The world of car cleaning has gone scientific. Housed in a slick, laboratory-style bottle, Gtechniq’s GWash is intended to compete with the very best car shampoos on the market. Certainly, it’s more expensive than the common car shampoos from brands such as Meguiar’s, Turtle Wax, and Autoglym. But there are several very good reasons why that is.
GWash is far more concentrated than Meguiar’s Gold Class, for example. The latter gets diluted at a rate of about 25ml per litre of water, but GWash can be diluted at around 1.3ml per litre. Therefore, using a standard 10-litre bucket, you’re only going to need about 13ml, perhaps a little more if the car is very grubby.
Gtechniq’s GWash shampoo is also completely biodegradable and an extremely effective cleaner. Our little Citroen C1 test car (missing the ‘C’ so it’s really a Citroen 1) wore a generous layer of dirt, insects, and other grime. GWash had no problem removing most of it. Only the specks of tar remained. Gtechniq says GWash works by generating a lot of foam, which ‘breaks the bond between the dirt film and your vehicle’s paintwork.’ It’s a fancy way of saying it gets foamy and removes the muck, which it does very well.
Verdict: An effective car shampoo that generates and healthy lather and is fully biodegradable.
Score: 4.5/5
Pros: Very effective, heavily concentrated, biodegradable, pH neutral
Cons: No timeframe given on biodegradability
Specs
Volumes available: 500ml (priced above), 1L, 5L
Biodegradable: Yes
pH neutral: Yes
Fragrance: Cherry
What’s good?
This is a very foamy car shampoo, but there is substance underneath. Irrespective of whether you’ve applied snow foam beforehand or not, GWash gets rid all grime other than the most stubborn tar spots. It’s also reasonably effective for cleaning wheels. However, an iron fallout remover is needed if you want to give the wheels a deep clean.
Being pH neutral is important. It means GWash won’t disturb any protective coatings previously applied. Though, many car shampoos are pH neutral, so this isn’t exactly a USP.
What’s okay?
We don’t think that fragrances are a great idea for car shampoos because scents are subjective. While the GWash’s cherry scent is mild, it might not be to everyone’s preference. That being said, an awful lot of car shampoos contain a fragrance of some kind, so perhaps we’re in the minority on this.
Any negatives?
GWash is classed as biodegradable, but it’s not readily biodegradable. Therefore, you need to be careful with any runoff. You still have to adhere to your local rules about where car shampoo runoff needs to go. Similarly, it can still cause skin and eye irritation, so you need to be careful with application too.
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How we tested Gtechniq GWash
Using a grubby Citroen C1 as a test car, Gtechniq GWash was applied and also compared directly to car shampoos from Autoglym and Autobead. This was to not only get an idea of how GWash performed on its own but also how is performed in comparison to a couple of rival products.