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Tire brushes
- Thread starter carnut2
- Start date
Earl Weiss
Well-known member
The answer like many things. It depends.
FWIW I think the name "tire Brush" does not really apply any longer. In the days of lots of white walls and raised white lettering they were more important. Now, raised white letters and whitwalls are like record players. Few and far between.
But, some of these units are now configured for wheel cleaning. If you have a couple pairs of lower details and a couple of pairs of wraps, as well as high pressure wheel blasters, these ad little or nothing to the result. I have taken them out in places and replaced some side wheel cloth with filament at wheel level. At one place with a shorter tunnel and less equipment I am still playing around with wheel brushes.
A tire brush will not clean the entire side of a tire, anyway. If you think of the sidewall as from where it meets the wheel, to where it meets the ground - the curvature of the sidewall and the fact that the tire brush itself is round - at best you'll only cover the middle third or maybe half of the entire sidewall - even less for larger tires. As Earl said - it will take care of a whitewall, or raised lettering, which is generally in that middle portion of the sidewall.
If you want to clean the tire - make the black look blacker/cleaner, you need a tire cleaning chemical (one that allows you to actually see the dirt lifting off the tire when it is sprayed on) and some type of wheel or lower detail brush that has a large diameter - filament or foam - that will actually reach the span of the entire sidewall - wheel to ground. A brush with a large enough diameter will work on the wheels and if large enough - assist with rockers too - you'll get more cleaning than just the tire out of it.
I just don't see too many tire brushes anymore - I don't have any.
If you want to clean the tire - make the black look blacker/cleaner, you need a tire cleaning chemical (one that allows you to actually see the dirt lifting off the tire when it is sprayed on) and some type of wheel or lower detail brush that has a large diameter - filament or foam - that will actually reach the span of the entire sidewall - wheel to ground. A brush with a large enough diameter will work on the wheels and if large enough - assist with rockers too - you'll get more cleaning than just the tire out of it.
I just don't see too many tire brushes anymore - I don't have any.
Earl Weiss
Well-known member
MMM yes, and no. With traditional tire Brushes, perhaps. But now, various configurations and materials are available. I have been working with erie brush on testing some including poodle and sine wave configrations with both a foam and filament material. The larger diameter of these test units has required some mods to the frame of the unit causing a ripple effect as far as different consequences.
Some years ago I think Mac Neal had a large diameter Brush with the shaft running parallel (instead of perpendicular lik a wrap or side wheel) to the direction of vehicle travel on each side of the vehicle. problem was with them getting hooked on cars. Some got dragged into the street.
Yes - you are right - I should have specified that I was talking about the traditional thin diameter style - especially with some of the larger tires on todays vehicles.
you think a tire brush won't effectively clean the varying widths of tires?
just think how inconsistently a tire shine machine does on varying tire widths with rims etc...
it seems are industry in a rush to avoid labor is compromising quality by installing online tire shines. i realize it's been 5 + years on the market, but now they are spreading like wildfire along with the $3 wash concept.
it drives me nuts.
wood
just think how inconsistently a tire shine machine does on varying tire widths with rims etc...
it seems are industry in a rush to avoid labor is compromising quality by installing online tire shines. i realize it's been 5 + years on the market, but now they are spreading like wildfire along with the $3 wash concept.
it drives me nuts.
wood
DixieCarWash
Member
I know this is an old topic but Mac Neil still makes the larger horizontle rocker. I think it's called the Sonic. http://www.macneilwash.com/sidewashers.php This page represents 2 peices of equipment including the high side washer. But the Sonic I think is what your refering too.
Earl Weiss
Well-known member
Here is the spec sheet. Looks like the Brush is 28" in diameter. Can't tell how long it is.
http://www.macneilwash.com/pdf/spec/rs500.pdf
Seems the entire lenght is 77"-78" and that's not all brush. If drawn to scale it would seem the brush is about 65". A full size trie needs about 96" for a full rotation so I don't know how this would work. Have not seen one in action in decades. Knew a guy who had something similar at one time. They had issues with the front edge of the car hooking it. On occassion the entir unit ended up in the street.
http://www.macneilwash.com/pdf/spec/rs500.pdf
Seems the entire lenght is 77"-78" and that's not all brush. If drawn to scale it would seem the brush is about 65". A full size trie needs about 96" for a full rotation so I don't know how this would work. Have not seen one in action in decades. Knew a guy who had something similar at one time. They had issues with the front edge of the car hooking it. On occassion the entir unit ended up in the street.
DixieCarWash
Member
Yea the horizontle rocker as I call them aren't popular at least not in the US. I think alot of Europe washes have them. Econocraft makes a similar brush but theirs uses bristle or cloth C channel. I've never seen one. I know they put what looks like a lawn mower tire on the front to navigate the brush. Not sure how well that works. I'l stick to tire and rocker brushes.
