Best Car Wash Soap for Pressure Washers

If you are like me you must be obsessed with having a sparkling clean vehicle. You always carefully gaze at it to make sure there is no dirt or marks anywhere. You always want it to have that unfading shininess.

Having an impeccably clean vehicle does not come easy and you need to invest some money and time to make sure you have all the right products and tools to get things done.

Our team and I have tested the entire top performing car washing soaps and have compiled that work in an easy to follow guide for you.

You should already have a Form cannon and pressure washer before getting any soap otherwise you can’t get any washing going on. Please see our guide on soap cannons and pressure washers if you need to purchase them.

Why you should be cleaning your car on your own?

Car washing shops are likely than not to use more affordable but lower quality soaps that may wear the color of your car over time. They focus only on speed and cost. If you clean your car you save a lot of money you would have otherwise given to a car wash. Since it’s your car you are going to be extra careful and pay minute attention to having spotless detail. You will also not use any cheap aggressive non biodegrade soaps like some car wash use.

Best Performing Car Was Soap for Pressure Washers

1. Mothers 05674 California Gold Carnauba Wash & Wax, 64 oz

Mothers 05674 California Gold Carnauba Wash & Wax, 64 oz.

California based Mothers is a renowned chemical manufacturer.

Mothers California Gold Carnauba car cleaning agent is both a Wash and Wax product.
It has a very impressive reputation is arguably the best car wash soap brand with excellent user reviews.

We have tried and used this product thousands of washes and it has not stopped to impress our team.

This soap is quite thick. If you run it through your fingers you can feel its slime consistency. It’s this thickness that allows for that nice super preserving perfect shinny wax ‘look ‘and texture.

Unlike the older generation hazardous soaps that needed you to buy waxing products, Mother is an all-in-one car washing soap that cleans or removes grime and dirt and also shines and protects your car with a stunning wax finish.

To get the best results you should be using Mothers regularly to maintain and boost your existing shine. It won’t work very well if you sporadically use it and let your car paint stay with road grime and dirt for extended periods. When grime and dirt are allowed to firmly stick and interact with your car paint it can be difficult to remove it. And restoring a perfect wax is almost impossible in such careless cases. Otherwise, used regularly this brand will remove and liquefy stubborn grime and dirt on your car surface.

There is an urgent need to switch to environmentally friendly right away. Whatever products you use should not be harmful to the environment. Mother’s wash and wax is totally biodegraded and will be broken down more substrates that microbes can actually extract energy from.

This car wash soap is also pH Balanced. This means that it has a neutral pH is 7 and won’t leave the surface either basic or acidic. Acidic or basic cheap washing chemical strips the surface of your car leaving it very reactive to dirt and grime so be very careful never to use such products on your car.

Whether used in a bucket or soap cannon it produces excellent suds. Its super sudsy foam washes away and suspends any stubborn dirt and road grime attached to your paint.

It produces stunning results for all color types if you do not let grime adhere to the surface for extended times. We have used it on difficult to maintain red and black car paint. Its heavy super forming formula can clean, protect, and wax to shine any color you want.

Although it can work with a bucket, we advise against using buckets due to increase water loss. A soap cannon and pressure washer significantly reduce the amount of water used. A water crisis is imminent and we need to converse this precious resource. It works very well with a soap cannon and forms super suds that will wash away dirt. The lubricating form leaves a smooth surface free of any scratches or swirl marks.

We were very impressed with the performance of this product and we can really appreciate the users in the review sections on amazon that have highly rated this product. This is definitely one of the best car soaps on the market.

Although not necessary we can use it with your favorite polish as this soap can work with any polish as long as you regularly wash and wax it.

Remember that this soap needs rinsing and you need to have access to water to get a smooth clean finish. And you should immediately rinse after your suds have run their course. If you let the soap dry before your rinse or if you do a poor rinsing job then your car will have wax residues and won’t have the perfect finish. If you notice that you did not rinse properly and some dry soap wax appears on the surface you need to rewash otherwise your wax won have a glossy stunning look.

If your car needs a flat non-glossy finish then before you wash your whole car with this soap try it on a small test area and see if it changes your flat look. For specialty finish paints you need to always run a small test pain actually. In most such cases this soap can work. But we recommend washing only soaps without wax in general for cars that require a flat finish.

Mothers wash and wax is not only good for the body but also does an excellent job when washing and cleaning your rims and wheels and inside the wheel. You need to use a separate microfiber cleaning cloth so that you don’t transfer the dirt to your car body as the wheels normally have tough road grime.

Pros

• Results are a spot-free brilliantly shining finish
• Good lubrication

Cons

2. Adam’s Car Shampoo Gallon

Adam’s Car Shampoo Gallon

Adam’s car shampoo is a Wildberry scented car washing soap. The brand is named after its founder Adam Pitale, who for decades has dedicated his life to t perfect the art of detailing. Since 2000, Adam’s company has been at the forefront of research in developing cutting edge car cleaning solutions. This is a premium car soap developed to you a stunningly beautiful finish. The soap is made using a special secret blend of polymers, acrylics, and waxes.

The soap is designed to be used in all car washing situations. You use it with a bucket, foam gun, or soap cannon.

The soap is highly concentrated allowing it to produce extraordinarily thick suds that will dissolve and suspend any hard grime and dirt. The secret to any great soap is super suds that are produced. They allow for scrub free cleaning. And because it’s concentrated Adam’s car shampoo uses very little soap to produce a copious amount of suds. The suds are powerful enough to wash off dirt and grime on the wheels and rim too. By using a separate sponge for your wheels you prevent dirt from reaching and scratching your car’s body paint.

The shampoo has a neutral Ph of 7. A Neutral Ph does not remove your wax or react with the surfaces of ceramic coating. It preserves your shine and protects your car from reacting with acidic or basic compounds in the environment that can affect your wax finish.

Most cheap car soaps tend to wear your surface but Adam’s shampoo is safe to be used even on plastic and rubber parts without any risk of damage. You can also safely apply the soap on your headlights and aluminum surfaces. If your car works well with a matte finish Adam’s shampoo won’t change your flat finish.

The shampoo works better in full sun conditions and will not make any swirl marks as long as you properly rinse off the soap with ample water preferably from a pressure washer. The soap won’t need any cleaning clothes and it will comfortably dry up just with the sun. And if there is no sunlight or you are indoors no need to worry the shampoo will work just as fine.

It is powerful enough to penetrate and suspend all your dirt in the foam but gentle enough to not strip away your wax.

It’s advised you use Adam’s shampoo for your routine maintenance and as regularly as possible. Giving your car frequent wash and wax preserves and boost your car to a nice perfect wax. It’s also a great product to use if you want to use a polish after because it will thoroughly clean the surface in preparation for polishing.
Compared other Adam’s car wash soap, the shampoo has a high foam capacity second only to Adam’s Mega Foam Shampoo.

Pros

• Excellent online reviews
• Nice Wildberry Scent

Cons

• Works better with other Adam’s cleaning accessories for waxing and polishing for that super perfect finish.

3. Chemical Guys CWS_301_16 Citrus Wash and Gloss Concentrated Car Wash (16 oz)

Chemical Guys CWS_301_16 Citrus Car Wash (16 oz)

Chemical guys is a citrus-based premium wash and gloss car soap. It gives one of the smoothest results that outperform most other waxes.

The soap is super hyper-concentrated and needs to be diluted. You need one cap for every five-gallon of water enough for a single perfect wash.

It’s an excellent soap to use when you trying to prepare your car for paintwork needs a super clean surface before you can do your paint job. It’s also very good at enhancing your gloss and giving your existing wax a more stunning look.

All new generation car washing soaps are biodegradable and if it’s not you must not be buying it. The citrus chemical guy is very environmentally and will biodegrade totally without leaving hazardous solvents.

The dilution ratio for this soap is 1 to 4000 parts of water. This car wash soap is considered one of the most concentrated soaps in the industry. This super concentration allows the soap to produce a lot of foam and snow like suds.

Chemical guy soap combines the natural power of citrus extracts that also give the soap a very nice fragrance. Citrus extracts are also very powerful at dissolving tough organic and inorganic debris that may stain your car. It will deal with dirt, grease, and grime on your car body and wheels.

Having a scratch-free shine and a swirl-free dazzling wax depends on massive suds formation. The chemical guy suds are formulated to totally engulf every part of your car making sure all the dirt is suspended in the foam for a stunning shiny look after rinse.

The suds penetrate and dissolve all the dirt and grime that may come your way. Your soap works perfectly well with a foam gun or soap cannon. Using a bucket is okay of you don’t have a gun or cannon but we strongly recommend that you use either a gun or cannon. That way you will produce an ultra-thick form that sinks to sweep out dirt in all the otherwise unreachable places.

As with other car soaps, using them regularly is required to maintain a constant perfect gloss.

The soap has a special gloss enhancing formula that coats the surface of the paintwork giving it a more stunning look. With consistency, it can restore your original shiny look. You can use this soap on wheels, glass, metal, paint, and most rubber and plastic.

Cons

• Does not affect old waxes and you need to get a strip wash in that case.

What to Consider when Buying the Best Car Wash Soap for Pressure Washers

pH balanced

pH measures the acidity and alkalinity of solutions. A neutral pH is 7. When it comes to soap ad shampoos for cars it’s very important not to use the ones that are not pH balanced. Acidic or basic solvents strip away your wax and may damage your paintwork. They also leave the car relatively charged and this can attract more dirt to stick to the surface. Make sure you are using a pH balanced soap that will protect your car.

Super suds

The other important factor to look at when buying car soap is its foaming ability, what we call suds.

Foam capacity is very essential to the cleaning process and is responsible for actually dissolving away the stubborn dirt. This is your hands-free scrub and the technology behind car cleaning. The more suds you have the better you’re cleaning results. In general, using a cannon or foam gun will always give you more suds than just using a simple bucket.

Biodegradable

The 21st century will be dominated by a move towards sustainability and environmental protection. We all are reconsidering how we can be more careful in preventing ecological disasters. Car washing is a routine task that produces copious amounts of waste solvents. To prevent a buildup of toxic solvent we need to push for the use of biodegradable products that actually end up in the food chain of microbes providing energy.

Brand

Obviously, you should only risk your hand earned car with soaps from the most trusted brands. There are lots of cheap brands out there and you are going to cry if you want to play it cheap. Our articles will guide you on what we tested ourselves on our own vehicles so that you are spared the trouble.

Price vs. quantity

You do not want a soap that is not value for the quantity. You need to wash your car weekly and you don’t want to break your bank just keeping that perfect wax. You need to get a soap that is both affordable and comes in good volume for multiple washes and waxes.

Specialty finishing

Please pay close attention to the paint finish of your car and color as well. Some finishes are non-glossy and can be altered by waxes. Carefully read your soap properties to see if it works for both gloss and non-gloss finishes.

FAQs

1. Why you should not use a conventional bucket but purchase a soap cannon and pressure washer?

Water is a very precious resource and we all need to make sure we don’t waste it.
Using a bucket to wash your car is the least efficient way to do so and uses waste much more water than is necessary. You should always use a pressure washer. It saves more water and does a far better job of cleaning your car.

2. I have a specialty finish or flat finish how can I be sure this soap won’t spoil it?

I always encourage that you test your new soap on a very small spot of your car and see if it performs well. Only if you are satisfied should you then wash your all car body. A Very small patch will do on the part not too prominent.

Conclusion

Getting car soap is very tricky for beginners and those switching to new brands. There a lot of products out there and some of them may even damage your paint job. You need to be very careful what product you pick and always start with a small test area where you not sure.

We believe our list has the best products on the market and we regularly use and test new products to see which ones are worth your money.

Please read through each of our picks and see which one works for your situation.