# Comparison - BH Auto Foam Vs. VP Citrus Pre Wash Vs. AF Verso



## Adam16

*What are they?*

Bilt Hamber Auto Foam is a concentrated snow foam that can also be used in a pressure sprayer/spray bottle.

Valet Pro Citrus Pre Wash is marketed as an LSP safe pre-wash that again can be used either as a snow foam or through a pressure sprayer/spray bottle.

Auto Finesse Verso is the wildcard product (as it is not designed as a pre-wash). It is an APC (all purpose cleaner) designed to tackle almost any grime at a variety of dilutions.

*What do they bring to the table?*

_*Bilt Hamber Auto Foam* is a premium quality, foaming pre-wash treatment, designed to soak and saturate soiled vehicle paintwork prior to the application of vehicle shampoo. Auto-Foam is gentle and can be use in conjunction with all pressure washer foam lances. Auto-Foam's bubbles systematically burst and move around, encouraging the soaking and cleansing agents to start working. Road grime is lifted from painted surfaces thereby minimising harm caused by swirling and marking during subsequent washing._

_*Valet Pro Citrus Pre Wash* is a first rate APC (All Purpose Cleaner). This product cleans not just exterior paintwork, but interior plastics and carpets with ease too. A truly multi-purpose product! This product is the upgrade from orange pre-wash._

_*Auto Finesse Verso* is a concentrated all purpose cleaner and degreaser that boasts a wide range of cleaning abilities, both interior cleaning and external cleaning whilst offering great value for money. Verso is perfect for interior cleaning such as; carpet cleaning, fabric cleaning an rubber cleaning and external cleaning such as; engine cleaning, door jambs, wheel arches, tyres and convertible hoods._

*What am I using it on?*

A Volcanic Orange Mini One (64 reg)

*How do they compare?*

Before I start let me say that this is my first every comparison test - so go lightly on me with your judgement! I tried my best haha.

The car was not too dirty, but had not seen sight of a wash bucket for at least a month and 700 miles of driving. Most of the dirt was very much 'engrained' which would provide a good test of how the products could 'lift' it out of the paint so it could be washed away.

So I diluted all the products at the manufacturers recommended concentrations:


 Bilt Hamber Auto Foam 5%
 Valet Pro Citrus Pre Wash 8:1
 Auto Finesse Verso 5:1

And here they are lined up for testing - Verso is on the left, Citrus Pre Wash in the middle, and Auto Foam on the right.










It was sunny at the time of the test, so I made sure to park where the sun wasn't going to hit the panel directly. As you can see Verso was blue in colour, Citrus Pre Wash was a strong orange colour, and the Auto Foam was green - almost like screen washer fluid!

The smell of the products varied quite a bit. Verso had a pleasant, not too overbearing pine smell which I liked. The Citrus Pre Wash for me smelled way too sweet and overpowering, not a citrus type smell you get with a tar remover like Gyeon Tar, but instead like orange kids sweets - I really didn't like it one bit. Auto Foam was somewhere in the middle of the two; I could not describe the smell, other than 'cleany' if that makes any sense. Not unpleasant, but then again not fantastic.

So to the test. The panel was first given a good jet wash:










Each solution was then sprayed on. I made sure to leave a nice gap between each, and avoided any cross-contamination. Please note that the clean 'swipe' seen in the photo nearest to the front arch is from the initial swipe test with a cotton pad - I know, could inflict marring, but I will take one for the team haha.

Here is them sprayed on and starting their dwelling time (left Verso, middle Citrus Pre Wash, right Auto Foam:










I left them to dwell for 5 minutes and used my trusty iPhone to time:










Once time was up, I gave the panel another jet wash and used cotton pads to test how well each product had cleaned. Here are the results:










So the pad on the furthest left is the untreated panel that was only jet washed off.

The next pad along was Auto Finesse Verso. Not much cleaning really, although to give it the benefit of the doubt it isn't really designed as a pre-wash, and maybe at a stronger dilution it could have done better.

The first set of three pads was..............Valet Pro Citrus Pre Wash. I was fairly impressed by its cleaning power - it had a good consistency which allowed it to dwell on the panel quite well. It removed about 50% of the grime, which was fairly good, and seemed to have not effect on the LSP (although over time it obviously will degrade)

The final set of three pads was Bilt Hamber Auto Foam. This product cuts through dirt very well, and with only 5 minutes to dwell did a very good job. It removed about 70% of the grime at only a 5% dilution! Now thats impressive. I could visibly see it pulling the dirt away from the surface. LSP seemed to be unaffected.

I decided at this point to pop around to the other side of the car and 'drip' down some of the Auto Foam and let it dwell for 5 minutes. I then jet washed it off and was left with this:










You can actually see the clean streaks where I have dripped the product down the panel. Very good cleaning power from Auto Foam.

*Conclusion*

So which product is best?

Well its unfair to say Verso is rubbish - because it isn't. Its a very nice smelling all purpose cleaner that is great for lighter cleaning duties or use on interiors. But as a pre-wash, its just not powerful enough, and it really wasn't designed for it. Maybe at 1:1 it would be better, but at that dilution it just isn't cost effective.

Valet Pro Citrus Pre Wash is a good cleaner, but for me it just smelled so sweet it was almost sickly. Some people love the smell, but I am just not one of them. It is LSP friendly but I wouldn't say safe - even just using plain water will degrade the LSP by some amount. The cleaning power was good, but just not quite up to par with its competition.

Bilt Hamber Auto Foam for me was the winner. Bit Hamber make some great products that are environmentally friendly, whilst also being very effective. The cleaning power at just 5% was amazing, and the cost of a 5L container makes it by far the cheapest cleaner of the bunch. I'm sure that the cleaning power could have been further increased by applying as a foam and leaving to dwell for a bit longer. Also, it did not seem to affect the LSP any more than the Citrus Pre Wash did which makes it ideal for contactless maintenance washes. I would definitely recommend this for anyone in the market for a good pre-wash product.

*Where do I buy them?*

The cheapest place for Verso is Amazon which has 5L for £20.27 and 1L for £8.95 delivered. It can also be bought direct from Auto Finesse.

Valet Pro Citrus Pre Wash can be found for around the £19 mark for 5L from stockists such as The Ultimate Finish or Clean your Car.

Bilt Hamber Auto Foam is usually around the £17 mark - again, it can be bought from stockists such as The Ultimate Finish or Clean your Car.

If you got this far (I know that I waffled on at points) then thanks for reading, and I hope you found this little comparison helpful. Any tips on where I could improve my reviewing technique are much appreciated.

All the best,

Adam


----------



## Gavla

I use Bilt Hamber products and have never bean let down by them...also fantasric value for money...


----------



## adjones

Some nice write-ups.

Generally it seems to be the case that APCs are stronger that pre-washes (heck, many people strip LSP with APC). So it is odd that Verso seems to be so notable weaker.


----------



## rocky1722

Well done, I really enjoyed your first write-up and look forward to many more.

I can agree fully with your comparison between the ValetPRO Citrus Pre Wash and Bilt- Hamber Autofoam as I have both too, can't comment on Auto Finesse Verso.

The ValetPRO is good but the Bilt-Hamber is even better and I dilute it to just 4% and still get great results, an excellent product. :thumb:

Another test I'm eager to do in the summer months is see how the Bilt-Hamber copes with bug splats as I have found the ValetPRO to struggle with bug splats although it advertises on the container that it "will clean bug splats with ease". I didn't find that.


----------



## Kimo

As always, auto foam comes up trumps


----------



## great gonzo

I will be giving the BH a try once I have run out of my normal snow foam. 
Gonz.


----------



## shane_ctr

Looking forward to trying this out. Have a sample coming soon from Kimo73 thanks mate


----------



## Adam16

great gonzo said:


> I will be giving the BH a try once I have run out of my normal snow foam.
> Gonz.


Just to pre-warn you, from what I have seen Auto Foam doesn't give the thickest of foams, but it does give one with a great cleaning power.



adjones said:


> Some nice write-ups.
> 
> Generally it seems to be the case that APCs are stronger that pre-washes (heck, many people strip LSP with APC). So it is odd that Verso seems to be so notable weaker.


I did another review for Verso just on its own, and at 5:1 which this test was at it can be a good cleaner but needs a bit of agitation to get the best from it. It is by no means the strongest, but for me it isn't meant to be and is aimed at lighter cleaning tasks, interior cleaning, and cleaning sensitive parts such as some types of wheels.


----------



## Jag 63

Very good review another test review you could do with just the Valet Pro and BH could be to spray them on a dirty panel before any rinsing of the panel. That's how I would use them straight on to the dirty dry car let them dwell then pw off. 
But very good review none the less, think I will give BH ago I also have Valet Pro Pre Citrus Wash.


----------



## adjones

Adam16 said:


> Just to pre-warn you, from what I have seen Auto Foam doesn't give the thickest of foams, but it does give one with a great cleaning power.
> 
> I did another review for Verso just on its own, and at 5:1 which this test was at it can be a good cleaner but needs a bit of agitation to get the best from it. It is by no means the strongest, but for me it isn't meant to be and is aimed at lighter cleaning tasks, interior cleaning, and cleaning sensitive parts such as some types of wheels.


I noticed. Of course you could just use one of the stronger products and dilute more. It just strikes me that verso is a weaker cleaner and costs more than many others. I don't see why anyone would pay more to get less


----------



## Adam16

adjones said:


> I noticed. Of course you could just use one of the stronger products and dilute more. It just strikes me that verso is a weaker cleaner and costs more than many others. I don't see why anyone would pay more to get less


If you only wanted one APC, I would say get G101 or Surfex HD. They are highly concentrated and cheap. Verso isn't in the same league of cleaning power, but it smells nice, you know it will be very safe to use, and I would have no hesitation to use it on the interior. Suppose it's just personal preference really - find what works for you and so long as it gets the job done that's all that matters.

All the best,

Adam


----------



## 123HJMS

Adam16 said:


> If you only wanted one APC, I would say get G101 or Surfex HD. They are highly concentrated and cheap. Verso isn't in the same league of cleaning power, but it smells nice, you know it will be very safe to use, and I would have no hesitation to use it on the interior. Suppose it's just personal preference really - find what works for you and so long as it gets the job done that's all that matters.
> 
> All the best,
> 
> Adam


Im sure verso is caustuc just like g101 but I may be wrong


----------



## Darren68

Good write up have been considering bh


----------



## adjones

123HJMS said:


> Im sure verso is caustuc just like g101 but I may be wrong


Best ask for the safety data sheet for Verso

*looks for the flying pig smilie*


----------



## Spoony

adjones said:


> Best ask for the safety data sheet for Verso
> 
> *looks for the flying pig smilie*


http://www.autofinesse.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/VERSO-MSDS.pdf

Edit: link now dead but it did work.


----------

