The Ceramic Wash System: the owner's guide
The kit arrives with everything the wash needs and nothing it does not. This is the short version of the owner's guide — enough to do the first wash properly. The full manual has the dose table, kit care, storage and troubleshooting, and it prints.
In the box
Pre-Wash Snow Foam (500ml), Ceramic Snow Foam (500ml), two Foam Cannons and the Wash Mitt. Two cannons, because both foams stay loaded — you move from the pre-wash to the ceramic foam without stopping to rinse a bottle out and re-dilute.
Before you start
Both foams are concentrate. Each cannon has an integrated measuring jug: 50ml of product, topped up with up to two litres of water, shaken. That covers one average car for one stage, and it is ten washes from every bottle. Pump the cannon until the handle firms up — that is the pressure that makes the foam.
Work in the shade where you can, and never on hot panels or in direct sun — the foam dries before it has finished the job. If the car is caked in dry mud, rinse the worst of it off first.
The four steps
1. Pre-wash. Cover the whole car and leave it three to five minutes. The dense foam clings to the panel and breaks down road grime and traffic film without any scrubbing.
2. Rinse. Top to bottom, thoroughly. Everything the pre-wash loosened is carried away before anything touches the paint. This is the step people skip, and it is the one that makes the rest safe.
3. Ceramic Snow Foam and the mitt. Second cannon. Cover the car again, let it dwell, then wash through the foam with the dampened Wash Mitt, top to bottom. The foam lubricates; the mitt carries the soap reserve; dirt lifts off rather than being dragged across the paint. Rinse, and the ceramic layer stays behind.
4. Dry. The 1200gsm twisted-microfibre towel pulls water up like a magnet. Edgeless, so nothing hard touches the paint on the final pass.
About half an hour, from a garden tap.
When the mitt is optional
If it has been rained on, use the mitt. Rain carries road film onto the paint, and film has to be lifted — rinsing alone will not shift it. The one case where the foams alone are enough is a light dusting after a week of dry summer driving. Then you can run steps one, two and three without the mitt, rinse, and dry.
Either way you get the full ceramic layer. The protection comes from the foam, not from the contact. A lighter wash cleans less; it protects exactly the same.
Looking after the kit
Rinse the cannons through with clean water after every use — dried product in the pump is the single most common reason a cannon stops foaming. Machine wash the mitt and the towel at 30 degrees with no fabric softener; softener coats the fibres and kills the soap reserve. Air dry. And if the mitt hits the ground, rinse it properly before it goes anywhere near the paint again.
Running low
Both bottles deplete together, at about ten washes each. The Wash Refill is the two foams on their own, with free delivery.