Koch-Chemie Active Foam "Af" Intensive Foam 1000ml

Lifting pollen, salt and Sahara dust off the paint before you ever touch it

What is Koch-Chemie Active Foam Af? A highly concentrated pre-wash foam at pH 9.5, with anionic surfactants and VDA Class A certification — built for pro detailers and rollover car washes, where a thick, sandalwood-scented foam loosens the grime before the microfibre ever touches the paint. Not meant for the weekly maintenance wash over a carnauba wax — that's what the pH-neutral Gentle Snow Foam Gsf is for.

This pre-wash is called Snow Foam because it lays a thick blanket of foam over the car like snow. Koch-Chemie Active Foam "Af" is a pre-wash concentrate out of Unna that works in the foam cannon, in the compressed-air pump sprayer, in the rollover wash and in the bucket. An extremely high share of secondary alkane sulfonates cuts through grease and road grime, sodium laureth sulfate builds the long-clinging foam structure, and a hydrotrope keeps the solution stable in the bottle.

• Thick foam that hangs on. The high SLES share builds a foam that detailers often describe as shaving-cream-like. On a vertical car door, Af clings for up to 5 minutes instead of running straight off — and in that window the surfactants drop the surface tension of the water from around 72 down below 30 mN/m. Translated: the water creeps into every pore of dirt, encapsulates pollen and sand, and you rinse it all off touch-free.
• VDA Class A at 1:100 and 5 minutes. Tested to VDA 621-412 across 24 hours of salt spray and 40 hours of condensation on paint, plastic, rubber, carbon and wheels. What that means for you: at the right dilution, Af won't attack the clear coat, the door rubbers or the black carbon diffuser. The moment you push past those limits, the guarantee is off.
• One litre covers 30 bucket washes or 10 foam-cannon fills. At 1:300 in a hand wash, about 35 ml go into a 10-litre bucket. In the foam cannon you mix roughly 100 ml of concentrate into 900 ml of water. The 10 kg drum works out to over 100 foam-cannon fills on paper — that's the point where you start thinking in litres in the garage instead of in spray bottles.

Detailing1's tip from the shop: We often see people mixing a flat 1:50 in the foam cannon, then wondering why the foam looks thin or why streaks stay on the paint. Here's why: your pressure washer dilutes the mix again at the nozzle — usually by a factor of 15 to 25, depending on flow rate. That's the so-called Panel Impact Ratio, PIR for short. Quick bucket test: spray 1 litre of water through the lance, then measure the total water in the bucket. If 20 litres come out, your machine has a PIR factor of 1:20 — so you only need a pre-dilution of 1:5 in the lance to land the VDA-compliant 1:100 on the paint. And don't work in the sun, don't let it dry on, or even the best maths won't save you.

Foam cannon, pre-diluted 1:10, three minutes' dwell time

The classic application goes like this: car in the shade, paint dry or pre-rinsed, hook the foam cannon up to the pressure washer, pre-dilute the concentrate somewhere between 1:10 (winter, salt, baked-on brake dust) and 1:50 (summer, pollen, city grime) with warm water, and spray bottom to top.

Let it dwell three to five minutes, then start at the top with the pressure washer and work down. Unlike the compressed-air pump sprayer — where the mix in the bottle is exactly the mix that hits the paint — the pressure washer adds water at the nozzle. In the pump sprayer the realistic dilution sits at 1:20 to 1:50, with no PIR effect, and the dwell time should run one to three minutes at most, or the foam dries on. The denser foam from the lance hangs longer, stays wet, and gives you the full five-minute window the VDA defines for Class A.

In the bucket you dose 1:300 — about 35 ml to 10 litres — and work with the microfibre mitt like you would with a regular shampoo. The upside over a classic pH-neutral car shampoo: the alkalinity breaks down baked-on summer grime and pollen film better. The downside: every contact wash with Af strips a little wax. If you're running a sealant, switch the contact phase over to the Koch-Chemie Gentle Snow Foam Gsf, which is certified wax-safe at pH 7.5.

What we see day-to-day: the most common beginner mistake isn't the dilution, it's rinsing from too close. High pressure from 30 to 40 centimetres is plenty — get the nozzle in to 5 centimetres and you mechanically grind pollen and sand into the clear coat instead of washing them away. The foam has done its job; now the water jet should only carry things off.

Carnauba gives way. Ceramic doesn't.

At pH 9.5, Active Foam Af is clearly more alkaline than a classic pH-neutral shampoo, but moderate next to Bilt Hamber Auto-Foam, which runs at pH 13 and tears wax down on contact. On intact ceramic coatings (SiO2, often pH-stable from 2 to 13) Af is harmless — plenty of detailers even reach for it deliberately to lift the traffic film that masks the coating's hydrophobic behaviour over time.

With carnauba waxes it's a different story. A rare, correctly diluted pre-wash inside the VDA window won't strip the wax. But stand at the foam cannon with Af every single week and you'll break down the protective layer measurably faster than with a pH-neutral foam. The day-to-day rule: sealant younger than three months plus a weekly wash, then hands off Af and switch to the Gentle Snow Foam. Sealant refreshed every six months, or a ceramic coating, and Af makes a sensible deep pre-wash between your maintenance washes.

What Af also won't shift: deep-set mineral water spots — for those the acidic Koch-Chemie Reactivation Shampoo Rs is the right call, because it pulls limescale plugs out of the coating's pores. Baked-on bugs are too much for the foam as well. There you grab a dedicated bug remover locally, or the highly alkaline Koch-Chemie all-purpose cleaner from the green line. Active Foam is an excellent pre-cleaner, not a specialist for every kind of dirt.

Detailers, car washes and ambitious home users

Active Foam Af comes out of Koch-Chemie's pro range in Unna, yellow-coded like all the wash-chemistry products and available in pack sizes up to the 210 kg barrel. In rollover washes and self-service bays Af is an industry standard, because the thick foam visually signals a premium wash and the sandalwood scent works as an argument for higher programme prices.

For the home user, Af pays off once the foam cannon is already hanging off a strong enough pressure washer — you have to physically work out the PIR once yourself, because every pump draws differently. The 1-litre bottle is the easy way in for a single car and lasts about three to four months on a fortnightly pre-wash. The 10 kg drum starts to pay from the second car on, or in the detailing hobby, because the per-litre price drops noticeably and you just decant the concentrate into an empty spray bottle.

Detailers and workshops usually reach for the 21 kg or 210 kg pack, because at 3 to 8 millilitres of usage per car in a rollover system the unit cost runs towards nothing. The 210 kg barrel goes out by freight forwarder with us — and yes, Active Foam is phosphate- and NTA-free, so it's cleared for biological greywater treatment plants, which is a must for commercial wash lines on a closed water loop.

If you've moved into a sealant routine and mainly want to hold the hydrophobic effect, switch your maintenance wash to the pH-neutral Gentle Snow Foam and only pull the Active Foam out every few weeks for the deep pre-wash. If you keep an older car clean of everyday grime and have no wax layer to protect, you're better off with Af as your standard pre-cleaner than with any milder foam. In the current spring trend, where pollen and Sahara dust are measurably driving searches for car foam cleaner in the DACH region versus last year, this pre-wash logic matters more than ever.

Maybe the most important Detailing1 note to finish on: the sandalwood scent isn't a marketing gimmick. Highly concentrated anionic surfactants smell sharp and biting on their own — the scent is an odour binder that makes working in enclosed spaces bearable. The fact that customers at wash lines link the smell with cleanliness and premium care and accept higher programme prices is the economic bonus layer on top. For your own garage it mainly means: ventilate well, don't work in a closed hall with no fresh air, and always label the spray bottle with its contents once you've decanted the concentrate from the 10 kg drum.

Hoeveel concentraat hoort er in de schuimkanon?

1:10 bij wintervuil, 1:30 tot 1:50 in de zomer. Belangrijk: je hogedrukreiniger verdunt nogmaals — de echte verdunning op de lak (Panel Impact Ratio) ligt typisch tussen 1:100 en 1:500. Een eenmalige emmertest bepaalt je factor.

Tast Active Foam mijn keramische coating aan?

Nee. Moderne SiO2-coatings zijn chemisch stabiel van pH 2 tot pH 13 — Af met pH 9,5 beschadigt ze niet. Veel detailers gebruiken Af specifiek om verkeersfilm op te lossen die de hydrofobe werking van de coating na verloop van tijd maskeert.

En mijn Carnaubawas?

Een zeldzame VDA-conforme voorwas verwijdert de was niet. Bij wekelijks gebruik breekt Af de laag sneller af dan een pH-neutrale shampoo. Voor het onderhoud wassen op met was gecoate lakken adviseren wij de Gentle Snow Foam Gsf (pH 7,5).

Wat betekent VDA-klasse-A precies?

Active Foam is getest volgens VDA 621-412 op materiaalcompatibiliteit voor lak, kunststof, rubber, carbon en velgen. De toezegging geldt bij maximaal 1:100 concentratie op de lak en maximaal 5 minuten inwerktijd. Bij overdosering of indrogen in de zon vervalt de materiaalgarantie.

Welke beschermingsmiddelen heb ik nodig?

Bij het overgieten uit 21 kg of 210 kg containers: nitril- of butylrubber handschoenen en een goed sluitende veiligheidsbril. Bij normaal gebruik met verdunde oplossing uit een schuimkanon volstaat normale contactbescherming, omdat het concentraat daar al 1:10 of hoger is.

Kan Active Foam in een biologische afvalwaterzuivering?

Ja. Af is fosfaat- en NTA-vrij en doodt de vuilafbrekende bacterieculturen in gesloten watercircuits niet. Daarmee is het goedgekeurd voor moderne industriële wasstraten met waterrecuperatie.

Toepassing Koch-Chemie Active Foam Af

Active Foam is een voorwasconcentraat. Welk gereedschap je gebruikt, bepaalt de verdunning — en die hangt uiteindelijk af van hoe sterk je hogedrukreiniger mengt.

Stap 1: Verdunning kiezen

Schuimkanon 1:10 (winter, zout, aangebrand remstof) tot 1:50 (zomer, pollen, stadsvuil). Drukspuit 1:20 tot 1:50. Handwas 1:300 (35 ml op 10 liter). Wasstraat 3 tot 8 milliliter puur via doseerpomp per auto.

Stap 2: Aanbrengen

Auto in de schaduw, lak droog of voorgespoeld. Schuim van onder naar boven aanbrengen, zodat afloopsporen niet indrogen. Drie tot vijf minuten laten inwerken, bij de drukspuit maximaal één tot drie minuten — anders droogt het schuim in.

Stap 3: Afspoelen

Met hoge druk bovenaan beginnen, naar beneden werken, tot er geen schuim meer afloopt. Daarna contactwassen met microvezelhandschoen en Two-Bucket-methode, indien nodig.

Praktische tip: Bij lakken met waxverzegeling overstappen op de pH-neutrale Gentle Snow Foam Gsf. Active Foam is alkalisch (pH 9,5) en breekt carnauba-waxen bij wekelijks gebruik sneller af dan een neutraal schuim. Op keramische coatings is Af ongevaarlijk, omdat moderne SiO2-verzegelingen chemisch stabiel zijn tot pH 13.