Bilt Hamber Auto Wash Car Shampoo Review
For those of my readers who may not be familiar with the Bilt Hamber brand ( Although I suspect most of you will already heard of them), They are an Essex, United Kingdom-based manufacturer of high-end automotive detailing products. They manufacture and sell their products with resellers throughout Europe.
Bilt Hamber has built up quite a name for itself in the detailing industry and have many award-winning products on the market. I recently tested their “Auto Wheel” product and was blown away by just how good it was ( You can read about that here )
The current shampoo that I had been using up until now was Angel Wax Angel Wash. This had run out and needed to pick up a new bottle of something.
This time around I decided to go for Bilt Hamber Auto Wash, as I have heard many good things about this product from others , and wanted to put it to the test myself on my TT and write a little review on it here.
What is Bilt Hamber Auto Wash?
According to Bilt Hamber themselves :
“Auto-wash is a new technology, highly powerful, environmentally friendly car shampoo, formulated to allow you to effortlessly and effectively clean your paintwork before waxing.
Auto-wash is anti-corrosive and suitable for bare steel too, ideal for owners of older vehicles that may have stone chips or exposed areas of mild steel. This is also an advantage in modern cars where the entrapment of corrosive elements carried by some detergents in folded seams accelerates the corrosion of modern vehicles”
Bilt Hamber Auto Wash Initial Impressions
One of the first things I noticed about the auto wash bottle was its size ( Just 300ml! ) To me this seems extremely small as I am used to getting bottles in 500ml at the very minimum.
However, one of the main attributes of Bilt Hamber auto wash is its concentration. This is a HIGHLY concentrated shampoo in which you are only instructed to use about 5ml in the entire bucket of water. ( Yes you read that correctly )
Just to put that in perspective, 5ml is a teaspoon of the product.
In theory, you should be able to get 60 car washes from this small bottle alone, which is very impressive if the product is indeed effective at that dilution.
Let’s see!
Bilt Hamber Auto Wash – How to Use
Auto-wash is a highly concentrated car shampoo, just a 5ml spoonful (1 teaspoon to a 10-litre bucket) is the recommended amount. The measured amount should be emptied into a clean bucket before adding the warm water thus generating a thick lather for paintwork cleaning.
To ensure that I was testing the product as it was intended to be used, I got out my teaspoon!
This seemed like a very small amount of product to be used in a big bucket, but I persevered anyway to see how it would perform. Upon adding the warm water to the bucket, I was pleasantly surprised that the product did produce some suds – which I was not expecting.
Now it was time to put it to the real test.
Bilt Hamber Auto Wash Review
Admittedly those initial suds in the bucket did die down fairly quickly as I began to work my way around the car. One common misconception when it comes to car shampoo products is that the more suds that are produced the better the product.
This is actually not the case. When you are picking a car shampoo you should be more concerned with the “Slickness” of the product as you move it over the car’s paintwork ( and of course the cleaning power )
So this lack of suds did not really concern me.
I did find the slickness of Bilt Hamber to be fairly decent, especially considering the exceptionally small amount of product used in the wash bucket.
The product moved over the paintwork with ease, exactly what I want from a shampoo. ( A slick shampoo will have less drag of the mitt on the paintwork and is important to minimize wash induced swirls or scratches in the paint finish )
The cleaning power of the shampoo was also quite impressive. Admittedly the car was not in the worst state possible before washing, but it did have a light buildup of dust etc, which was removed with ease.
It does seem like it could be quite effective against more stubborn dirt too ( and have read many other reviews claiming that ), and I will be looking forward to testing soon.
Overall the car was left looking pretty damn good and streak-free, and I was pleased with the results.
Bilt Hamber Auto Wash Summary – Worth it?
As an everyday wash product, it is very hard to fault this offering by Bilt Hamber. The sheer value for money and the amount of washes you can achieve out of this small bottle is quite an achievement.
Sure there are more sophisticated shampoo’s out there that will add some protection to the paintwork ( Gyeon Bathe + being a prime example ) but these come at a much higher price.
I was quite impressed with it and will be looking forward to putting it to the test against some tougher dirt build-up.
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Price 9/10
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Suds 6/10
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Cleaning Power 8/10
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Slickness 7/10
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Overall Score 8/10
Bilt Hamber Auto Wash – Where to Buy?
If you want to try Bilt Hamber Auto Wash- please consider purchasing it through my Amazon Link HERE
This helps me keep this blog up and running.
If you have tried this shampoo by Bilt Hamber already, I would be interested in hearing your opinions on it, so please feel free to leave a comment below.
Until Next Time,
Happy Detailing!
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About the Author – Darren O Hara
Darren is the founder of the DriveDetailed blog and is a keen detailing enthusiast living in the rainy south of Ireland. When he is not cleaning his car he is always researching ways he can improve his techniques and enjoys testing out new products.
Darren currently drives an Audi TTRS and is a big fan of performance cars.
You can follow Darren on Instagram @darrenoharacork
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