Petit wash. Owners opinions

[carwashireland]

It seems a few forum members were in the process of buying or have bought the petite iba. Just wondering if the speed and clean lives up to the hype. In particular how does it clean vehicle hoods and wheels.

 

[steve569]

We installed 3 Petit autos in our wash 2 1/2 years ago. I have never regretted it for a second. I believe the flipping action of the nozzles helps with the cleaning ability. It gives good coverage with the presoak and I feel the flipping action helps with the high pressure loosing the dirt on the surface of the car.
Plus the Petit company are great people.

 

[Car_Wash_Guy]

I bought one and am waiting on the install ( about mid March). Then I'll go ahead and replace the second IBA at my site with another. I'm going with the Dencar tellers and will be offering monthly plans.

 

[AnalyticWash]

It seems a few forum members were in the process of buying or have bought the petite iba. Just wondering if the speed and clean lives up to the hype. In particular how does it clean vehicle hoods and wheels.

How dirty are your cars? Hoods, it does great. Wheels...I'd give it a 5 out of 10

 

[steve569]

How dirty are your cars? Hoods, it does great. Wheels...I'd give it a 5 out of 10

Do you own a Petit?

 

[Greg Pack]

Do you own a Petit?

Steve it's apparent you do. Can you elaborate on things such as wheels in comparison to other units you may have experience with?

One of the reasons I've stuck with a gantry unit (water wizard) so long is they clean better than the inverted Ls I have used in the past. Plus, they just keep on going. I've got a loyal touch free following and don't want to compromise on wheel cleaning ability.

 

[Greg Pack]

One other question Steve, what are the HP nozzles they use?

 

[AnalyticWash]

Do you own a Petit?

I do.

Steve it's apparent you do. Can you elaborate on things such as wheels in comparison to other units you may have experience with?

One of the reasons I've stuck with a gantry unit (water wizard) so long is they clean better than the inverted Ls I have used in the past. Plus, they just keep on going. I've got a loyal touch free following and don't want to compromise on wheel cleaning ability.

There is no dedicated wheel washer on a Petit so the wheels get cleaned but what you can end up with is some dirt/mud still left in the sides and tops of the wheel wells.

Different machines all have their pros and cons. If you are looking at a petit, volume should be something you are interested in addressing. They are fast machines and there will always be a compromise when you aim for throughput.

As far as your customer base. How you set up your Petit is going to make or break that experience. When I put in a Petit I made sure it was going to be the best thing my customers have ever experienced so that they would look past certain things...

 

[Car_Wash_Guy]

Steve it's apparent you do. Can you elaborate on things such as wheels in comparison to other units you may have experience with?

One of the reasons I've stuck with a gantry unit (water wizard) so long is they clean better than the inverted Ls I have used in the past. Plus, they just keep on going. I've got a loyal touch free following and don't want to compromise on wheel cleaning ability.

Have you ever seen a Petit in person? They say they were designed to last a million washes and from the looks of how it's designed and built, I'd believe it. The quality BLOWS away all the competitors and at their price, they need to.

I've never seen so much stainless on one machine than on the petit. Heck, even the crimp fittings to all the hoses are stainless.

I'll be using the rocker/wheel blasters from my old Radius as they do an ok job.

 

[AnalyticWash]

Have you ever seen a Petit in person? They say they were designed to last a million washes and from the looks of how it's designed and built, I'd believe it. The quality BLOWS away all the competitors and at their price, they need to.

I agree with this. They are well built.


Car Wash Guy. Who is putting in your Petit?

 

[Car_Wash_Guy]

I agree with this. They are well built.


Car Wash Guy. Who is putting in your Petit?

Royce Industries out of SLC.

I'm excited about converting my site to a dual Petit site and leave the worry about a brush machine behind

 

[steve569]

One other question Steve, what are the HP nozzles they use?

Petit has their own nozzles They are like a 15 degree nozzle with a huge hole . But due to the flipping motion of the nozzles it still gets good coverage.
I have owned Wash Worlds in the past and before that D&S 5000s. Wash Worlds are wonderful machines and the company itself is great.
But I would have to agree that the inverted L is at a disadvantage to any machine that moves the nozzles either in a circular motion or up and down.
As for wheel cleaning I think the Petit would be as good as any auto that did not have a dedicated wheel cleaner. We are in an urban area so we don't have to deal with a lot of heavy dirt or mud on the wheels of cars.

 

[DiamondWash]

I still want to see an equipment room with the two pump setup because from the pictures I have seen it looks like a LOT of backroom equipment for 1 bay. I had my eye on Petit with our last remodel BUT we didn't have any distributor support in our area and that is a major piece of the puzzle when investing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

 

[Car_Wash_Guy]

I still want to see an equipment room with the two pump setup because from the pictures I have seen it looks like a LOT of backroom equipment for 1 bay. I had my eye on Petit with our last remodel BUT we didn't have any distributor support in our area and that is a major piece of the puzzle when investing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

They have a stacking kit for the 2 pump system.

ETA:

Here is the single pump. They just stack right on top of each other:

 

[Greg Pack]

Thanks for the responses folks. I do like stainless, all stainless fittings could add several K to the cost of production.

Inverted Ls are unicorns in my area. 98% of the IBAs are gantry units