Bilt Hamber

Alpha Details is an authorised Bilt Hamber stockist in Melbourne, carrying the full range and shipping Australia-wide. Outside the importer, this is the most extensive Bilt Hamber range in the country — including the Deox, Atom-Mac and Dynax rust-proofing line that most Australian stockists leave out. Everything above is in stock in Heidelberg West and dispatched same or next business day, with free shipping over A$95 (A$200 for WA, TAS and NT).

Not sure which Bilt Hamber product does which job? Our Bilt Hamber guide sets out what each product is, what Bilt Hamber says it does, what its safety data sheet declares, and where our own practice differs.

New: The Complete Bilt Hamber Guide — every Bilt Hamber dilution in millilitres, Panel Impact Ratio explained, and a dose calculator.

Where to start with Bilt Hamber

If you want the best pre-wash chemistry available. Touch-Less is the one to buy, and it is Bilt Hamber's best seller for good reason: alkyl polyglucoside surfactants derived from glucose, corrosion inhibitors built in, no caustic, no phosphates, and no solvents. If your car is genuinely filthy or neglected, step up to Auto-Foam at pH 13 instead.

If you only buy one bottle. Surfex-HD. It works from 1:200 for interiors right through to neat for engine bays — a genuine 200-fold dilution range, held together by an HEDP chelant that keeps it performing in hard water. A 5L makes 500 litres of light-duty solution.

If you're decontaminating paint. Korrosol first, then Auto-Clay. Korrosol chelates the embedded iron chemically so your clay bar isn't dragging ferrous particles across your clear coat — and Auto-Clay is the only clay bar we know of that needs nothing but tap water as lubricant, because it contains no surfactants, detergents or soaps at all.

If you're fighting rust. This is where Bilt Hamber are untouchable, and where almost nobody in Australia stocks them properly. Deox-C is a crystalline 100% active bath — 1kg makes 20 litres — that strips corrosion without attacking sound steel. Deox-Gel does the same job on anything too big to submerge. Atom-Mac stops the flash rust afterwards, protecting steel it never physically touches. Then Dynax S50 into the cavities, Dynax UB on the underbody, and Dynax UC anywhere the finish needs to stay visible. The full group also sits in our rust proofing and underbody collection.

If you want carnauba done properly. All three Bilt Hamber waxes are built on T1 carnauba — the top Brazilian grade, "Prime Yellow," maximum 0.2% ash and a minimum 83°C melting point. Finis-Wax is the hard film with no plasticising oils and a longevity guarantee. Double Speed-Wax is the medium-hard, award-winning all-rounder that Bilt Hamber say survives around 60 washes with Auto-Foam. Hydra-Wax is the liquid, and the only wax in the range with a quantified claim: over 50% T1 carnauba by weight in the dry film.

British laboratory chemistry, stocked in full and used in a Melbourne studio

Bilt Hamber Laboratories is a British manufacturer based in Essex, and it is the most evidence-driven company in car care. Not the loudest and not the best marketed — the one that publishes safety data sheets naming its actives at CAS level, commissions independent university salt-spray testing, and quotes wax durability as a wash count instead of a vague number of months.

That is why we stock them, and why we stock them properly. Alpha Details is run by a chemist, and Bilt Hamber is the brand that gives a chemist something to actually read. Everything on this page comes off a data sheet or the manufacturer's own published material.

Where Bilt Hamber fits in Australia

Bilt Hamber is a British range with an unusually specific centre of gravity: corrosion. The company's roots are in marine and aeronautic corrosion work rather than cosmetics, and it shows in what they build. The rust-proofing line — Deox-C, Deox-Gel, Atom-Mac and the Dynax cavity waxes — has no real equivalent from the Italian, German or Japanese brands we carry, and it is the part of the range Australian stockists most often skip.

Around that sits a compact detailing range that is genuinely competitive on its own terms: a pre-wash pair, a hyper-concentrated shampoo, an iron remover, a wheel cleaner, a clay bar that needs no lubricant, and three carnauba waxes. A couple of dozen working products, no filler, no seasonal releases — and the response since we brought the brand in has been strong enough that we have been restocking rather than clearing.

It is a range for people who read labels. If you want fragrance, colour and theatre, Bilt Hamber will disappoint you on purpose — and we would point you at Labocosmetica instead, which treats the sensory side as part of the product and is rigorous in a different direction. Both positions are defensible; we stock both in full because they are.

Why detailers reach for Bilt Hamber

They tell you what is in the bottle

Korrosol and Auto-Wheel both declare sodium mercaptoacetate — sodium thioglycolate, CAS 367-51-1 — at 15–25% and 10–30% respectively. Atom-Mac declares an amine carboxylate at 20–35% that resolves to morpholinium octanoate, textbook vapour-phase corrosion inhibitor chemistry. Touch-Less declares its alkyl polyglucoside surfactants by CAS number, which means the "sugar-based" claim on the label is literally true rather than a marketing flourish.

They test, and they publish

Dynax S50 was put through a 2000-hour cyclic salt spray test at the University of Hertfordshire, based on ASTM B117-03, at matched film thickness against six competitors including Mike Sanders and Waxoyl. It came first, and the full report is public.

It was commissioned by Bilt Hamber, and the result is for Dynax S50; UB and UC are different products.

They get the pH right for the job

Auto-Wheel is a reactive wheel cleaner at pH 5.5–7.0 — neither acid nor caustic — and it still outperforms products that are both. That is a formulation flex, not a compromise.

At the other end, Auto-Foam's safety data sheet gives a pH of approximately 13.0, level with a professional truck wash, and yet declares no caustic alkali among its ingredients: ethoxylated C9/11 alcohols, dipropylene glycol methyl ether and quaternary ammonium compounds. It is the cleanest demonstration we know of that the number is not the danger — caustic soda is. We wrote that argument out in full in our snow foam pH comparison.

An authorised stockist running the range every week — in a Melbourne studio, not a warehouse

Alpha Details is a working detailing and PPF studio in Heidelberg West, Melbourne, run by Paolo Recinella, who holds a degree in chemistry. Bilt Hamber products go on customers' cars here, which is why the dilution figures and sequencing advice on our listings come from use rather than from a supplier's press pack.

The full Bilt Hamber range in Australia, product by product

Pre-wash

Touch-Less is dosed by Panel Impact Ratio rather than a bottle ratio, which trips people up — we built a calculator and a dosing chart so you can stop guessing. Auto-Foam is the step up for a genuinely filthy or neglected car — pH approximately 13.0 per the SDS, non-caustic, also dosed by panel impact ratio at 1:100 to 5:100.

Shampoo

Auto-Wash is the most concentrated shampoo on our shelf and possibly the most concentrated in Australia: five millilitres — one teaspoon — in a 10 litre bucket, a dilution around 1:2000. A 500 mL bottle delivers roughly a hundred washes. An anionic and amphoteric surfactant pairing, with a published SDS. We put it against every other neutral shampoo we sell, on cost per wash, in our shampoo comparison.

Decontamination

Auto-Clay comes as a 200 g bar in three grades — Soft, Medium and Regular — so you can match the grade to the contamination instead of using one aggression level for everything. Our position on when to clay at all is in the clay bar guide: chemistry first, abrasion last, and only when a polish is booked to follow. Auto-Wheel handles wheels at pH 5.5–7.0, which matters on anodised, painted and diamond-cut faces where acid and caustic wheel cleaners cause the damage people blame on brake dust.

Rust proofing and underbody

Deox-C, Deox-Gel, Atom-Mac and the three Dynax waxes are the part of the range we deliberately carry in full — see "If you're fighting rust" above for the sequence, and the rust proofing and underbody collection for the group on its own.

Bilt Hamber's claims, and the safety data

Every claim on our Bilt Hamber listings is Bilt Hamber's own, and every safety warning comes from their safety data sheets.

So you will see that Korrosol and Auto-Wheel are skin sensitisers, as their SDS states, and that Bilt Hamber describe Touch-On as a durable hydrophobic ceramic paint protection treatment.

Frequently asked questions — Bilt Hamber in Australia

Where can I buy the full Bilt Hamber range in Australia?

Here. Outside the importer, Alpha Details carries the most extensive Bilt Hamber range in the country, including the rust-proofing line that most Australian stockists leave out. We ship Australia-wide from our Melbourne studio, with free shipping over A$95 (A$200 for WA, TAS and NT).

What is the difference between Touch-Less and Auto-Foam?

Touch-Less is the milder one — alkyl polyglucoside surfactants, built for maintained and protected cars. Auto-Foam is the heavy-duty pre-wash at approximately pH 13.0, still non-caustic, for genuinely dirty or neglected vehicles. Both are dosed by Panel Impact Ratio rather than a bottle dilution.

Is Auto-Foam safe on a ceramic coating?

The chemistry decides that, not the pH number. Auto-Foam's SDS declares no caustic alkali, and caustic soda is what degrades coatings and etches aluminium — not alkalinity in itself. Used at the stated panel impact ratio it is coating-safe, and Bilt Hamber claim it will not dull high-gloss finishes even with frequent concentrated use.

Which grade of Auto-Clay should I buy?

Choose the gentlest grade that gets the panel smooth. Soft for light contamination and softer paints, Regular for typical annual decontamination work, Medium in between. And clay only when a machine polish is happening afterwards — claying always marrs to some degree, because it is an abrasive process.

Does Deox-C attack good steel?

Bilt Hamber's position is that it strips corrosion without attacking sound steel, which is what makes an immersion bath practical for restoration parts. What they have never published is the identity of the active — so if you want a mechanism, we cannot give you a sourced one, and neither can the forums.

Is Dynax S50 better than Waxoyl or Mike Sanders?

In the 2000-hour cyclic salt spray test run at the University of Hertfordshire, at matched film thickness against six competitors including both of those, Dynax S50 finished first. The test was commissioned by Bilt Hamber, which you should factor in. It remains the most substantial published comparison in the category.

How much Auto-Wash do I use per bucket?

Five millilitres — one teaspoon — in 10 litres. That is not a typo, and it is why a 500 mL bottle lasts around a hundred washes. Bilt Hamber is one of only two brands we carry that publish a single fixed dose rather than a range.

Do you offer trade pricing on Bilt Hamber?

Yes, on a verified trade account. Apply here — ABN verification takes one to two business days.

Questions about dilution, sequencing or which product actually suits your paint? Ask us. We use this range in the studio, not just on the shelf.