Razor vs Petit 360i

[APW]

Has anyone been through a Petit? Do they leave stripes with the oscillating nozzles? I know what my Razors can do and customers are happy with them but can a Petit do a better job of cleaning? The biggest plus I see is a faster through put but I don't want to sacrifice cleaning for speed. Would like everyone's input. Thanks!

 

[DiamondWash]

For that faster throughout expect to pay a ton more for the 2-3535 cat pump setup, with that said I really would love to see the backroom equipment.

 

[APW]

I'm flying up to their factory next Wednesday. I'll take some pics if they let me.

 

[TSchmitz]

They are a great group, we went out a few months back. Prepare to be impressed by engineering and stainless!

 

[Car_Wash_Guy]

Yep. Mine is in the process of being installed. Pardon the messy equipment room!

 

[imserve]

I now have 2 Petits along with a razor...I can't say for sure that they clean better than a razor, they definitely clean at least as good in less time. The big plus is the impression it gives customers....it rocks the vehicle on hi pressure rinses.

Equipment is rock solid

 

[AnalyticWash]

Has anyone been through a Petit? Do they leave stripes with the oscillating nozzles? I know what my Razors can do and customers are happy with them but can a Petit do a better job of cleaning? The biggest plus I see is a faster through put but I don't want to sacrifice cleaning for speed. Would like everyone's input. Thanks!

Any wash equipment can clean cars when setup properly. If you go the Petit route you should be eyeing throughput.

You need to make sure your chemistry game is top notch or I can almost guarantee you will get stripes. Less dwell time and increase throughput has to be made up for with something. I have setup many machines and our Petit was by far the most difficult to nail down when balancing speed and clean.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

I think the equipment is cool as hell and looks very well built. The wash ‘experience’ is pretty good in my opinion but I took my wife 20 minutes out of the way to wash in one and it didn’t seem to wow her. I will say, I have yet to go through one that has really mastered the speed versus quality issue. The really fast ones are set up with a single step presoak which I don’t think cuts it. Running a two step cuts down on the speed.

 

[imserve]

I have not had any issues with striping. Most petit operators try to run too fast...my top wash is around 4 minutes with plenty of dwell time and 2 hi pressure rinses.... comparable to a 6 minute wash on the razor

 

[washnshine]

Yep. Mine is in the process of being installed. Pardon the messy equipment room! View attachment 3188

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Great pics. Do they always stack pumpstands that high, or is that a space saving option?

 

[AnalyticWash]

I have not had any issues with striping. Most petit operators try to run too fast...my top wash is around 4 minutes with plenty of dwell time and 2 hi pressure rinses.... comparable to a 6 minute wash on the razor

2 HP rinses seems like overkill on a Petit. I assume one of these is a wax pass. A lot of water...

 

[imserve]

2 rinses might be overkill, but if its overkill on the Petit, it's also overkill on a Razor....my point is to the original poster. In my experience it does as good or better cleaning as a Razor in significantly less time.

My absolute only complaint is price

 

[imserve]

Actually I take that back, it does use more chemical to get the same dilution due to the bigger nozzles. Overall water usage compares to the Razor on similar packages

 

[Car_Wash_Guy]

The stacked pumps is an option. I did that to save floor space and am glad I did - between the cabinet, VFD cabinet, RO pump, etc it took up a lot of room.

I was getting GREAT results with my old Radius using Blendco soaps. NEVER get customers complaining on quality. My top wash was 7:20 though. The impingement of the Petit on the vehicle is IMPRESSIVE

I’m planning a 2 step pre but am planning on doing the second pass with triple foam to save time .

Yes... the machine is costly. From what I saw when pricing was like 20-50% more depending on who you were comparing it to.

min going for they put and monthly subscriptions. I have2 Dencar tellers to go with the 2 Petits. I’m going from $7/$9/$10/$12 to $10/$13/$15 and $25/$30/$35 on the plans.

A year from now I’ll bump it up another $1 across the board

 

[AnalyticWash]

I’m planning a 2 step pre but am planning on doing the second pass with triple foam to save time.

You might as well not run a second presoak then...Triple foam is going to dilute step 2.

 

[JGinther]

You might as well not run a second presoak then...Triple foam is going to dilute step 2.

I disagree. The triple foam could be a detergent type. If you don't know the chemicals, yes, you could be putting an opposing chemical on top, but if you or your chemical supplier know their stuff, you could just be adding another surfactant that can assist with a different hydrocarbon chain better. We use triple foam on a pass following presoak to speed up the machine and buy dwell time for the presoak, while speeding the machine up. Been doing so for at least 15 years.

 

[AnalyticWash]

I disagree. The triple foam could be a detergent type. If you don't know the chemicals, yes, you could be putting an opposing chemical on top, but if you or your chemical supplier know their stuff, you could just be adding another surfactant that can assist with a different hydrocarbon chain better. We use triple foam on a pass following presoak to speed up the machine and buy dwell time for the presoak, while speeding the machine up. Been doing so for at least 15 years.

He is talking about running them together on the 2nd pass. Even if it was only a detergent type TF he is still diluting the primary cleaning agent which is his second pre-soak.

(Lo , Hi , TF) is one thing. I have seen this done many times with great results.

(Lo , Hi + TF) is another. I have never seen this done.

This isn't even a configurable option on a Petit (LO, Hi + TF).

 

[tdlconceptsllc]

I don’t see the ROI for these machines and to spend all this money and still have a touchfree machine. In city’s where water & sewer is really expensive I don’t see how it would ever work out on paper or am I the only one missing the boat? However on this form I am starting to see more more of Petits on here.

 

[SuperShine]

The stacked pumps is an option. I did that to save floor space and am glad I did - between the cabinet, VFD cabinet, RO pump, etc it took up a lot of room.

I was getting GREAT results with my old Radius using Blendco soaps. NEVER get customers complaining on quality. My top wash was 7:20 though. The impingement of the Petit on the vehicle is IMPRESSIVE

I’m planning a 2 step pre but am planning on doing the second pass with triple foam to save time .

Yes... the machine is costly. From what I saw when pricing was like 20-50% more depending on who you were comparing it to.

min going for they put and monthly subscriptions. I have2 Dencar tellers to go with the 2 Petits. I’m going from $7/$9/$10/$12 to $10/$13/$15 and $25/$30/$35 on the plans.

A year from now I’ll bump it up another $1 across the board

Looking good Car Wash Guy! What are you going to be using for presoaks on your Petit?

 

[JGinther]

Adding in a different neutral surfactant (a nonionic type for example) as a triple foam with a high pH product would potentially slightly lower the alkalinity level of the mix, but could add detergency to the solution... Definitely better to use as a dwell time buyer though.