Snow foaming your car may sound fancy and exotic if you’ve never done it before, but it’s a simple but effective way to upgrade how you wash your car. A good snow foam will give you noticeable results and dislodge embedded debris and contaminants from your car.
And like pretty much everything on sale from shampoo to engine oil, they’re all basically the same at first glance. However, if you actually begin to look at snow foams in detail, you’ll quickly find that they’re very different.
That’s why we’ve assembled two leading snow foams to see how different the results can be should you want to add some snow foam to your car washing arsenal.
Enter the contenders
Bilt Hamber Auto Foam
Price: £25.99 | VIEW OFFER
Up first, hailing from Essex is Bilt Hamber Auto Foam. A premium water-based snow foam that is entirely biodegradable and should be an effective option for dislodging dirt from even the muckiest of cars. It claims to be harmless to paint and wax.
Car Gods Arctic Storm Super Thick Snow Foam
Price: £9.99 | VIEW OFFER
And in the orange corner, we have Car Gods 54 Arctic Storm. Also designed to remove contaminants while not damaging paintwork or sealants, this sounds like it’ll be just like the Bilt Hamber option.
How we tested them
We used a Worx Hydroshot Brushless pressure washer to test both snow foams, using the same foam lancet in the same weather conditions (pleasant and dry). To see how powerful it was at dislodging dirt we didn’t add any more cleaning products afterwards. We also used the foam on the same car (a grubby Volvo XC40).
The main things we looked for included how thick the foam was, how well it clung to the bodywork and how good it was at dislodging dirt. We also looked for smaller things like how easy it was to pour and dilute and how it smelt, but these are lesser considerations in the grand scheme.
The Bilt Hamber Auto Foam was supplied in a 5-litre bottle while the Car Gods 54 Arctic Storm came in a smaller 500ml bottle (a 5-litre option is available).
The review
©PHOTO: ADAM BINNIE/PARKERS
Up first is the foam from Car Gods 54. The small bottle size made it incredibly easy to pour into the lance and the orange scent from it was a pleasant surprise. It smelt like an expensive oil a spa would sell, much nicer than the chemical scent a lot of car cleaning products give off.
Diluting the product caused the first of many problems. It may have been the shape of the lance bottle but whenever water was added, it immediately foamed up.
So, armed with less snow foam solution than desired, I set about dousing the car in foam. And I’ll be honest, the coverage wasn’t the best. Sure the product did largely stick to the car but you can see from the images above that the foam wasn’t particularly thick.
And once I’d given the car a full coating and let it settle, it washed off alarmingly quick. And while it did remove a good amount of contaminants and leave behind a nice orange scent, it didn’t transform how the car looked.
©PHOTO: ADAM BINNIE/PARKERS
Almost the polar (sorry) opposite of the Car Gods option, the Bilt Hamber was a total pain to pour (a funnel would have solved this) but once there was enough in the lance bottle, it was outstanding. It diluted well for a start and didn’t foam up in the actual bottle.
Spraying it on the car delivered a thick, clingy coat that stuck in place. The Bilt Hamber also presented its clinging abilities when it came to washing the product off the car. It stubbornly put up a fight against the best a pressure washer could shoot at it, with small pockets of foam remaining after a prolonged blast of water.
While this was slightly annoying to deal with, it did show how good the product was. It removed pretty much all the contaminants and left behind a nice apple scent too.
The Verdict
Bilt Hamber Auto Foam
Our top choice
Price: £25.99 | VIEW OFFER
The top dog when it comes to snow foam, this Auto Foam was excellent at clinging to paintwork and helped dislodge embedded mud and contaminants. While it was harder to pour than the other option, a funnel would solve that small irritant.
Car Gods Arctic Storm Super Thick Snow Foam
The runner up
Price: £9.99 | VIEW OFFER
A decent effort from Car Gods 54, we were impressed with its scent but the foam wasn’t as good as the option from Bilt Hamber. It wasn’t bad but was a lot thinner and couldn’t cling on as well.
Snow foam FAQ:
What does snow foam do?
Snow foam is a pre-wash substance that helps dislodge stubborn dirt so the shampoo can finish the job properly. A good snow foam will create a thick layer of foam that’ll stick to your car’s paintwork and lift larger pieces of dirt before you go mad with the cart shampoo.
It’s also worth mentioning that no matter how good the snow foam is, you’ll need to shampoo your car after for the best results.
How to use snow foam:
Before you begin your snow foam journey, you’ll need the following equipment:
1. Some snow foam
2. A pressure washer
3. A snow foam lance that fits your pressure washer properly
4. A funnel (trust us, it’ll save a lot of time and mess)
5. A source of water (for diluting the foam and rinsing your car)
6. Something to snow foam (we recommend a car****)
The first thing you need to do is ensure that your car isn’t in direct sunlight as this will reduce the effectiveness of the snow foam. Then you need to dilute the snow foam with water and add it to the snow foam lance.
After this, it’s simply a case of covering your car in foam. Make sure that everything is coated and leave it a couple of minutes (usually about 10 minutes). Once this time has passed it’s simply a case of washing the foam away with the pressure washer and moving onto the shampooing process.
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Just so you know, whilst we may receive a commission or other compensation from the links on this website, we never allow this to influence product selections – read why you should trust usThe best quick detailers for keeping your car clean between washes
