While there are plenty of car cleaning products and tools to choose from, your results will often only be as good as the products you’re using – and how you use them.
To help you get that perfect finish, we’ve teamed up with Autoglym to walk you through our top tips for gleaming results every time.
Best car shampoo for your exterior
When choosing a car shampoo, you’ll need to decide between high foaming or low foaming formulas. Both have their own benefits, and the choice is down to personal preference, but they each bring different qualities.
High foaming shampoos are the more traditional car shampoos we’re all familiar with – when mixed with water in a bucket, it’ll foam up. The foam helps your wash mitt to glide over the surface of your vehicle, helping to make your movements smooth.
Low foaming shampoos have two key benefits. They can have a sheeting effect, meaning the shampoo & water will sheet off the surface to make drying quicker & easier. Plus, some low foaming shampoos will also add a layer of protection, topping up existing waxes or sealants to keep your car & paintwork in better condition.
High foaming shampoo
Autoglym has two great options for high foaming shampoos: the Foaming Car Wash and the Ultra High Definition Shampoo.
Foaming Car Wash is a classic car shampoo formula which brings lots of foam with minimal product. That means you get great value for money, and a 1l bottle can do up to 50 washes.
Ultra-High-Definition Shampoo is a premium high foaming shampoo which not only creates lots of foam for extra slick movement but also has boosted cleaning power and a luxurious fragrance to leave your car with a great end result.
Low foaming shampoo
Autoglym also has two variants of low foaming car washes. There’s the classic Bodywork Shampoo & Conditioner. This dual-action shampoo both cleans and adds a water-repellent finish, so the water sheets off the car to make drying quicker & easier after your wash.
If you’re looking for a ceramic car shampoo, Autoglym’s Ceramic Wash & Protect is perfect. This 3-in-1 car wash cuts through grime, repels water for faster drying, and adds a layer of protection, topping up existing waxes and sealants or adding a thin new layer to your paintwork. This gives you a beautiful high gloss finish. And thanks to the concentrated formula, you’ll get great value for money with up to 33 washes in every 1l bottle.
Our top shampooing tips
Alongside the right products, there are best practices in physically cleaning your car too. Check out our top tips for best results:
Rinse your car first: Wetting your paintwork with a hose or pressure washer before you start (or even prewashing with an All-Purpose Cleaner) helps to remove any large contaminants before your contact wash.
This reduces the chance of any damage to your paintwork – a large contaminant like a stone could get caught in your sponge or wash mitt, causing small scratches as you clean. Rinsing first clears away these larger objects to keep your paintwork intact.
Check the forecast: We also recommend not washing your car when it’s too hot. If it’s too hot, the shampoo can dry up quickly and leave marks on your paintwork.
If your paintwork is hot to the touch, we recommend waiting until it cools down. If you do clean in the heat, make sure you wash, rinse & dry your car in parts to avoid any marks.
Car shampoo accessories
For even better results, you can use Autoglym’s specially developed accessories, designed as the perfect partner to their shampoos.
Use the bucket and grid guard to capture large contaminants in the water, specially developed microfibre wash mitts to break down grime, and unique drying towels with super absorbency to make drying your car quick & easy.
