All shampoos are not the same
Specialising in Car Detailing , Project Detail Sydney & Melbourne will be covering a series of articles focussing on decontamination and in this post, we focus on Car Shampoo.
Choosing the right car shampoo for your car is essential for majority of the car owners. There are thousands of variety of car shampoo on the shelf and choosing the right one for your car might be a difficult task.
There are a few differences between types of car shampoo but they all serve the same purpose: to break down dirt and help clean your car.
Here at Project Detail Studio, we are going to cover the different types of car shampoo that suits the best for your vehicle.
BMW M4 Snow Foam as Pre-wash, part of our 21-Stage Wash and Decontamination
Snow Foam Agent ph neutral
These types of shampoo are designed to be used with a snow foam lance or hose attachment. It contains high suds content and cleaning agent that is used to break down dirt and grime on the pre-wash stage. Spray snow foam, covering the entire car and let it sit for 3-5 minutes for it to dwell onto the paintwork before rinsing it off, allowing us to have less contact with the dirt when comes to the 2-bucket method wash after.
Want to know more about Snow Foam and what we mean by pre-wash? Click here to see our 21 stage wash method Project Detail uses.
Preparation/Heavy Duty Shampoo
often acidic or alkaline inclined
Typically, these kind of shampoo is used in preparation before a car undergoes a waxing application or paint correction. It provides superior cleaning compared to ordinary washes and not only it cleans all the dirt and grime well, it also breaks down previously applied wax or sealants. Also tends to have stronger cleaner ability however, if left to dry on paint can causing etching or staining to plastics, rubbers or paintwork.
Soft Wash/Maintenance Shampoo ph Neutral
These shampoos are usually pH neutral and they are very delicate on car paints and does not have the intend to strip any applied waxes or sealants. They are perfect for cars that has been detailed or previously applied wax or sealants and they are great at maintaining them. Some of these shampoos even have a small amount of wax mixed into the formula. It is usually named soft wash/wash and wax/premium car shampoo etc.
Pro tip: If your car has been applied with any type of wax or sealants, use a pH neutral shampoo to preserve its longevity.
Coating Maintenance Shampoo ph Neutral
Coating maintenance shampoos are fairly new to the market. As some of the detailers know, ceramic/quartz coating usually is maintained by applying a top coat every few months and it acts as a sacrificial layer on top of the ceramic/quartz coatings and it provides good hydrophobicity on top of the coatings itself. A coating maintenance shampoo combines a top coat and car wash shampoo in one. An good example would be CarPro’s Hydro2 or Concours Nova Jet. It can also be used on cars that hasn’t had ceramic/quartz coating to provide rudimentary protection.
Detailing Kingdom’s Car Hydra is an example of pH neutral premium shampoo.
We hope this article helped you on choosing the right car wash shampoo for you car. If you have any questions about car wash shampoos, you can do so by contacting us here.
