse and then 2 bucket method.
However i tried the 2 bucket method while foam still on the car as folk often say not much of a cleaning ability to the ssf.
I only had a small amount of cg extreme wash wax in the wash bucket man i love that smell and when i used the mit on the car with the ssf still on what an incredeble amount of lubricity.
Oh the gun was set to max.


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## HalfordsShopper

I use a AB HD Lance on my Nilkisk E140.
I use 300ML of BH Autofoam, and 300ML of water (leaving 400ML gap in a 1L bottle)
This is easily enough for a large car,including wheels and arches etc, and gives a pretty good touch-less wash.

I'm a bit surprised that people seem to be getting better results with weird home brewed concoctions of a few cm of this and an inch of that. I would have thought that a foam manufacturer would have spend some time and effort getting the right mix of ingredients to that users don't have to mix several different products.

Having said that will give it a try and see how i get on.


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## d33mb33

HalfordsShopper said:


> I use 300ML of BH Autofoam, and 300ML of water (leaving 400ML gap in a 1L bottle)


Agreed. I use 500ml BH Autofoam 500ml Water in 1l bottle. Enough for two cars. And enough for touchless wash in the summer.

I believe BH recommend a 4% mix which equates to about a 50/50 mixture on most lance/jet wash combos.

Are others really getting a touchless wash with just 1cm in the bottom? :doublesho


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## Herefordquattro

2 pumps of megs hyperwash fill with warm water. Pa lance tweaked down till it foams then back up for some range. Job done


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