Koch Chemie might not be a high-street name when it comes to car detailing, but this German company has some top-tier products. I put the Koch Chemie Gentle Snow Foam through its paces to see how it stacks up against some of its rivals and whether it’s a snow foam you should consider adding to your collection.
When it comes to car detailing, having a good performing snow foam makes the job a whole lot easier. Let’s take a moment to think about this. Despite using a pressure washer, you won’t be able to tackle the dirtiest areas until you begin your contact wash with shampoo. The issue here is that no matter what wash mitt you use, you’re still making contact with dirt on the car’s paintwork, leaving it vulnerable to paint damage and light scratch marks. The job of the snow foam is to start to lift the dirt from the body so that when you come to use the pressure washer to remove the mixture, the dirt lifts off with it. As a result, there is a lower chance of you damaging the paintwork during the contact wash.
How I Tested Koch Chemie Gentle Snow Foam
Initially, I wanted to see how much dirt was on the vehicle before I used any product. To do this, I used a clean cotton pad and performed a swipe test to gauge the cleanliness. I used the manufacturer’s recommendations when it came to both dilution and dwell time and used a snow foam lance to apply the snow foam. Finally, I rinsed it off and performed another swipe test in the same area to see how much dirt was left.
Koch Chemie Gentle Snow Foam (1-liter) RRP: $30.99, buy now! £17.65, buy now!
First Impressions
Koch Chemie’s no-frills yellow and grey bottles have a sense of Germanic seriousness about them. The smallest size of Gentle Snow Foam you can get your hands on is a hefty 1-liter. Open the bottle, and you’re greeted by a delicious cherry scent that caught me off guard. I was expecting someone far more business-like in scent, like Bilt Hamber’s Touch-Less, so the tasty cherry scent was a welcome surprise.
Koch Chemie Gentle Snow Foam Features
Koch Chemie Gentle Snow Foam is a dual-purpose product that doubles up as a snow foam and shampoo. That’s great if you’re on a budget, as you can potentially just buy one product that does two jobs for you. However, from personal experience, I have found that detailing products that can be used as both pre-wash and shampoo are never that great at both those functions.
Snow foam that cleans properly is pretty aggressive stuff, and you certainly wouldn’t want to be sticking your hands in it while washing your car, so there has to be a compromise somewhere. The fact that this is called Gentle Snow Foam and is a coating-friendly pH-neutral pre-wash meant I immediately wasn’t expecting stellar cleaning performance.
What’s It Like To Use Koch Chemie Gentle Snow Foam?
Koch’s snow foam impressed me with its good levels of foam, and it had an impressively long dwell time. It looked like it would have happily stuck around on the bodywork for a lot longer. However, as I expected, the cleaning performance just wasn’t there. It did remove a bit of dirt from the paint. But this would not be a snow foam I would ever reach for if heavy-duty cleaning was required.
Where it really impressed me, though, was in terms of value for money. You only need 0.7 fl. oz of the snow foam in a 1-liter snow foam lance. At that dilution ratio, you’ll get 50 washes from your 1-liter bottle, and that makes it exceptional value for money.
Koch Chemie Gentle Snow Foam Verdict
While its cleaning performance is only average, you can’t ignore Koch Chemie Gentle Snow Foam’s value for money. Its dual-purpose design is also worthy of note. It’s not a snow foam I’m going to be using personally. However, if you’re on a budget and your car is never that dirty, it’s worth a look.
Koch Chemie Gentle Snow Foam (1-liter) RRP: $30.99, buy now! £17.65, buy now!
