servFaces Wash Concentrate (High-Concentrate) Car Shampoo 10l

servFaces Wash Concentrate gets your paint properly clean without sealing it

What is servFaces Wash Concentrate (High-Concentrate)? A highly concentrated, silicone-free car shampoo for hand washing and car wash systems. servFaces says it boosts gloss and cleans servFaces-coated surfaces gently. Not the right choice if you're after a pH-neutral shampoo or a sealant straight from the wash bucket.

servFaces Wash Concentrate is a car shampoo concentrate from Sigmaringen-based servFaces. Its surfactants pull traffic film off the paint, hold the dirt in suspension in the wash solution and lay down a slick film for your wash mitt to glide on. servFaces says 15 to 20 millilitres is enough for 5 litres of water. Added conditioning agents are designed to boost gloss without cutting cleaning power.

Two groups of surfactants do the heavy lifting. Anionic surfactants, 15 to under 30 percent of the concentrate, detach dirt particles from the surface and build the foam. Non-ionic surfactants, under 5 percent, lower the surface tension so the water can wet and break down even greasy road film. For you, that means the loosened dirt floats in the bucket instead of getting dragged around under your mitt. At pH 8.6 the concentrate sits just above the neutral point of 7, on the slightly alkaline side.

• The dose scales with the bucket. For hand washing, servFaces specifies 15 to 20 millilitres per 5 litres of water. Washing out of a big bucket with 10 litres of water? Then it's 30 to 40 millilitres, or 45 to 60 millilitres for 15 litres. Your wash solution doesn't need a drop more.
• Approved for coated surfaces. servFaces explicitly names gentle cleaning of servFaces-coated surfaces as an intended use. The shampoo is silicone-free, slightly alkaline at pH 8.6, and doesn't lay down a sealant layer of its own on top of the coating.
• By hand or in a car wash. For car wash systems, servFaces specifies a final dilution of 3 to 5 percent, which is 30 to 50 millilitres per litre of ready-mixed wash solution. The list of uses runs from cars, lorries and motorbikes through caravans, buses, vans and boats to trains and trams.

Day-to-day from Detailing1: We see it all the time: concentrate goes into the bucket by eye, as a glug from the bottle or a few capfuls. With a high concentrate like this, you've easily got 40 millilitres in the bucket instead of 20. The foam looks richer, the paint gets no cleaner, and on dark paint the excess stays behind as a haze if you don't rinse thoroughly. Measure the dose with a measuring cup, and mark the 5- and 10-litre lines on your bucket once and for all.

More Wash Concentrate in the bucket won't get your car any cleaner

servFaces Wash Concentrate goes into the bucket at 15 to 20 millilitres per 5 litres of water, gets foamed up and goes on with a wash mitt or sponge.

The heavy dirt has to come off before your mitt ever touches the paint. The fine circular scratches you later spot in the sun as swirls come from sand and road grit under the mitt, not from the shampoo. So give the car a thorough rinse first, or soak the dirt beforehand with a snow foam. Then it's the two-bucket method: one bucket of wash solution, one of clean water to rinse out the mitt. A grit guard at the bottom of the bucket keeps the settled sand where it belongs.

Work from the top down, one panel at a time: roof, glass and bonnet first, rear end and sills last, because that's where most of the dirt sits. Glide the mitt over the paint in straight, overlapping passes. Never let the wash solution dry on; servFaces specifically advises against washing in direct sun. Otherwise the evaporating water leaves surfactant residue and water spots behind, and they're a pain to get off afterwards.

The last step in the servFaces instructions reads “rinse and neutralise”. In real life, that means rinsing with plenty of clean water until there's no wash solution left sitting on the paint. Then dry straight away with a big drying towel that you lay flat and drag rather than rub. With hard water especially, that's what keeps water spots off dark paint.

In Germany, searches for car shampoo fall to less than half between May and December, but the washing doesn't stop in winter. That's when the temperature window matters: servFaces specifies a working range of +5 to +40 °C. Below +5 °C, you're better off waiting for a milder day; in summer, wash in the shade or early in the morning.

Wash Concentrate cleans paint. Sealing isn't its job.

Wash Concentrate is a straight cleaning shampoo, and servFaces itself files it under car shampoos with no sealing effect: it cleans and freshens up the gloss, but it doesn't build a protective layer.

Expecting a pH-neutral shampoo? This one is pH 8.6. Even so, servFaces explicitly approves it for its own coatings. With coatings from other brands, follow their care instructions. Pure carnauba wax is more delicate: slightly alkaline wash solutions can wear a wax layer down faster than neutral ones. If you want your wax to go the distance, reach for a pH-neutral car shampoo. If your paint is coated or you simply want a thorough wash, Wash Concentrate fits the bill.

On top of that, there are two limits you won't find on the datasheet. First, matte paint and matte wrap: a shampoo that servFaces says boosts gloss is the wrong match for a finish that's meant to stay matte, and servFaces doesn't list any approval for matte paint. Second, the foam lance: in creator videos, the concentrate also goes on as a pre-wash foam, dosed by the capful. servFaces gives no mixing ratio for that, so for a touchless pre-wash, a dedicated snow foam is still the better bet.

When you're dosing, keep in mind that the undiluted concentrate carries the signal word Danger: it irritates the skin and can cause serious eye damage. That's why goggles and gloves are part of the job whenever you measure it out or decant it from the canister. We couldn't find an independent test of this shampoo in our research. The figures here come from the datasheet and the servFaces website, the hands-on tips from our day-to-day customer advice.

One litre of Wash Concentrate fills 50 buckets

At 15 to 20 millilitres per 5 litres of water, one litre of Wash Concentrate makes 50 to 66 buckets, and the 10-litre canister around 500 to 660.

That puts the cost per 5-litre bucket at roughly €0.27 to €0.36 from the bottle (1000 ml / 1 litre) and €0.19 to €0.25 from the canister (10 litres). Wash Concentrate is for you if you wash by hand regularly, your paint is coated, or you just want a shampoo that cleans. If you look after several vehicles, run a fleet or valet cars, the canister works out cheaper.

It's a weaker fit if you want to top up protection every time you wash; that's what sealant shampoos are for. Same story if you only run wax and want to squeeze every last bit of durability out of it, or if you mostly pre-wash with a foam lance. In those cases, you'll need a second product or a different shampoo.

According to servFaces, the concentrate keeps for at least 12 months in its tightly closed original container. Store it at +10 to +25 °C, out of the sun and away from frost. Decant a working amount from the canister into a smaller bottle, so the rest stays closed and cool.

Dosing is still the step that matters most. Older figures of up to 30 millilitres per 5 litres are still doing the rounds online for Wash Concentrate; servFaces now specifies 15 to 20. Stick to 20 millilitres and one litre gets you 50 buckets instead of 33. That's 17 more washes, with a third less surfactant going onto your paint.

How to use servFaces Wash Concentrate (High-Concentrate)

From suds to dry paint with 20 millilitres

First, rinse the vehicle thoroughly with clean water or soak the dirt with a snow foam. Sand and road grit need to be off the paint before the mitt touches it, or you'll put fine scratches into the paint as you wash.

Measure the concentrate with a measuring cup: 15 to 20 ml per 5 litres of water, 30 to 40 ml per 10 litres. Pour it into the wash bucket and whip it into suds with a strong jet of water. Wear goggles and gloves while measuring and decanting. Fill the second bucket with clean water for rinsing the mitt.

Wash with a wash mitt or sponge from top to bottom, panel by panel, in straight lines. Rinse the mitt in the clean water after every panel before it goes back into the wash solution. Save the rear and the sills for last; that's where most of the dirt sits.

Rinse each panel with plenty of clean water until there's no wash solution left on the paint, and don't let anything dry on. Then dry straight away with a large drying towel that you lay flat and pull across the paint.

Good to know: Wash Concentrate cleans; it doesn't lay down a sealant. At pH 8.6 it's slightly alkaline: it's approved for servFaces coatings, a pH-neutral shampoo is the gentler choice for pure carnauba wax, and servFaces doesn't list an approval for matte paint. servFaces gives no mixing ratio for the foam lance. Use it at +5 to +40 °C, not in direct sunlight. Store the concentrate at +10 to +25 °C, protected from sun and frost; in its tightly closed original container, it keeps for at least 12 months.