PH Balanced Shampoo ??

[addysdaddy]

Is there a significant advantage to using a PH balanced shampoo? I've been moving away shampoo products that add gloss or whatever since I add my own gloss with waxes or sealants whenever necessary. I know I want my car shampoo to clean and have lubricity to help prevent scratching but I would prefer to leave the "other" ingredients out. Just clean the paint and I'll do the rest. Can anyone clarify?

[WRAPT C5Z06]

Use chemical guys matte shampoo. pH balanced, zero gloss enhancers or wax, excellent lubricity and cleans well.


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[FUNX650]

I could be wrong...But I think that the Wax/Gloss-components of car/wash shampoos have very little, if any, bearing on their pH values.

As an aside:
I have always preferred car-wash shampoos that do not contain any "gloss factors".

Bob

[fly07sti]

CarPro Reset has been working well for me lately. Bought it to use on a couple of customers coated cars, then tried it on my Tundra which has Colli 915 as LSP and it performed great.

[RobertJ34]

http://www.autogeek.net/mothers-prof...auto-wash.html

this doesn't say anything about gloss enhancers etc. in the description, maybe try this? and maybe look into a bit more around the internet to see if it has those things added but just doesn't say it in the description.

[silverfox]

Ph balanced is another term for mild soap. Anything harsher will really upset the waxaholics.

[swanicyouth]

My guess is "pH balanced" is mostly marketing hoopla like it is for OTC pharmaceuticals. Basically, your diluting a few ounces of shampoo in like a gazillion ounces of water. So, unless your dumping like some type of strong acid in the bucket - my guess the pH is not affected much by what soap you use.

[PiPUK]

What do you guys think that pH balanced means?! I am pretty sure you don't mean 'balanced' - I have products where I specifically adjust (balance) the pH to around pH 12. I have products which are buffered to specific pH levels... but this is not what you guys are talking about. So why on earth don't detailers say what they mean - pH neutral?!

Swanicyouth is bang on though. Unless a product is specifically buffered (which is rare - Ive never seen a detailing brand make this claim), the pH will drop approximately 1 point for every 10 times dilution. So if you dilute 100:1, it will drop by 2 pH points. So pH 9 would theoretically be almost 7 (assuming your water is pH 7). pH 10 would go to about pH 8 and so on. A car wash shampoo (hand wash product) should really not be higher than this because it would be too aggressive for skin contact. So, for a high dilution shampoo, anything from about pH 4 to 10 is going to be neutral by the time you dilute it.

Another note for you is that a genuinely pH neutral product is likely more neutral than your water supply. I cannot be sure about the US, but in the UK, our water is predominantly closer to 8 than it is to 7. So your wash solution is going to tend towards the pH of your water supply, i.e. closer to 8 than 7 much of the time.

Basically, pH fear is ridiculous most of the time. If you are using a product neat, it matters more but the difference between pH 6 and 8 is pretty much zero in performance terms to you. Even going from 5 to 9 is making so little difference as to be indistinguishable to you. I would be inclined to redefine pH for detailers - less than 1 is strongly acid, 1-4 mildly acidic, 4-9 mostly neutral, 9-12 mildly alkaline and greater than 12 strongly alkaline.

[Bunky]

Basically, pH fear is ridiculous most of the time. If you are using a product neat, it matters more but the difference between pH 6 and 8 is pretty much zero in performance terms to you. Even going from 5 to 9 is making so little difference as to be indistinguishable to you.

This is what I have seen debated. Some will says most car soaps even used concentrated on paint will not significantly affect the LSP yet others (one company in particularly) will say if you use their soaps concentrated (1 oz per gallon rather than 1 oz per 4 gallons) will strip (that word again) the LSP.

When I use a dish detergent like Dawn with undiluted I get more cleaning (dissolving power) but never feel like my hands were stripped drip caused by very strong and yet I see reports how powerful Dawn is. I just need to find some experiment to make my own conclusion.

[mwoolfso]

Is there a significant advantage to using a PH balanced shampoo?

pH Balanced = "I won't strip your LSP as long as you use me in accordance with my maker's directions"