# Using Car shampoo as Snow Foam



## Clarkey-88 (Apr 29, 2014)

Does anybody do it? I got a Karcher Snow Foam Lance last week but haven't managed to get any snow foam yet. I mixed up a bit of Meguiars Gold Class Shampoo and water in the bottle and it foamed up pretty well (a lot better then I was expecting). I didn't do any proper measurements, I just poured a gulp in the bottle and added some water to thin it out.

Would a dedicated snow foam work better then a mix of car shampoo and water or are snow foams basically a car shampoo but not as thick?

Sorry if that is a silly question lol


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## Bero (Mar 9, 2008)

Foams great generally but not as much cleaning power as a dedicated product.

If the car is just getting a spruce up it gets foamed with shampoo, jetted off, then a much more watery dusting of shampoo foam then go round with the mitt. The clean dusting of shampoo increases lubricity.....and you can do a little more before going back the the buckets.


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## MAXI-MILAN (Oct 26, 2008)

Yes I always use car shampoo by foam lance and get nice result Foam > Jetted off > Foam whole car and enjoy with your wash mitt . If you want strong shampoo to remove dirt as pre wash try Armor all Heavy Duty Shampoo via Foam lance :thumb:


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## shanew (Sep 23, 2011)

I use shampoo through the foam lance too, works a treat for a quick wash down but as others have said, shampoo doesn't generally have the cleaning power of a dedicated pre wash foam


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## neilb62 (Jul 30, 2007)

I always shampoo through the lance, its fun!


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## Clarkey-88 (Apr 29, 2014)

That's the only reason I got one for... So it would make it a little more fun  I'll just keep using the shampoo then as my car never gets grubby enough to warrant snow foam :detailer:


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## GleemSpray (Jan 26, 2014)

Totally!

I have tried everything I have got pretty much through my Autobrite HD Lance to see how well it works or doesn't.

TurtleWax Zip wax makes epic foam LOL


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## camerashy (Feb 9, 2014)

That's great, you would not have expected that from TurtleWax


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## _Steven67 (Apr 8, 2014)

I use my shampoo through my lance just not as snow foam.


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

MAXI-MILAN said:


> Yes I always use car shampoo by foam lance and get nice result Foam > Jetted off > Foam whole car and enjoy with your wash mitt . If you want strong shampoo to remove dirt as pre wash try Armor all Heavy Duty Shampoo via Foam lance :thumb:


+1! :thumb:

ArmorAll HD shampoo is my favourite through the foam lance.


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## Clarkey-88 (Apr 29, 2014)

GleemSpray said:


> Totally!
> 
> I have tried everything I have got pretty much through my Autobrite HD Lance to see how well it works or doesn't.
> 
> TurtleWax Zip wax makes epic foam LOL


WOW!! I'm sure my neighbour gave me a new bottle of this ages ago lol it's in the shed I think, going to try find it later for next time . How much water did you add to make it foam like that?


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## zippo (Mar 26, 2008)

I used citrus wash and gloss as more of an experiment really .It does the job, but I don't think you can beat a dedicated snow foam
Daz


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## GleemSpray (Jan 26, 2014)

Clarkey-88 said:


> WOW!! I'm sure my neighbour gave me a new bottle of this ages ago lol it's in the shed I think, going to try find it later for next time . How much water did you add to make it foam like that?


Here is the original post

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?p=4418359


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## Clarkey-88 (Apr 29, 2014)

Well I found it  it's not the Turtlewax one though  lol it's Car Plan Tripple wax. I'll report back with some pics tomorrow if I decide to give the car a quickie


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## GleemSpray (Jan 26, 2014)

Clarkey-88 said:


> Well I found it  it's not the Turtlewax one though  lol it's Car Plan Tripple wax. I'll report back with some pics tomorrow if I decide to give the car a quickie


 It just has to be done !! LOL

I got 1L of that triple Wax stuff in the recent Halfords / 02 priority moments give away.

I think wash n wax products actually work quite well via the foam lance if you just want to give the car a quick brighten up without touching it too much.

When the weather is grim, I sometimes drag out the PW and give the car a quick blast of water, then a quick blast of any sort of shampoo and then a final rinse off.

It isn't perfect by any means, but it gets a lot of the dirt off without having to touch the car. Certainly its as good as any petrol station power wash.

I really, really want to have a go with Fairy Washing Up Liquid, some time when a neighbour / relative dumps a manky unprotected car on me !! I think it would be surprisingly cheap and effective via a foam lance as the first stage of a clean up.


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## Clarkey-88 (Apr 29, 2014)

GleemSpray said:


> When the weather is grim, I sometimes drag out the PW and give the car a quick blast of water, then a quick blast of any sort of shampoo and then a final rinse off.
> 
> It isn't perfect by any means, but it gets a lot of the dirt off without having to touch the car. Certainly its as good as any petrol station power wash.


Yea, that's certainly a good idea for the winter. Will probably do that with mine this year. I don't think I will bother with washing it and polishing it every 3 days like I've previously done lol, jetting most of it off every few days to keep the grime minimal and then giving it a proper wash every other weekend seems like a more sensible idea lol. Never thought of that before :wall: lol


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## Soul boy 68 (Sep 8, 2013)

I use a dedicated snow foam, Auto Finesse Avalaunch with it's Citrus based formular it cuts through the dirt and muck. Shampoo is shampoo and snow foams are snow foams. But as the saying goes, each to their own or what ever you are happy with. :detailer:


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## Clarkey-88 (Apr 29, 2014)

GleemSpray said:


> I really, really want to have a go with Fairy Washing Up Liquid, some time when a neighbour / relative dumps a manky unprotected car on me !! I think it would be surprisingly cheap and effective via a foam lance as the first stage of a clean up.


Fairy Liquid would defiantly produce some decent foam, Would be a fun way of stripping LSP too!

When I was at school a girl called Sydney used to put fairy liquid in the kettle and boil it during Food Technology! lol the amount of foam that used to pour out was ridicules :lol:


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## GleemSpray (Jan 26, 2014)

Soul boy 68 said:


> I use a dedicated snow foam, Auto Finesse Avalaunch with it's Citrus based formular it cuts through the dirt and muck. Shampoo is shampoo and snow foams are snow foams. But as the saying goes, each to their own or what ever you are happy with. :detailer:


Absolutely right....

... But this is playtime! Wouldn't be any fun if we used products that are actually intended to be used in a foam Lance.

I have also got 5l of BH Autofoam for when I need a guaranteed result which won't dereriorate my HD Wax.

Also got 5+ litres of AG Pressure Wash which works and cleans very well via the foam Lance.


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## GleemSpray (Jan 26, 2014)

This stuff looks promising....

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/bubble-fluid-1l-lf93b


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## Clarkey-88 (Apr 29, 2014)

Well today I tried out the Car Plan Tripple wax Shampoo through my lance, I didn't bother taking any photos of the foam as it wasn't that thick at all really. Are the karcher snow foam lances any good?? It's the one with the knob on the side that allows you to adjust how much foam you want coming through.

I did take a quick pic of the finished product though


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## GleemSpray (Jan 26, 2014)

The Karcher lances are OK, but nowhere near as good as the dedicated snow foam lances at producing decent foam. 

Why don't you try again using more shampoo (or even undiluted shampoo) in the Lance bottle?


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## Clarkey-88 (Apr 29, 2014)

When I used the Megs stuff for the first time I tried it undiluted and i think it was too thick as it wasn't really foaming, added some water and then it started to come through. Yesterday I used most of the bottle (three quarters of it lol) experimenting with different dilution rates and it didn't really make much difference. I'll buy some proper snow foam and see how that goes, if I'm still not happy I'll get a new snow foam lance


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## PG Monkey (Apr 19, 2010)

Is there a foam lance/attachment you can use with a standard hosepipe (i.e. not a pressure washer)?


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## shanew (Sep 23, 2011)

You can get these as a last resort but I'd probably get a mesto foamer or do without

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=261518924142&alt=web


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## Paul.D (Jun 26, 2013)

the Autoglym pressure wash liquid makes a good snow foam on a 50/50 mix


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## GleemSpray (Jan 26, 2014)

Paul.D said:


> the Autoglym pressure wash liquid makes a good snow foam on a 50/50 mix


Yes it does and it cleans well too.


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## VenomUK (Oct 13, 2011)

I went though a stage of using this method as a way of cutting down on product. You get good coverage of suds to then wash the car with.


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