I've read on this forum that a lot of you do not fold in side view mirrors before sending vehicles through the car wash due to issues where the mirror may break when attempting to fold them in. For all operators that are NOT folding in mirrors, do you have a separate output to have your wrap around brushes bump out at the side view mirrors or do your wraps just go down the vehicle side without retracting/bumping out? We have recently changed from pushing in side view mirrors to not pushing them in and we currently do not have the wraps retract at the side view mirror and did not know if we needed to install this feature to prevent damage.
For operators that do NOT push in side view mirrors.....
- Thread starter hkim310
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twerkinatthecarwash
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Yes. We really don't touch the mirrors at all, and each of our four main wraps have a timed mirror bump function where the wraps jump out around the mirrors. Its a bit of a pain to get the timing perfect (it may be good on a smaller car but the second you get a big truck it knocks them in) so there is some trial and error in setting it.
Earl Weiss
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We have AVW and Sonny's wraps at the locations. Purely operated with the shocks and gravity. No air cylinders. We do not touch the mirror. About 3 years ago I reviewed mirror repair bills for the 4 locations. In not exactly accurate but good enough for this discussion numbers lets say we washed 300,000 vehicles and I had 30 repair bills 7-8 per year per location.
Out of the 30 I noted that only 2 were on vehicles less than 10 years old. The rest were on vehicles more than 10 years old. Some 18 or 20 years old. I asked myself why the heck I was paying for brand new replacemets for stuff that old.
My solution - A sign that says customer is responsible for (among other things) damage to or caused by any part on any vehicle over 10 years old.* (Now 2006 or older) . The only exception I make is if there is a rare major malfunction. I now repair less than 4 mirrors per year for all 4 locations.
Out of the 30 I noted that only 2 were on vehicles less than 10 years old. The rest were on vehicles more than 10 years old. Some 18 or 20 years old. I asked myself why the heck I was paying for brand new replacemets for stuff that old.
My solution - A sign that says customer is responsible for (among other things) damage to or caused by any part on any vehicle over 10 years old.* (Now 2006 or older) . The only exception I make is if there is a rare major malfunction. I now repair less than 4 mirrors per year for all 4 locations.
twerkinatthecarwash
New member
We use ICS, all the bumps are set to selective but that's only because not every wash package comes with every wrap.
We are currently using our wrap retracts to completely retract the brush when a vehicle with a bike rack enters the tunnel. We are planning on combining our current outputs (4 outputs) into 2 outputs (1 for each set of wraps). Then we are going to have 4 new bump out outputs (2 for each set of wraps). Should all be completed this week sometime and once we do some trial and error will let you know how it all turned out.
Twerk, what are the Part and Extend settings for your mirror bump in the Tunnel Master Jr Controller? I don't see a Part that seems to make sense for the mirror bump? The choices are: AC - All Car, FH - Front Half, FB - Front Bumper, RH - Rear Half of Vehicle, RB - Rear Bumper Only, TA - Tire Switch, ES - Entrance Sign, EM - Entrance Management. I currently have the Extend set to 0.
Earl,
We also have the "not responsible for vehicles 10 years or older" on our disclaimer sign. Generally I make them aware that my sign says that I don't need to replace anything for them but I usually do. In your experience how does it usually go over with the customers when you stick to it and maintain you are not responsible for anything over 10 years old? And also, may it be better in some cases to eat the cost of a mirror in order to keep a customer? Say for instance if they have an unlimited wash subscription with you (not sure if you do this or not)
BBE, we also have a sign that states we are not responsible for any vehicles that are 10 years old and/or 100,000 miles. As you probably already know, customers are not very happy when you state that any damage they are claiming happened at the wash is not covered per the disclaimer sign. We have utilized this reason a handful of times here at our wash. We have unlimited wash club members here at our facility and usually follow the sames rules for MOST customers. Obviously, there are always exceptions to the rule......
Was able to finally configure the controller correctly and for about 90% of vehicles that go through our wash tunnel, we have both of our wrap around brushes bump out so they do not come in contact with side view mirrors. For anyone with ICS, the Part is FH and the Extend is actually set to a negative number. Only time will tell if we have less side view mirror damage as a result of this change. I will keep you all informed!
Earl Weiss
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Of course it never oes over well. But one year after reviewing about 40 bills from 4 locations I saw 95% were 10 years old plus Some 15 years old or more and I wondered why I was buying brand new stuff to replace stuff this old. I don't think it was a coincidence the percentage was so lopsided. Now, when I get an alleged insicdent report and the vehicle is 10 years old or more I simply send them a form letter saying basicalyy since 10's of thousands of vehicles were washed before theirs and hundreds since without issues, the wash was operating properly and the issue was with the vehicle due to wear and tear etc.
Earl Weiss
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Use AVW wraps and Have Had Sonny's with no retracts and no air assist. Have a mirror issue of about 1 in 10-20,000 cars and deny 90% of those due to prior impact marks or repairs, over 10 years old, or failure to follow owner manual that instructs owners to fold. for automatic washes. Just denied on at 1 location for 17 year old car and at another location for 3 year old car where owner manual instructs folding. Of ourse high volume days are the worst because those often have the most infrequent washers.
