Koch-Chemie Autoshampoo "As" Car Shampoo 1000ml

Weekly hand washing with no wax or sealant loss, thanks to Koch-Chemie Autoshampoo

What is Koch-Chemie Autoshampoo "As"? A mildly alkaline shampoo (pH 9) for hand washing and gantry car washes, built on an anionic-nonionic surfactant blend. It's phosphate- and NTA-free, gives you around eight washes from a single litre, and looks after your wax and sealants while it does. Not meant for the first wash of heavily oiled shop vehicles, and safe on fresh ceramic coatings only when you dilute it 1:15.

Koch-Chemie Autoshampoo "As" is a mildly alkaline car shampoo from Unna with a pH of 9. Its mix of anionic and nonionic surfactants emulsifies dirt without going after the wax or sealant film already on the paint. The formula is completely free of phosphates and NTA and is cleared for biological greywater treatment plants, which is exactly why you'll find it in hobby wash bays as well as in larger gantry washes and tunnel washes.

The pH 9 profile is the core design trade-off: strong enough to break down baked-on road film and pollen, mild enough to keep your typical carnauba waxes and paint sealants alive through a normal wash season. That balance is what sets As apart from the harsher pre-cleaner and from the gentler Ceramic Effect shampoo in the same range.

• 1 litre = about 8 washes. At the standard hand-wash dilution of 1:15 (about 65 ml of As in 10 litres of bucket water), a 1-litre bottle covers roughly eight mid-size cars, so you're under a euro of product per car. If you've got two cars on the go, the 2x 1L set works out cheaper; shops and detailers running three washes a week should grab the 10-litre canister.
• Easy on wax and sealant when you watch the dwell time. At pH 9, As won't strip carnauba waxes or paint sealants as long as the foam sits on the paint for under two minutes and gets rinsed off with clean water. Lay it on too strong, let it dwell, and you risk eating into the protection layer by layer. Dilution and a steady rinse rhythm aren't a suggestion here, they're the deal.
• Free of phosphates, NTA and solvents. The formula is tuned for biological greywater treatment and causes no headaches for commercial washes with water-recycling stages. For a wash at home it means the run-off heading into the drain won't overload a treatment plant, a real plus over the cheaper supermarket shampoos.

Day-to-day from Detailing1: The biggest difference in your end result isn't the shampoo brand, it's the water temperature and how long the foam sits. Lukewarm water (25-30 °C) cuts through dirt noticeably faster than cold, and the foam should sit on a panel for 60 to 90 seconds at most before you rinse. Work in full sun and let the foam dry on, and you'll pull water spots and streaks onto the paint, which happens with any shampoo, not just As. Order of play: roof first, bonnet second, rear third, sides last, so no panel dries off before the rinse.

1:5, 1:10 or 1:15, the dilution decides foam and cleaning power

With Koch-Chemie Autoshampoo "As", the dilution ratio controls foam volume, cleaning power and how kind it is to the paint, all at once. Stick to the same concentration every time and you either leave cleaning power on the table or burn through product.

The standard hand-wash dilution is 1:15, about 65 ml of As in 10 litres of bucket water, which gives you a medium-creamy foam that clings well on vertical panels and rinses off clean with no residue. For dirtier cars after a long motorway run or van use, step up to 1:10 (around 100 ml in 10 litres); for cars parked outside all the time with baked-on pollen and bird mess, go to 1:5 (200 ml in 10 litres). Going stronger than 1:5 brings no measurable cleaning gain, just wastes product and raises the risk that the surfactant load starts going after your sealant.

For foam cannons on a pressure washer (snow-foam lance, foam lance), As only works up to a point, the foam structure is built for bucket washing, not for sticky pre-foam. If you work with a foam cannon, you'll get on far better with Gentle Snow Foam "Gsf" or the classic Pre-Foam efficient "Pfe" from the same house. As stays the bucket shampoo for the two-bucket method with a wash mitt and grit guard.

Coatings, the shop first wash and bugs, when As isn't the right call

Koch-Chemie Autoshampoo "As" covers the middle of the dirt range for well-kept private cars; it was never meant as a universal do-everything cleaner. Three cases where another product does the job better.

On fresh ceramic coatings (under six months old), run As only at the weakest 1:15 dilution and keep the dwell time under 60 seconds. If you want to keep a new coating alive long-term, reach instead for Reactivation Shampoo "Rs" or Ceramic Effect Shampoo "Ces" from the same house, both pH-neutral and both re-activating the coating's hydrophobic layer on every wash. With yearly top-ups, the Reactivation line gives you five to seven months more beading than a plain As workflow.

For the first wash of shop vehicles with a baked-on crust of oil and brake dust, As is too mild. Here you lay the Vorreiniger B "Vb" on the paint first as a pre-wash, let it dwell for two minutes and rinse, then As takes over the actual care wash. Skip the pre-wash and go straight in with As on grossly dirty paint, and you'll drag fine grit across the clear coat under pressure with the wash mitt, leaving swirl marks that later only come out with the polisher.

For heavily caked-on bugs on the front bumper and windscreen, As again won't do what a dedicated pre-treatment does. The Insect & Dirt Remover "Idr" or a pre-foam with bug-dissolving action goes on the critical spots for two minutes, softens the protein structure of the bugs, and only then comes the wash with As. Three extra minutes save you scrubbing with the wash mitt, which risks paint damage.

As, Rs or Ces, the range decision

Koch-Chemie has three closely related options in its shampoo range, each fitting differently depending on paint status and wash frequency.

The classic As is the right pick for non-coated paint and for cars with carnauba wax or polymer sealant protection that doesn't have to be reactivated on every wash. If the car gets washed one to four times a month, the paint is looked after normally but not ceramic-sealed, and there's no pricey coating-maintenance workflow running, As is the most economical and chemically sensible standard.

The Reactivation Shampoo "Rs" steps in where a ceramic coating is under 18 months old and you want to reactivate it on every wash. Rs has a pH-neutral character and contains polymers that bond to the coating's SiO₂ structure and rebuild the hydrophobic beading. For a plain wash with no coating involved, Rs makes no sense, the extra cost per litre only pays off when a coating actually exists.

The Ceramic Effect Shampoo "Ces" is the premium option with an extra SiO₂ boost; it brings a mini coating refresh to every wash and suits cars with no permanent coating that should still show hydrophobic behaviour between detailing sessions. If you get a professional sealant done every four to six months, Ces carries you past the Reactivation level in between, without laying down a coating of your own.

Rule of thumb for the buying call: As for uncoated paint and solid upkeep, Rs for existing coatings under 18 months, Ces for premium care without a coating. A 1-litre bottle of As lasts about eight to ten months on one car a month; the 10-litre container is built for detailers and multi-car households running two or more washes a week. The whole Autoshampoo range at Detailing1 carries all three variants, and the choice follows the paint status, not the price tag.