Wash-and-Coat Shampoos Compared: Revìtax, SONAX, MIRCH and Bilt Hamber

By Paolo Recinella, BSc, DipEd · trains and accredits Labocosmetica and Feynlab coating applicators · Alpha Details, Heidelberg West, Melbourne

A wash-and-coat shampoo cleans the car and leaves a thin layer of protection behind in the same bucket. On a coated car it tops the coating up between proper maintenance. On an uncoated car it is the easiest protection you will ever apply. What it is not is a coating: the layer is thin, and every maker who publishes a lifespan measures it in weeks or months, not years.

We stock five shampoos that coat as they wash, plus MIRCH Kraken, which is often shelved with them but is really a foam-on sealant for after the wash. Here is how they compare on the makers' own figures. Where a maker does not publish a number, we say so.

Revìtax: pH 7, VDA-certified siloxane wash.

SONAX Xtreme Wash+Seal: the value bucket.

Bilt Hamber Touch-On: lance, bucket or spray.

How a shampoo leaves protection behind

A normal shampoo is surfactant and water: it lifts dirt and rinses away completely. A wash-and-coat shampoo also carries something designed to stay. In most of these it is a silicon-based polymer, a siloxane or SiO₂-type resin, that is dissolved in the wash solution and lays down on the paint as the water leaves. In Phoenix Rain it is a wax. Either way the layer is hydrophobic, so water beads and sheets off and dirt has less to grip.

Two things follow from that. First, the protection builds where the solution touches, so rinsing and drying technique matters: let it dry in patches and it can streak, which is why Labocosmetica and Bilt Hamber both warn against letting the car dry on its own. Second, it adds rather than restores. If a coating has stopped beading because it is buried under minerals, coating it again just buries it deeper. Clear the minerals with an acid shampoo first, then top up. That order is the logic of the 3-pH wash system.

The six, on the makers' numbers

Labocosmetica Revìtax

Labocosmetica describe Revìtax as a pH 7 shampoo carrying a mixture of solubilised siloxanes that adhere to the bodywork, VDA-certified, with beading and sheeting up to four months. On an uncoated car they say it gives gloss and protection equal to a nano-sealant; on a coated car, it extends the life of the coating. The dilutions are specific: 1:100 on an unprotected car, up to 1:150 for coating maintenance, 1:10 in a foam gun. Maximum protection takes eight hours. Labocosmetica say it does not interfere with glass coatings and leaves no halos. Their caution is the important one: no hot surfaces, and in warm weather wash and rinse the car in two or three sections, because the sealant can act too fast. It layers with Benefìcia and Cupìdo.

SONAX Xtreme Wash+Seal

SONAX's directions are half a dosing cap, about 25 ml, in 10 litres of warm water, which makes it the cheapest bucket here. SONAX describe a long-lasting water- and dirt-repellent finish with shine and protection "for up to 20 vehicle washes", and say it suits long-term sealed cars to freshen the water repellency. SONAX do not publish a foam cannon dilution or a coating type.

MIRCH Siren's Breath

Melbourne-made SiO₂ shampoo, formerly sold as Ceramic Wash. MIRCH say it is safe over any existing protection and quote up to two months of durability. Their dose is 50 to 100 ml in 10 to 15 litres for a two-bucket wash. MIRCH do not publish a pH or a foam cannon dilution.

Bilt Hamber Touch-On

Bilt Hamber call Touch-On a durable hydrophobic ceramic paint protection treatment, and designed it to follow Touch-Less in a touchless routine. It is the most flexible here: 30 ml topped up to 300 ml in a lance reservoir and rinsed straight away, 30 to 60 ml in 10 litres of warm water in a bucket, or 30 ml in a litre of demineralised water in a trigger spray, panel by panel. Bilt Hamber say it is not a high-foaming bucket wash, the car must be cool and out of direct sun, and it must not air dry. They do not publish a durability figure.

MIRCH Phoenix Rain

The wax option, formerly Gloss Wash. MIRCH describe a pH-neutral, biodegradable shampoo that leaves a fine layer of wax with each wash and does not interfere with coatings, sealants or waxes already on the car. About 30 ml in 10 to 15 litres, bucket only.

MIRCH Kraken, the one that isn't a shampoo

Kraken is worth a separate note because of how it is often shelved. MIRCH's directions are to wash and rinse the car first, then foam Kraken on at 1:10, leave it 30 to 60 seconds without letting it dry, and rinse at high pressure. It is a foam-on SiO₂ sealant built on the same resin as MIRCH's KING, with "weeks to months" of protection. Use it after any shampoo, not instead of one.

What a bucket costs

Revìtax costs the most per bucket and claims the most: the only VDA certification and the longest published durability. Used every few washes as Labocosmetica's own maintenance cycle suggests, rather than every wash, the cost evens out.

Which one should you buy?

Safety, from the data sheets

These are washed off diluted, but the concentrates still carry eye warnings. SONAX's Australian safety data sheet for Wash+Seal and Bilt Hamber's 2023 safety data sheet for Touch-On both carry the signal word Danger with H318, causes serious eye damage. Labocosmetica list H319, causes serious eye irritation, for Revìtax. MIRCH publish no safety data sheets for Siren's Breath, Phoenix Rain or Kraken. Wear eye protection when you dose the bucket.