First Week In

[Yeti55]

Hey everyone ,

I have spent a ton of hours reading on this forum and have found lots of good knowledge. Purchased a 4 bay self serve last week , it’s the only s/s in a town of 10,000 people.

The bays have seen lots of upgrades over the last couple years from the previous owners. Wanted to get some opinions on a few things if anyone wants to chime in

-Priced at $1 for 1 min and 20 seconds . Every other carwash within an hours drive is $1 and isn’t as well kept up on

-Only 4 options at the dial , hp rinse, hp soap, foam brush and wax . I’d like to add a pre soak and wheel and tire cleaner , next to no one here seems to have dryers or tri foam . Not sure if that is a missed opportunity or if there is something behind it

-Curb appeal , the bays are very nice and bright . But would like to do something with the exterior , does anyone have great experience with painting something like mine ? I am pulled between paint and putting some sort of siding with faux stone at the bottom

Appreciate an

 

[Eric H]

Great looking wash!

id definitely add some low pressure functions. Tire cleaner, bug remover, salt neutralizer are good options. PreSoak gets used but I think a high quality alkaline high pressure soap is as effective as Presoak.

I’d definitely add the air dryers especially if you have a lot of motorcycles in the area. The biker crowd will spread the word that your wash has dryers!

As for curb appeal, you could continue wrapping the building with the extruTech that you used in the bays. A solid color concrete stain would be my preference over a paint. Just know that once you paint/stain it you’ll have to redo it at some point. Fortunately, paint/stain on the exterior won’t require the same intensive preparation that the interior of the bays require.

Good luck and welcome!

 

[HeyVern]

Personally, I think that block looks good, I'd leave it alone. Maybe add some colorful signage and accents.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

I agree that it looks pretty good as is. There are numerous options when it comes to painting a wash...none of which work. Being in Canada, you will obviously be dealing with a lot of freezing temps, and paint won't hold up to the freeze/thaw cycles, for sure. Panels of some sort would be the best option if you want to cover the walls.

After re-reading your original post, I see that you were talking of painting the exterior. With good prep and good epoxy paint you will probably have better luck than in a bay.

 

[Greg_T]

We own and operate a 3 bay SS in a town of 1500 people with some surrounding farms etc. So a 4 bay SS in a town of 10,000 people sound pretty good to me.

The site presents really well. I agree that some low pressure functions would likely be a good addition. We have tyre & engine clean, bug remover & pre-soak which are all popular. We then have foam brush, high pressure soap, high pressure rinse, wax, spot-free rinse. After a few years of operating, this seems to suit our customer based.

Good luck with it!

 

[washnshine]

Hey everyone ,

I have spent a ton of hours reading on this forum and have found lots of good knowledge. Purchased a 4 bay self serve last week , it’s the only s/s in a town of 10,000 people.

The bays have seen lots of upgrades over the last couple years from the previous owners. Wanted to get some opinions on a few things if anyone wants to chime in

-Priced at $1 for 1 min and 20 seconds . Every other carwash within an hours drive is $1 and isn’t as well kept up on

-Only 4 options at the dial , hp rinse, hp soap, foam brush and wax . I’d like to add a pre soak and wheel and tire cleaner , next to no one here seems to have dryers or tri foam . Not sure if that is a missed opportunity or if there is something behind it

-Curb appeal , the bays are very nice and bright . But would like to do something with the exterior , does anyone have great experience with painting something like mine ? I am pulled between paint and putting some sort of siding with faux stone at the bottom

Appreciate an

Great looking wash. Hard to tell in the picture, but it looks like you have a short barrel gun hanging on the back wall by the change meter box and cc reader - is that your high pressure? Or does the barrel of the hp gun gun go into the wall?

You got lots of great advice on this thread. Congratulations on your new wash and welcome to the forum!

 

[Yeti55]

Great looking wash. Hard to tell in the picture, but it looks like you have a short barrel gun hanging on the back wall by the change meter box and cc reader - is that your high pressure? Or does the barrel of the hp gun gun go into the wall?

You got lots of great advice on this thread. Congratulations on your new wash and welcome to the forum!

Thanks everyone ,

the barrel goes into the wall and drains into the main tank in equip room.

 

[Eric H]

the barrel goes into the wall and drains into the main tank in equip room.

Brilliant! This must save a lot of water on weep. I have a similar system that has a tank in the floor. I’ve abandoned it but it used to have a well pump that recycled the weep. I stopped using it when we switched to a weepmizer in 2004. The well pump didn’t like to work with the on/off cycle of the weepmizer. I’m about to reinstall the system on a timer to run all night . Should reduce the water and sewer that the weep uses by about 50%.