Motorhome Parts and Accessories

Product review: Muc-Off Caravan & Motorhome Cleaner

Muc-Off Caravan & Motorhome CleanerDisclosure: I received a free sample from Muc Off for this review. I did not receive any payment and was not required to write a positive review.

The arrival of spring often seems to trigger a round of cleaning — and whether your motorhome has been in storage or on the road over the winter, it’s probably sporting some combination of drainage stains, black streaks, traffic film, moss and rust! I know mine is — or at least it was, until I belatedly treated it to a ‘Muc-Off’ spring clean yesterday.

Muc-Off may not be a name you are as familiar with as stalwarts like Turtle Wax or Autoglym, but this British firm — which has its roots in bicycle cleaning products — makes some very fine products.

I have previously reviewed Muc-Off products for my motoring website and was very impressed, but I hadn’t tried the firm’s Caravan & Motorhome Cleaner before, so was interested to see whether it could do anything to help my somewhat careworn Transit campervan.

What is it?

Muc-Off Caravan & Motorhome Cleaner seems to work like a traditional traffic film remover, but like all Muc-Off products, is more eco-friendly — it’s fully biodegradable and alkaline based — and pleasant to use than many of its competitors.

I tend to use products like this as a pre-wash, as they need to be properly rinsed off after use (this isn’t a waterless wash product).

The general idea is that you spray it on the afflicted area, leave it to work for a couple of minutes, then rub it off with a microfibre cloth or sponge, leaving mark-free paintwork behind.

Muc-Off Caravan & Motorhome Cleaner before and after
Muc-Off Caravan & Motorhome Cleaner effortlessly removed black streaks like this while also coping well with more demanding rust marks and oily diesel soot spots.

The Muc-Off Caravan & Motorhome Cleaner worked well and readily removed rust streaks, soot/diesel fume marks, black drainage streaks and tar spots, most of which would have been left behind by a standard ‘shampoo and rinse’ wash.

Muc-Off removes diesel soot spots
Muc-Off effortlessly removed the diesel soot spots that cover my van’s tailgate.

The product comes in a generous 1 litre spray bottle with an adjustable nozzle, so is easy and quick to apply, and is ready to use — no dilution required, although concentrated refills are available to save money and wasted packaging.

I was particularly impressed by its ability to remove rust streaks — in the photo below, my winter’s neglect meant that the rust streaks extended down by a couple of inches from the rust patch — but these came off without any problem with a quick squirt of Caravan & Motorhome Cleaner:

Muc-Off removes rust streaks
Before cleaning with Muc-Off, the rust streaks extended down by a couple inches below the line of rust.

What next?

Muc-Off also includes some other goodies in the box they sent me (it was a free review sample), including my all-time favourite shampoo, Muc-Off Ubershine. Although it’s bright pink and apple-scented, Ubershine packs a serious cleaning punch, and leaves a pleasant shine behind after washing.

As a result, once I’d finished with the Caravan & Motorhome Cleaner, I washed the van as usual with the Ubershine before finishing off the job with a quick coat of Split-Second Detailer Wax, Muc-Off’s easy-to-use and effective spray-on polish (click here for my previous reviews of Ubershine and Split-Second Detailer Wax. I’ve also reviewed the firm’s Nano Tech Wheel Cleaner here.)

Would I buy it?

Muc-Off was good enough to provide a range of products free of charge for me to review on this website, but I would (and have) purchased their products with my own money.

Mind you, I don’t do it very often, because the firm’s favoured one-litre spray bottle size is large enough to keep most people going for quite a while, unless you are a very regular cleaner indeed!

Price-wise, Muc-Off Caravan & Motorhome Cleaner costs £8.50 per 1l bottle, which compares favourably to Autoglym’s Caravan & Motorhome Cleaner, which costs around £10.95 for the same size bottle.

Overall — a good product.

Disclosure: Muc-Off provided me with review samples for this article, but the opinion is all my own, based on my experience of using the products on my own vehicles.