What is Snow Foam? A Detailed Guide for 2024
When it comes to detailing your own car snow foam has been a big hit. The product has built up a lot of traction in recent years and is becoming increasingly popular.
You’ll often see pictures on their sites or social media of a vehicle being covered in a thick layer of what looks remarkably like snow; hence the name.
However, it’s not as easy to use as most people tend to think. Unfortunately it can’t just be sprayed onto the paintwork, washed off, and then voila. As with all detailing techniques it requires a little more work, and no doubt skill and practice.
But does it actually do any good? Or does it just look pretty?
In this guide to snow foam for beginners, you’ll understand:
What is Snow Foam?
Why do I need to “pre-wash” my car?
How does it work and how do I use it?
Do I really need Snow Foam?
What snow foam do you recommend?
Conclusion
What is Snow Foam?
Snow foam is a pre-wash that helps remove dirt and grime from your vehicles paintwork. You simply use Snow Foam to soften all the grime leaving it ready for a more effective wash.
It’s sort of a foundation product used to ensure no damage is carried out when you’re detailing your car.
One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to not pre-wash your vehicle before commencing a detail process.
The product, as mentioned above; will leave a think snow-like layer over your vehicle.
Why do I need to “pre-wash” my car?
Pre-washing will effectively soften any dirt and grime on your vehicle and any other damaging particles, such as bugs or bird droppings. It’s a crucial step to the process and is often missed by many, causing you to potentially scratch your paintwork as soon as you touch it!
It will also help stop swirl marks and water spots when the wash is being carried out.
How does it work and how do I use it?
To use Snow Foam effectively you will need a specially designed lance with an adapter for your pressure washer.
The thickness of the layer can be adjusted depending on your requirements, you can do this by simply adjusting your water to Snow Foam ratio or by the dial on your lance. Nonetheless, the mixture will require you to add snow foam liquid into your bottle and then fill the rest with fresh water.
Common sense should tell you to start from the bottom up, you should be able to cover a whole side in one go if your vehicle is small enough. The bottom areas are generally the dirtiest and often carry the most grime.
Although you can cover a lot of surface area at once time, make sure to pay attention to the gaps in the panels and anywhere where the dirt can get trapped.
Once you’re car is covered in Snow Foam, you’ll want to leave it stand for around 5 minutes, but make sure you don’t leave it in direct sunlight!
After the foam has been left to stand, you’ll want to switch back to your regular adaptor and rinse it off. The wash should take all the dirt and grime with it.
But as we said…this is only a pre-wash and a conventional proper wash should be conducted afterwards – and no, we don’t mean a bucket and sponge!
Now all your grime is power-washed off the paintwork, you should no longer have a problem washing your paintwork in a way that will cover it in swirl marks and scratches.
Finally, rinse your snow foam lance out and keep it clean ready for your next wash, or in our case, our next customer!
Do I really need Snow Foam?
If your serious about your paintwork then yes you do. If you take into consideration everything we have talked about so far, not using Snow Foam greatly increases your chances of scratching your paintwork by rubbing around dirt and contaminants.
Your vehicle can take a lot of abuse over the years especially if you’re prone to putting your foot down on the odd occasion. It will get knocked by all sorts of residues and grit, and a normal wash just won’t do the trick.
The key of using this product is to reduce the risk of damage and keep marks and scuffs to a minimum.
It’s best to conduct a thorough pre-wash before you start on any detailing process to make your life easier.
We can’t forget that snow foaming your car is also pretty fun! It’s an incredibly satisfying product to use and you’ll no doubt find it therapeutic to wash off.
If you do plan on using Snow Foam however, please note that we definitely don’t recommend using it on soft tops! Don’t worry if you splash a little, but don’t go spraying it directly onto it now will you.
What snow foam do you recommend?
When you’re looking for detailing products it is important to take into account the pH levels. The pH is simply how we measure how alkaline or acidic something is, being measured on a scale of 0-14 – 0 being the most acidic.
You have to find the balance of what is needed for your particular detail. By no means are alkaline products a no go, but it is worth reading up on it first.
pH neutral Snow Foam will be much gentler on your paintwork, on the contrary, alkaline products will provide a deeper clean and likely remove more dirt, but are generally considered more harmful for your cars paintwork.
The Snow Foam that we use at our studio; Duel Autocare - Assult (Pre wash snowfaom) or Engage (PH neutral snowfoam)
Conclusion
All in all, Snow Foam is a great product to use, especially if your car is covered in grime. If you use it correctly and master those ratios, you’ll make giving it a proper wash a lot easier with much finer results.