Bilt Hamber Auto foam... the best?

[Coatings=crack]

Some folks were interested in BH Autofoam as I was so ordered a gallon from the UK. Cheaper than the few outlets I could find from the US cost me about $60 us with shipping.

Nice thing was if you added a few lighter things shipping didn’t go up and you can fine some deals! I got a 500ML bottle of PA Supersport for $65 when cheapest I could find in US was $85. If I woulda added the Kami Overcoat woulda been $55 dollars no extra shipping. $75 was cheapest I could find on Black Friday (250ml). This was all with company’s 15% off Black Friday sale, the always have 10% off sales tho.

Moral of story is if you buy other things the shipping evens out and after breaking down delivery I put a price of about $50 dollars on it.

Shipping was faster than I expected had it within a week of ordering. Don’t know if that was the norm but in my head I figured a month. They ship everything at once so watch out for out of stock products as this will hold your order.

Obviously can’t name where I ordered but this was my experience on my order.

On to use:

To figure out ratio it is recommended to fill cannon up with water then turn setting to max product usage.

Spray into bucket until cannon is empty. Figure out volume of water in bucket and then math it down to 4% and put that in cannon filling rest with water. The only info I could find with this product and pf22 the guy figured it about 12-14oz to pf22 filling rest with water.

I also read on some UK forums 3-1 to 5-1 works well. I wasn’t going to do the flo rate test in winter so I settled on 2:1 240ml water to 120ml auto foam.

Also note that pressure washer GPM changes ratio so this was not exact but stronger than most recommendations but weaker than the highest I found.

Before:

These areas were trunk deck lid, sides front and rear:

Product applied with Pf22 and️ PW 2300 psi 1.2gpm

Product foamed well but runny. This was 1st side after foaming whole car. Let dwell for 4 minutes.
Rinsed:

Can’t really tell from rinsed picks due to water but it did a good job. Remove decent amount of road film after week of rain. From rear deck lid though you can see it still left a lot but hey this is a snow foam.

My thought:

Is it a great product? Yes, for what it is. I could visually tell it removed a lot of RF that was previous their performing better than CG melon SF and griots surface wash although not by much.

I think the edge to autofoam is due to it containing ethoxylated alchohol (?) and a more alkaline ph (griots is ph neutral). comparable to Griots surface prep although griots doesn’t recommend it on coatings. Was told would degrade it after several uses.

At $60 dollars and a lower dilution rate than griots And griots being $38 during most sales I can’t say for sure yet if it’s worth the cost but it is better.

I guess if your a skeptic use what ever is cheapest out their. If your looking for best overall value the Griots surface wash and best performing no matter the cost Bilt Hamber SF.

Now if I can find a couple things I can get from UK to justify shipping I would re order in a heart beat. Otherwise I’ll be sticking with Griots surface wash

Lastly this is a pick of the wheel which looked like the car. The wheel is matte I’d did a great job with it but again would still need a bucket wash. I applied an LSP (Clutch) last week so that may have helped.


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[Sizzle Chest]

Nice review and pics, thanks for posting!

 

[SWETM]

Great write up and review!

Yeah it`s much in the environment and what kind of dirt you have on the vehical. But it`s not a miracle and during the winter months with road salt and road film it`s going to be needing a contact wash for totaly clean paint. For what it is a prewash foam that`s to take as much of the dirt off and the dirt that don`t come off it hopefully loosens the rest up so it`s easier aggitated off. This I have not used any prewash foam that`s safe to use on LSP that does such of a great job that BH Auto-Foam is doing. They can get close some of them but Auto-Foam has that little notch more effectiveness from it. It`s also more visual and noticeble when you have used Auto-Foam for a while and then go back or try a new one.

A tips to get a little more dwell time is to not do any prerinse before you apply a prewash foam. It gets not more diluted and the foam runs off a little slower. And this is not for show with shaving cream thick foam LOL. Many is disappointed with the foam runs off faster and reduces faster. But if you look closely at the more dirty places you have on the vehical you see it clings in a wet solution on those parts IME. From video on GG BOSS Foaming Surface Wash I have seen like this too on. And think that`s letting it working longer time to break down the dirt. This is when you get into the details with these prewash foams.

What was the price without the shipping? In Sweden it`s almost $40 but that`s also 5L which is 42-43oz more than a gallon. Man if you could get it for the prices they have in the UK would be awesome. Not envy at all or yes I am LOL. Same thing with Angelwax products exept their waxes it`s half of the price in the UK vs what we have in Sweden. They don`t ship Angelwax products international from UK directly sadly. I think that I will be doing a bigger order which usually takes down the shipping costs to Sweden too. Next time I need more BH products.

For others that might ordering BH products. The products I think is very good in their range of products is. Auto-Foam, Surfex HD, Clay Bar, Auto-Wash, Auto-Balm synthetic wax amazing filling ability and great rust inhibitors in it, Korrosol/ Auto-Wheel basicly the same product bleeding iron remover one for paint and one for wheels, Cleanser Fluid panel prep wipe product, Double Speed Wax on par with the 476s, that`s almost the whole line LOL. If you want great protection products for the undercarriage they really excells in this. Their waxes though can be a little hard to work with but the performance from it great and it goes to apply it thin thin thin LOL.

Glad that you where satisfied with it. Hope you get a distributor in the US soon so the price gets a little better on it. Would be perfect for Autopia and Autogeek. Or maybe Bilt Hamber is not interested to get into the US market idk. They don`t do any advertising or marketing it`s just there and gets spread from mouth to mouth rumors.

/ Tony

 

[BudgetPlan1]

Black 5.0 = Winner!

More pics!

 

[JustJesus]

Nice review and pics, thanks for posting!

Agreed.

Thanks for the review

 

[Coatings=crack]

Yeah Tony it’s a quality product. I agree and don’t pre rinse before foaming. Yes it is more runny than most snow foam but you are right that it stays on dirt.


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[Coatings=crack]

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[mobiledynamics]

:thewave:C=C. Ha, it`s that time of the year eh. In the last couple of years, I feel like I`ve made a mental block-out of what winter brings to the ~panels~ and after the 1st salt brine, I`m always back at square one, revisiting the long quest to have a product that will mimic a -laser touchless wash- at home. At yes....I`m well aware of the voc of said stuff, and why it`s not that easily available to the consumer. I know I will never get there in goal, but one can at least wish .

Off topic, but even as the state of ~water\ ph~ between one`s home and a few miles over and how it can affect ones experience with soap. Over at the DW forum and the countless Kochie and what not touchless washes, I`ve wondered if somehow it just works better in the Euro states, either due to their water chemistry and the product primarily being developed over there as well ?

I`ve tried the AF in the past as well as Avalanche. I was expecting at least a 65-70% Traffic Film Removal, based on those threads over at DW forum. Has really high hopes for this stuff. Never did attain that.

 

[Coatings=crack]

Yeah nothing is doing what a touchless will. Yeah I would like at least 50% removal (not happening) but do see a difference with it than water alone and the more debris removed before touching the better.

I also think it soften what’s on their for sure but definitely not a miracle.

You might have something with the Europe thing. Lot more threads on DW about snow foams. And a lot more stated better results.


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[mobiledynamics]

I don`t believe water does any softening, whether it be 2 hrs or 24 hrs.

In one experiment, I pulled the car out of the garage and it sat outdoors in a full 30 hr noreaster rain if I recall. Same testing, high pressure rinse (and yes, I was thinking to see if the prolonged rain would have made a difference). ZERO observable difference IMO with the long soak .

 

[Coatings=crack]

Great write up and review!

Yeah it`s much in the environment and what kind of dirt you have on the vehical. But it`s not a miracle and during the winter months with road salt and road film it`s going to be needing a contact wash for totaly clean paint. For what it is a prewash foam that`s to take as much of the dirt off and the dirt that don`t come off it hopefully loosens the rest up so it`s easier aggitated off. This I have not used any prewash foam that`s safe to use on LSP that does such of a great job that BH Auto-Foam is doing. They can get close some of them but Auto-Foam has that little notch more effectiveness from it. It`s also more visual and noticeble when you have used Auto-Foam for a while and then go back or try a new one.

A tips to get a little more dwell time is to not do any prerinse before you apply a prewash foam. It gets not more diluted and the foam runs off a little slower. And this is not for show with shaving cream thick foam LOL. Many is disappointed with the foam runs off faster and reduces faster. But if you look closely at the more dirty places you have on the vehical you see it clings in a wet solution on those parts IME. From video on GG BOSS Foaming Surface Wash I have seen like this too on. And think that`s letting it working longer time to break down the dirt. This is when you get into the details with these prewash foams.

What was the price without the shipping? In Sweden it`s almost $40 but that`s also 5L which is 42-43oz more than a gallon. Man if you could get it for the prices they have in the UK would be awesome. Not envy at all or yes I am LOL. Same thing with Angelwax products exept their waxes it`s half of the price in the UK vs what we have in Sweden. They don`t ship Angelwax products international from UK directly sadly. I think that I will be doing a bigger order which usually takes down the shipping costs to Sweden too. Next time I need more BH products.

For others that might ordering BH products. The products I think is very good in their range of products is. Auto-Foam, Surfex HD, Clay Bar, Auto-Wash, Auto-Balm synthetic wax amazing filling ability and great rust inhibitors in it, Korrosol/ Auto-Wheel basicly the same product bleeding iron remover one for paint and one for wheels, Cleanser Fluid panel prep wipe product, Double Speed Wax on par with the 476s, that`s almost the whole line LOL. If you want great protection products for the undercarriage they really excells in this. Their waxes though can be a little hard to work with but the performance from it great and it goes to apply it thin thin thin LOL.

Glad that you where satisfied with it. Hope you get a distributor in the US soon so the price gets a little better on it. Would be perfect for Autopia and Autogeek. Or maybe Bilt Hamber is not interested to get into the US market idk. They don`t do any advertising or marketing it`s just there and gets spread from mouth to mouth rumors.

/ Tony

Could you throw up some before and after pics on a dirty car to compare?


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[SWETM]

Could you throw up some before and after pics on a dirty car to compare?


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Absolutely I will do that I have some old and some new pictures where I tried to document my results. But it`s hard to get on the pictures but you can see a little difference between them. I will post later when it`s evening here in Sweden. I celebrate my birthday today and is going to prep for dinner. Have been doing a american turkey style dinner for many years now LOL. Promise and will come with the trix and tips that I use.

 

[SWETM]

So this is half of the side with Bilt Hamber Auto-Foam and nothing on the other side as IME I get the most effective prewash. This is hard to catch with the camera. And also it`s not a crazy difference. Then it`s also much about how much of the road film you have accumulated as in how long since you washed your car last LOL.

This where decon washed for being clayed and polished afterwards. But I where only able to be polishing the hood and the roof. So the back of my Kia cee`d SW was just deconed with a tar remover and iron remover. Then protected with Gyeon Wet Coat which Jon at The Forensic Detailing Channel on Youtube had as a winner cause of it`s great self cleaning ability even if it didn`t get the highest score in the comparison testing he did with different spray on rinse off products.

Now this is after 2 weeks I did the detail on the Kia. As you can see the roads here in Sweden is awefull during the winter months. And especially during this time when it`s changes between above and under the freezing point. A lot of road salt is spread out and it`s combo with studded winter tires and different quality of the asphalt roads. Gets you a lot of tar spots on any LSP you use on your paint. I don`t like to get this tar in the wash media so pretty much if the roads have been wet it`s needed to be useing a tar remover before you wash. And with only 2 weeks fresh tar spots most of them would be getting off with the wash. Also the tar remover is very good at desolving the road film and other dirt that you get during the winter months in an environment where you have snow. The tar remover you only apply from the bottom and up to just before the windows on the side panels and the back of the vehical. As it`s not good to be applying tar removers often on windows where you have so you can open them. The risk is that the tar remover penetrate through the seals and gets inside of the doors and it desolves the rust protection inside of them. You also don`t spray inside of the the wheel wells or on the wheels. For the same that it desolves the rust protection the undercarriage bodysprays is made by.

Now on to the prewash with BH Auto-Foam. This first picture is right after it where foamed on. It`s a dilution of around 1:5 in the foamcannon bottle. I have a Kärcher K7 Full Control Premium Flex electric PW with 2600psi and 2.6gpm. The foamcannon has the step up in the orifice size from original 1.25mm to 1.30mm. And the max chemical output on the it.

Then I let it dwell for 5 minutes. And if you look closely the foam has taken a lot of the dirt with it.

I use the water pressure from the PW to clean with. So around a foot away with the nozzle tip from the paint. And start at the bottom and work my way up from side to side. So the chemical can do it`s thing until it`s gets rinsed off and also when it gets rinsed off this way it don`t re-attach to the dirt that hasn`t been rinsed off yet. Dirt runs off better on a cleaner paint. Every chemical for pretreatment I do this method and on most products it`s says to do this in the description on the bottles here in Sweden.

The results is not huge difference between the prewash foamed and the not treated side. It`s cause it`s fresh dirt and also well protected with Gyeon Wet Coat. And the PW as tool to clean with is very effective and does the heavy lifting in the prewash steps.

If you look closely at the right side you see a very slightly light brown hue on the paint which is the road film that don`t get cleaned off with just water. The more road film and stubborn dirt that the water pressure from the PW don`t get off with just water. Also IME if you have a lot of dirt from gravel roads that`s been on for a long time and you don`t always gets off with water. The prewash foams is effective to desolve that kind of dirt too.

You don`t need to be foaming on a prewash. A diluted alkaline degreaser for paint works great this way too. There are some that goes under the APC products that works also great. But then it`s important it`s easy to be rinsed off clean so it don`t leaves any surfactans residue left on the paint. As if they are heavy enough with surfactans the longer lasting LSP can be clogged by these. Next product for me to test that I have heard it works great this way is Carpro MultiX diluted to 1:20-1:30. These degreasers I apply over the whole car. Bilt Hamber Surfex HD is awesome at this during the winter months in 1:20. And in the summer months to desolve the bug splatter spray over your alkaline degreaser and let it dwell for 3-5 minutes. Then without rinse it off you foam your prewash over it. This way I have never used a bug sponge to remove anything as there are not anything to remove. And this is different depending where you live and what bugs you have in your environment.

Here you have the beading when the Kia was dirty from the last winter. Then I applyied the BH Surfex HD at 1:20 let it dwell and PW clean rinsing it off. And yeah it revived the beading a little LOL. No foam used here this time. The old way was done here. Apply the tar remover as usually and after the dwell time a pump pressure spray bottle with the Surfex HD. So the second picture is before the was. The third picture is to show how much tar spots I had when I did this wash.

The goal I have is to get the paint as clean as possible before I touch wash it. And the chemicals aids a lot to achieve this. The clay bar after 2 1/2 years didn`t pick up much at all when I clayed the hood and the roof. Actually so little so it where not needed to be clayed. The prewash with concentrated Surfex HD and Auto-Foam at 50/50. Then a notch less to the max chemical output on the foamcannon. And BH Korrosol iron remover and got a little bleeding from it. And this is a half side of the hood and what the BH Clay Bar picked up.

/ Tony

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[Coatings=crack]

Wow the stuff you have in the road looks thick! Here in Washington state where I live they use sand instead of salt. Always worried it kicking up and scratching the paint. At least salt melts


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[Britsdaddy]

Happy Birthday! Another pre-Christmas baby. I was 3 days ago.

 

[SWETM]

Happy Birthday! Another pre-Christmas baby. I was 3 days ago.

Happy birthday to you too. Mine was the 19th.

LOL now I sat me in a tricky situation. I wrote look at the left side you can see a slightly light brown hue on the paint. If that is true it`s a total fail as that`s where the BH Auto-Foam has done it`s thing LOL. It`s of cause on the right side you can see the light road film left by only PW clean rinsing it off LOL.

Yeah I think it`s mostly cause of the studded winter tires which around 60% of the cars has from december through mars. Then this car goes on part of the daily driving on an asphalt road that where relayed about 2 months ago. On the bigger roads it`s both liquid road salt and grain road salt. And they actually has a small amount of gypsum in the road salt here to get a better wetting ability from it so it stays on the roads and don`t run off from them. Instead most gets slinged up on the cars. And when this slouch dries on the paint the vehicals becames white almost. The alkaline degreaser is effective to desolve that part of the dirt with the road salt and the gypsum from it. And the tar remover desolves the road film and almost like a tar film and spots. We also have sanding on the smaller asphalt roads but it`s road salt in that too so it don`t freezes together and gets easier spreading out. The real problems is in the city parts here in Sweden. There they don`t use road salt at all. And instead use finely cruched rocks and these gets trapped in the winter tires. When you spead up and yeah they slinging away from the tires badly. I seen much more rock chips the last 10 years or so when the use of this cruched rocks has been used more and more sadly.
As much as I hate the road salt and sanding and rocks used on the roads. People will not ever adjust the speed after the road conditions sadly. So the more ice and snow removal it`s done the IMO. As then I feel safer that the risk is less that someone drives into me. And with all of the technical help newer vehicals has. Many people just don`t know what to do when the technical help don`t work anymore. The handling of the vehicals also is not the same when you push over the limits. I always drives on large area like a big parking lot or industrial space when we get ice and snow here. To update how just my car reacts when it goes over the limits. And try without any technical help that`s on and how it works then. I always recommend to do so to family and friends on a safe place to test this with there own vehicals. It`s better to know than get surprised if it happens in traffic.


This after 2 weeks of driving and is on the same wash as the first pictures. We get a lot of these tar spots here in Sweden sadly. So the side and the back of the car was Valet Pro Citrus Tar Remover used. Here is the behind the front left wheel.

/ Tony

 

[mobiledynamics]

Re: my comment on the many many threads over a DW and said pre-foam agents.

In my autopian wish list, I don`t need any more polishes, pads or towels.
However, I would love to have a product that would get me as close to a touchless wash as possible. Want vs. Wish.......

Sure, there will be times where a mechanical -wash- is needed. But man, those threads over at DW with the results they get, has got me itchin for my own touchless wash@home.

 

[Accumulator]

Re: my comment on the many many threads over a DW .. man, those threads over at DW with the results they get, has got me itchin for my own touchless wash@home.

Heh heh, my Inner Skeptic says "..but that`s The Internet..."

That said, what kind of results are you after with the Home Touchless? I ask because even with just FK1000P on `em, I do quite well with my version of that, at least *IMO*. No, they`re not turning out Autopian, but IRL nobody else will ever notice the diff. But no, I can`t let `em get *too* bad between washes and after a few times I have to do a conventional wash. If you`re after a good "20/20" look in-between those conventional washes I`d think it doable [EDIT: with the right stuff]. OR...gee, I dunno, maybe my situation is somehow different, or maybe I`m not being all that particular (though I doubt that).

 

[mobiledynamics]

Dwell, HP rinse, maybee more HP rinsing.....and blowdry. We`ve yakked about this in the past. Maybe my salt mix is different than what they lay down in ur area. But my current iteration of touchless is not even close to what I would say is acceptable and walk away from it, so ultimately , all my washes are with a mitt.
And or may be I`m being more (particular), ahem, picky

 

[Accumulator]

mobiledynamics- I guess I`m wondering how you`d do with that Lonn Cleaning Gun I have. Running shampoo mix through it at about 125psi, and spot-blasting with the Tornador (which still doesn`t really work for me IRL the way it does for others on the internet) at ~95psi (higher psi works *worse*), what didn`t come off with the (warm water) pressure washer rinse does come off, although not well enough for *me* to risk touch-drying even though it does *appear* nice and clean.

I`m still playing around with that Tornador Black...distilled water, QD-strength IUDJ, shampoo mix...it has its moments even if it`s no miracle worker.

But yeah, there are just so many variables..and if they`re using Magnesium Chloride that could very well be a whole `nother situation entirely. Guess I just keep at this with you since we`re dealing with the same geographic/weather area and I can`t help but think there`s some Magic Solution that we just haven`t stumbled across yet. I mean..I *never* thought I`d be doing as well as I am with my version of this.

EDIT: The thought does occur that I spend a lot longer with my "Quickie Home Touchless" than many here spend on any conventional washes; it`s not something I expect to do in just an hour start-to-finish, although it`s still many hours quicker than my regular washes. But then, heh heh... it`s sure not getting every square centimeter clean either!