Overview – Citrus PRE Wash

ValetPRO Citrus Pre Wash is a powerful yet paint-safe pre-wash cleaner designed to remove traffic film, bug splats, and road grime before your contact wash. By clearing away the abrasive dirt that causes scratches and swirls, it helps maintain brighter, glossier paintwork and a swirl-free finish.

• REMOVES ABRASIVE GRIME FROM YOUR PAINT SURFACE PRIOR TO CONTACT WASH
• REMOVES BUG SPLATS
• PLEASANT CITRUS SMELL
• MILD CLEANER SO IT CAN BE USED REGULARLY WITHOUT FEAR OF DEGRADING YOUR PAINT WORK
• WILL NOT REMOVE SEALANT, CERAMIC COATINGS, WAXES OR EVEN THE PROTECTION LEFT FROM OUR CERAMIC SHAMPOO

Citrus Pre Wash is the ideal first step in your car wash routine. Citrus PRE Wash Car Cleaner delivers excellent grime penetration to loosen dirt, traffic film and contaminants from the lower panels of your vehicle. This allows the use of a pressure washer to rinse away the abrasive grime without contact.

Apply via pump sprayer on door seals, valances, wheels and wheel arches. The formula is designed to preserve existing protection, including waxes, sealants and ceramic coatings.

Directions:

1. Dilute 1:4 for heavily soiled vehicles or 1:8 for lightly soiled vehicles.

2. Spray all the lower panels of the vehicle, wheels and inside the wheel arches.

3. Leave to dwell but not dry out. Generally the time it takes you to spray the lower areas of the car your be ready to rinse off with a pressure washer. 

4. Starting from the bottom, rinse off with a pressure washer.

Customer review on Detailing World – Citrus PRE Wash Review 

ValetPRO Blog on why Pre Wash Matters – PRE Wash Blog

The Joy of Detailing:

We all love a clean car. Some of us like our car to be pristine.  Citrus PRE Wash is the first stage of a good quality cleaning process.  Being able to remove the built up sticky abrasive grime this easily while knowing the paint surface is in good hands with a mild cleaner. Makes cleaning your car a real joy.  When you get to the contact wash it far easier for your wash mitt to glide over the paint surface removing the last of the grime. Use our Ceramic Shampoo and your add a protective layer that will make future cleans easier plus it will give gloss and depth to the paint surface.  A great combination if your love your car and enjoy the process of detailing.

Why Citrus PRE Wash

ValetPRO was the first to introduce a Citrus PRE Wash. At the time of its release, all other products on the market were high-alkaline TFRs. TFR stands for Traffic Film Remover. High-alkaline TFRs were powerful cleaners, but they would strip the sealants and waxes commonly used at the time.

Many of these TFRs were also damaging with long-term use because they were originally designed for car dealers to perform a one-time clean to prep a vehicle for the forecourt. They were powerful, quick, and effective, but they did not consider the long-term degradation of the paintwork. Over time, these highly corrosive products could damage the gloss and brightness of the paint surface.

ValetPRO saw an opportunity to create a gentle, alkaline cleaner based on citrus oil, which provided excellent degreasing properties and the ability to remove general grime. This made it safe for regular use without damaging the paint surface. Since then, almost every brand now offers a Citrus PRE Wash. However, these products are not all the same. Some companies have simply rebranded TFRs as PRE Wash and added a citrus fragrance.

It’s worth checking the MSDS to see the pH of these products—anything over pH 10.5 is quite aggressive, and many are in the 13–14 pH range.

The world of detailing has changed a lot since the original concept of Citrus PRE Wash. We now have ceramic coatings, which are highly resistant to high-pH products. They can still degrade over time, but not as quickly as waxes or sealants. At ValetPRO, we believe that our original concept—a product designed to safely clean the surface it’s applied to, and suitable for regular use—is still important. There are only rare occasions when stronger products are needed.

Finally, if your car has suffered discoloration on piano black plastics, chrome trim, polycarbonate headlamps, or other sensitive surfaces, take a careful look at the snow foams and PRE washes you’ve been using. You’ll likely find they are high-alkaline and corrosive products.

If you love your car maybe it’s time to make the switch to ValetPRO.