HotLap

There is an incredible amount of misinformation on the internet about chemistry and detailing products. Regardless of what uneducated blogs about pH and car washing tell you, the science is more complicated. The way in which a lower or higher pH is achieved in water matters. Certain chemicals you will find in high pH pre-rinses and cleaners for detailing are actually caustic, meaning they harm materials like plastic and bare metal. There are many popular wheel and tire formulas out there that we would never use on our vehicles. Those chemicals are not included in HotLap. This is a carefully curated and advanced formula that will not hurt your vehicle, especially when used properly. Follow our dilution guide and read the FAQ!

You may notice the incredible versatility of HotLap, this is because it started life as an alkaline APC. Then it was heavily modified to be able to tackle wheels and tires, without being caustic or harmful to other components or bare metals. As well as having elements that can remove stains without pulling colors from fabric. This is truly peak detailing chemistry here. There's really no need to tweak this and dilute it just to sell you a repackaged product with a different use case, like a lot of other brands do. You can dilute it and do that yourself at home.

No! HotLap is a non-caustic high pH cleaner that is buffered to prevent reactions with any paint, coatings, films, or components on your car. With that said, you should never let any soap dry on your paint for too long, especially in the hot sun. So either wash in a cool shady or overcast location, or if you don't have that luxury on wash day, just move quickly. If you are seeing the soap dry, just re-spray it with soap and rinse immediately to avoid having to buff out dried soap stains. If you see soap residue, this is NOT PERMANENT. Just spray and wipe with more soap to remove, or in the case of wax damage, level out with Step 2.

The only use case we don't recommend for this cleaner is on traditional wax jobs and leather/alcantara. This cleaner is safe on all other surfaces, even your interior. It just needs to be diluted. As for with traditional wax jobs, it will break down wax. This will cause a 'streaking' effect sometimes, and the leftover wax needs to be re-leveled or removed with more soap and contact. Even Step 2 can help with this as it will help add back and level leftover wax.

Our goal was to get as close to having a touchless wash soap as possible, and this is as close as it gets. Our pressure washing soap is made to remove as much dirt and grime as possible in one formula. A perfect touchless soap is still a myth for now, since you can't remove every type of film with one stable chemical mixture (watch our videos). This is why we made Step 2, to finish the job with the lower pH cleaning power that dissolves minerals (and is still safe in every situation).

We highly recommend pressure washing. Watch our tutorials to see our process. But this soap will work as good as any for bucket washing, we just don't prefer that method. Please wear gloves when touching wash chemicals with your hands. You can also try a spray cannon for a regular hose. They don't foam well, and they use up soap much faster, but they still get the job done with HotLap.

The ideal pressure washer is one that has higher GPM (gallons per minute) flow. This means it pushes more water. And generally, you want to stay below 1500 or so PSI (which most budget pressure washers won't even reach even if they say they do). Full transparency, we've had similar results with testing lower GPM units and varying pressure. The difference is marginal. Most theories around detailing are just theories and rarely affect the actual outcomes, which is a clean car.

When it comes to foam cannons, the most important aspect (other than basic foaming capability) is build quality. As long as the cannon gets the foam on your paint, we're not super concerned with slight variation in that respect. Even though ours foams as well as the best out there. And as long as the soap formula does its job (like HotLap), the foam cannon is just a necessary middle man. EVEN foam density isn't all that important when it comes to cleaning power, as long as it sticks to the paint. You just need the foam cannon to last, and you don't need to overpay for spray. Our Foam Cannon is built with budget and quality in mind, and will yield the same outcome as the most expensive foam cannons on the market, without breaking the bank in the name of overhyping foam.