March 19th, 2021 by Sarah Miles

Snow foam is a great product for anyone who loves a beautiful, gleaming car. Used as a pre-wash, it gets to work on stubborn dirt before shampooing the car which not only saves you some work in making the washing process easier but will give you a fantastic finish.

Here are 5 top tips to really get the most from snow foam when cleaning your car:

Buy the right snow foam lance for the snow foam product you are using

Snow foam needs to be applied with a pressure washer and requires a special lance. The lance is important because it agitates the snow foam liquid, mixing it with water, and creates the thick foam that you need. Buying the same brand lance and snow foam means that they are designed to be used together and will give you optimum results.

Homefront Cherry Snow Foam 5L

Price: £17.95

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Only apply to dry surfaces

While it may seem like logical sense to give your car a rinse off with water, to get some of the muck off before you start, this won’t help you. In fact, it will hinder you. That’s because snow foam works by clinging to the surface of the car. This increases contact time and allows it to break down the dirt. Applying to a wet surface will not only dilute it but will stop it from clinging and, therefore, just slide right off without having any effect on the dirt at all.

Pay attention to the weather

The ideal time to apply snow foam is in warm, slightly humid weather. You can use it in other weather conditions but there are a couple of things to bear in mind. Firstly, if it has been raining that day, make sure the car is fully dry first before applying (see item 2). Secondly, don’t use it in very hot weather. We know it can be really enjoyable to wash your car on a hot summer’s day but if the car itself is too hot, it will cause the bubbles in the snow foam to burst and this will hamper its ability to cling, creating the same issue as a wet surface.

Spray bottom-up, rinse top-down

The bottom of the car will be the dirtiest, being closest to the road. Start here when applying the snow foam to allow it to have maximum contact time. When rinsing off, start from the top and work your way down. This is simply a case of working with gravity: if you rinse from the bottom, you will only wash dirty snow foam from the top over areas you have already rinsed off. It’s just common sense really.

Homefront Strawberry Snow Foam 5L

Price: £20.95

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Experiment with your mix

As we’ve already stated, snow foam needs to be diluted with water, but the exact ratio can vary. This will depend on how hard your water is (hard water makes it more difficult to agitate a thick foam), the nozzle settings you’re using, and even the temperature on the day. Use a starting point of 3:1 water to snow foam mix and make adjustments in water and pressure applied until it’s producing a nice, thick foam. Regularly descaling your pressure washer will also help, especially if you live in a hard water area, and position your pressure washer as close to the water source as you can to maximise the pressure.