Bowden’s Own — Hilarious product names, serious products

There’s no denying that the Australians come up with some cracker products for our performance, classic, and four-wheel drive vehicles, and there’s now a new kid on the block here in New Zealand, tackling the enthusiast market head-on.

Bowden’s Own is a proudly Australian-made, family-owned car care brand, built from a lifelong passion for motoring. The Bowden family’s connection to cars dates back to 1925, when Frank Bowden helped sell some of the first Australian-built Fords in Queensland. His son, David Bowden, carried the passion forward, spending decades immersed in Australia’s car scene and amassing one of the country’s best-known classic car collections.

Originally created to care for their private collection of race and road cars, the Bowden’s Own range grew into a full car care brand, offering enthusiasts premium Australian-made products. Today, Bowden’s Own remains committed to celebrating Australia's automotive heritage — with a strong focus on quality, family values, and a genuine love for motoring.

A couple of months ago, Bowden’s Own reached out to us to see if we’d like to give their range a test run. And, being that we’re passionate car cleaning enthusiasts, it was a quick YES. A week later, the Off-road adventure  Kit arrived in the mail, and I had no idea that Bowden’s Own’s product range had the most hilarious names I have ever seen.

Snow Job? Little Stiffy? The Chubby? Priceless. I have been sent product by other brands in the past, and as good as their marketing may be, their products don’t live up to the hype. With the Off-road Adventure kit sprawled out over the bonnet, I made a plan of attack on what products I would need to detail my mother-in-law’s Suzuki Jimny.

At first glance it’s not too bad, but look closer and you’ll see it’s in a right state. Cobwebs, grime, and all sorts covering every inch of this small four-wheel drive. I was going to use my Land Cruiser for this story to showcase the product, but because I keep it coated with ceramic coating, it’s actually very easy to clean. This Suzuki, though, had tough grime and dirt all over it — perfect to test a new product range.

My plan of attack with most vehicles I clean is to start with the wheels and tyres before working my way onto the body itself. To get started, I decided to use the Down & Dirty, which is an underbody and tyre deep cleaner. I began by spraying this onto the tyres, inner wheel wells and wheels (there was no iron/alloy wheel cleaner in this kit). Instantly, I noticed the browning lifting from the tyres in a sea of foam. I have actually never used a product like this before — it truly was epic to watch it work. This is where I pulled out the Little Stiffy and got to work agitating the product and scrubbing the tyres to improve its effectiveness.

With all of the super grimy undercarriage bits coated and soaking, it was time to load the Bowden’s Own snow foam gun and Happy Ending Cannon bottle with some Snow Job, their diluted snow foam product. With a much larger bottle than I am used to, it was nice knowing I wasn’t going to run out of foam mid-spray. That, and there was more adjustment than I am used to on my old Karcher foam cannon. You can adjust the width and direction of the foam leaving the cannon. In no time at all, the little Suzuki was absolutely doused in foam — underneath too.

While the snow foam is doing its thing (loosening the surface dirt and pulling down larger pieces of dirt), I like to use a small brush to clean the dirt out of any badges and trim edges you can’t get to with a large sponge. The Foursome brushes were perfect for this. I brushed the grille, badges, window sills, roof sills, and bumper gaps to ensure all hidden dirt was removed.

It’s bucket time! The Off-road Adventure kit comes with multiple buckets to ensure you’re using the correct cleaning method when you’re cleaning your vehicle. There’s a rinse, wash, and wheel bucket to ensure you’re always using clean suds on your paintwork and getting rid of any dirt that’s on your wash mitt into the rinse bucket.

 At the base of the bucket, there’s a Bowden’s Own grit guard too, to ensure you’re not picking up any large debris/dirt when you’re going back into the bucket — it all settles below where you can get to.

With the buckets prepped with Dirty Times Wash (their heavy-duty car wash), I gave the vehicle a pressure wash to remove all of the large dirt and debris that had been loosened by the Snow Job snow foam. I then gave it another Snow Job session to ensure the surface was well lubricated by the time I finally did touch the paint to clean it, with the supplied ‘The Wash Pillow’ — a seriously big microfibre wash mitt. At first glance, I didn’t think I would like using a wash pad so large, but once I got into it, I realised that I could cover some serious ground rather quickly. I cleaned the Suzuki from top to bottom (roof, bonnet, windows, followed by the front-end, front guards, before working my way to the rear of the vehicle).

Once pressure washed, the Suzuki was already looking a million times better than before. The Snow Job snow foam hangs onto the paintwork well, allowing me more time to work around the vehicle with a mitt. Each panel was now clean, so it was onto one of the Bowden’s Own coatings.

 
To restore some hydrophobic properties to the paintwork, I decided to use the Wet Dreams, a protective spray-on, rinse-off sealant. It’s recommended to spray the vehicle panels down so they’re wet, before spraying this product on. For best results, you can spray the wet panel down with this, before wiping the panel down with a microfibre towel, then pressure wash the residue off.



I just sprayed it onto the wet paint, allowed it to sit for around 10 seconds, before pressure washing it straight off. Wow, the water-beading afterwards is intense and the paint’s gloss is enhanced — this is a new favourite of mine! It even deserved its own hero image.

To eliminate water spots, I reached for the Twisted Mother Sucker, Bowden’s Own’s large drying microfibre towel. Now, I have used Rapid Dry towels (and still use them) and this thing is far superior. One wipe and the panels were dry. Glass was streak-free, and in no time, the Suzuki was bone dry.

One of the last jobs on the list for the little Suzuki was dressing the tyres. To do this, I used the All Sorts applicator pads and the Sweet Rubber tyre spray. It’s recommended to spray this onto the applicator pad, but I just sprayed it directly onto the tyre before wiping it around, spreading it evenly before removing any excess. It smells insanely good too, weirdly. There was one concern I had when the Off-Road Adventure kit arrived, and that was the lack of a wheel-specific cleaner. Because there was nothing, I used the Down & Dirty tyre cleaner on the wheels and I was genuinely shocked to see that after a quick pressure wash, all of the brake dust and grime on the alloys was gone. 



Tyre gloss can be enhanced further with another coat or two, but I prefer the almost satin finish that one coat provided — looking good! To dry the alloys, I used the Twisted Little Suckers wheel-specific drying towel. They’ve thought of everything!

With the Suzuki dry, glossed, and impeccably clean, it dawned on me that this was an incredibly easy clean. Each step has been thought out for you with this kit, and you can tag certain products in or out depending on the level of clean you’re needing to do. When I get this Suzuki back for a clean again, I will hit it with the Boss Gloss spray-on wax, and I have saved the Under Armer for my Land Cruiser that regularly sees the beach and bush.

After using the Bowden’s Own product, I now have a new favourite foam cannon, tyre cleaner, hydrophobic spray, and heavy-duty car wash. I won’t live without the large drying towel, and the brushes and applicator pads are now an essential part of my detailing arsenal. The true test for this Suzuki will be its next wash, with the Wet Dreams no doubt ensuring it’s an easier clean than this one. If you’ve been worrying about what car cleaning products to get for your four-wheel drive or performance vehicle, Bowden’s Own makes it easy with their Off-road Adventure kit.

The results speak for themselves, with this little Suzuki looking as good as it did the day it rolled off the showroom floor. Head to their website for a browse of their products and get ready for a good laugh too — their product names are hilarious. Yep, Bowden’s Own gets the 4XJournal seal of approval — I wonder what else they’ve got...