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Automatics Pt I
When selecting a car wash, look for ``touchless`` or ``non-friction`` equipment. The last thing you want is some abrasive nylon brush or cloth with dirt granules embedded in it to come in contact with your car. Good touchless equipment is both more effective and much safer to your car`s delicate finish. Touchless washes can reach every nook and cranny where friction washes can only reach vertical or horizontal flat surfaces.
Cars with inclined surfaces are very difficult for friction washes to wash evenly. You don`t know where that cloth that is rubbing against your new paint has been. It may just have rubbed an inch of mud off of the vehicle before you, believe me, there will be some residual dirt particles still embedded in the cloth. Friction washes work better in the South or coastal areas such as California where the dirt on a car is light dust or films. There is not as much of a chance you will be grinding mud into your paint as there is in the Rocky Mountain region or many other areas of the country.
When looking for a good touchless wash, there are five major areas of concern you need to investigate. You can inquire with the owner to see if he is offering each of these, if you leave each time with a clean car, this will also testify to fact that he is providing you with all the features necessary to clean a car ``touchless``. All of these features are offered at every ``COMTEC`` car wash. COMTEC features ``KARCHER`` automatic roll-over`s at all of the car washes designed and built by COMTEC. If you wash in a KARCHER roll-over, you can be assured you will get all of the following.
1) Good water quality.
What do we mean by good water quality. Basically we mean water that has Calcium and Magnesium removed from it so that is is ``0`` grains hard. More commonly known as ``soft water``. No chemical will work effectively with ``hard water``. This requires that he has a water softener capable of keeping up with his volume of business. Also, when it comes time for the ``spot free rinse``, he must have water that has less than 30 parts/million or totally desolved solids. This will insure that once the car is cleaned, there will be no residual mineral spots left on your car. Most responsible ``touchless`` car wash operators will provide ``soft water`` for washing and ``spot free water`` for the final rinse.
2) Hot Water.
This issue is quite often mis-represented, so you must ask the question very explicitly. Do you heat the water, all the water, used to wash the car. Most do not, they heat only the water used to ``presoak`` the car. Detergents become 100% more effective when water is heated from 45 degrees (tap temperature) to 90 degrees. Water needs to be raised to 120 degrees in the tank to assure at least 90 degrees once it reaches the surface of the car. Heating water is expensive, but you will not get a good wash without heating the water.
- Why I Have to Wash
- Car Wash How To
- City / Area Selection
- Wash Site Planning
- Equipment Selection
- Equipment Selection Pros and Cons
- Automatics Which One!
- Automatics - Friction or NO
- Self Service Criteria
- Published Wash Articles
- Car Wash Glossary
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"Combining Technologies for the Car Wash Industry"
