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— Guide

What a wash
actually costs.

Worked out from our own dilutions and our own prices, per bottle and per size. Shampoo starts at 60p a wash. These are product costs; delivery, water and equipment are not in them.

Measured products, per wash or coat

Product One wash uses 500ml bottle 1L bottle
ZEST Sprayer at 1:9, one litre of mix100ml £2.00 a wash5 washes £1.50 a wash10 washes
FOAM Foam lance at 1:9, one litre bottle100ml £2.00 a wash5 washes £1.50 a wash10 washes
SUDZ One ten litre bucket40ml 80p a wash12 washes 60p a wash25 washes
RIMZ Wheels at 1:10, one litre of mix91ml £2.18 a wash5 washes £1.55 a wash10 washes
SKIN Maintenance, 100ml per 900ml of water100ml £2.20 a wash5 washes £1.60 a wash10 washes
ARMOUR Neat, 20ml per m² over about 10m²200ml £5.60 per coat2 coats £3.60 per coat5 coats

Worked on a litre of mixed solution, which is a full foam lance bottle. ARMOUR assumes roughly ten square metres of body panels; shampoo assumes one ten litre bucket, and a big estate will use a bit more of everything. SLICK, PURE and TOUCH are applied by light sprays and wiping, so no fixed per-car dose is assumed for them here.

A sealant is not a wash

Cost per wash is the right way to think about shampoo, foam and a pre wash. You use them and they go down the drain.

A sealant is different. ARMOUR looks like the dearest thing on the table, and it is costed per application: £3.60 per 200ml application from a 1L bottle. One coat is rated up to six months, so that is around 67p a month for the paint to stay protected and the water to keep beading. How long it actually lasts depends on where the car lives and how it is washed in between.

Three small things

  • Measuring makes the biggest difference. A quick squeeze into the lance is easy to overdo, and that is usually where a bottle goes.
  • Product into water, not the other way round. It mixes evenly and foams far less in the bucket.
  • Save the citrus for the grubby ones. On a lightly dusty car you can go straight to foam.

Choose a routine, then total the doses

Using 1L bottles, the maintenance doses above for ZEST, FOAM, SUDZ and RIMZ total about £5.15 in products. This assumes one litre of each mixed pre-wash, foam and wheel solution, plus one ten litre shampoo bucket.

A shampoo bucket alone uses 60p of SUDZ from a 1L bottle at the 40ml dose. Choose the wash stages needed for the dirt on the car. Winter road film or heavier contamination may require a stronger labelled dilution or more solution, which increases the cost.

Working out the order rather than the outlay? The full wash, step by step runs through where each of these goes.

Need the measure rather than the money? The dilution guide has a calculator and every ratio in the range. Picking up more than two or three bottles? Have a look at the kits.