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  1. 8th Street Car Wash

    Touchless vs friction for Seattle area

    Personal opinion, check out Mark VII. The rep is Northwest Wash Systems in Yakima and has employees on the Seattle side at all times for emergencies. Great company to work with. Also soft touch cuts through the Pacific Northwest dirt and crud pretty well. You could consider a choice wash for the...
  2. 8th Street Car Wash

    Speed up my Mark VII Softwash

    Sorry I misunderstood, I thought you were speaking about STARTING with tri-color and brushes and removing the pre-rinse. We never have any staining with a pre-rinse. Only time we have seen staining is when tricolor is applied to a dry hot car. I will look into our brush settings to see if there...
  3. 8th Street Car Wash

    Speed up my Mark VII Softwash

    We did try a single brush pass when we first opened on my bottom wash, but weren't able to get vehicles clean enough, so ended up going to two passes on every wash. Same problem with top and side brushes not hitting both ends of the vehicle. If the top brush doesn't hit the front and back we end...
  4. 8th Street Car Wash

    Speed up my Mark VII Softwash

    I like the thought of having one less rinse pass. My pricing is $14, $16, $18 and I increase pricing every other year. Last month: 50% top wash, 26% middle wash, and 24% bottom wash
  5. 8th Street Car Wash

    Speed up my Mark VII Softwash

    To all the experienced friction operators out there that put out an excellent car every time, any tips would be fantastic. My top wash is coming in at around 8 minutes from the start to the end of the driers. My machine is a 2018 Mark Vii Softwash. We asked our distributor to set us up with the...
  6. 8th Street Car Wash

    New IBA called Plover

    If it's the same company... Pretty sure the operator that had the first one installed was from Woodenville, WA, and sunk tons of money into the company along with buying the unit. Ended up with a very expensive piece of metal and sensors that wouldn't wash cars when the company went under, and...
  7. 8th Street Car Wash

    Cost

    I'm of the thought that if you create the best wash in your area (more functions, best equipment, best chemical) people WILL pay more for your services. You'll also get better customers with better vehicles washing. If you start pushing your prices up, and immediately investing in things that...
  8. 8th Street Car Wash

    Detail Booth Rental Rates

    A detailer was a total flop at my location. We had a pretty bad detailer though. They would use our SS bays for extended periods of time blocking my regular customers, didn't clean up after themselves, and would kick back in folding chairs behind my building smoking cigars when they were between...
  9. 8th Street Car Wash

    Locked out

    I've drilled out several of these with hardened bits through the keyhole. Nothing you can't find on youtube so not worried about posting it here. Smaller bit first, then bigger bit next. Might or might not have to pry back the backing plate with a pry bar to access the slider (not sure what its...
  10. 8th Street Car Wash

    Rotors switch or push buttons

    Used to have to change out my rotary switch at least every 4-6 months. Upgraded to Electroswitch from Shallco switches, added seal nuts, and packed the orifices with dialectric grease. Haven't changed a switch in over 2 years. Made a HUGE difference.
  11. 8th Street Car Wash

    Arimitsu 520 bay pump seal kits only lasting 6 months before leaking

    I don't have any experience with Arimitsu pumps, but I would notice cavitation between 10-20 psi if I recall correctly. I have CAT 5CP2150W pumps and the manual states "optimum pump performance is obtained with +20 PSI (1.4 BAR) inlet pressure..." and also "inlet supply should exceed the maximum...
  12. 8th Street Car Wash

    Best In-Bay Hand Held Dryer

    Air logic nozzles on my air shamee II's made their use skyrocket. Just make sure to put up the smaller foam cannon holsters on the wall or the air logic nozzle will fly around the bay when they're activated.
  13. 8th Street Car Wash

    Arimitsu 520 bay pump seal kits only lasting 6 months before leaking

    Is there any way that you are starving your pumps of water? We were going through seal kits about the same amount for our first two years of operations and figured out that when the float valve to my IBA storage tank opened up it would drop our water pressure to our self serves and cause...
  14. 8th Street Car Wash

    New guy

    We use stock tokens as we believe the difference in price makes up for any other tokens that people may have gotten elsewhere. This is completely location dependent though, because if somebody near you sells them for significantly cheaper than you could be taken to the cleaners. We used to have...
  15. 8th Street Car Wash

    Special Edition Ford F-150

    I hate how high those ford F150's wipers sit on their windshield... My Mark VII auto has ripped off more Ford F150 wipers and tossed them around my bay than any other vehicle model.
  16. 8th Street Car Wash

    What Should I Do With This? (Paint Correction Advice)

    All good! Hope you get it all figured out!
  17. 8th Street Car Wash

    What Should I Do With This? (Paint Correction Advice)

    Wrong forum for these questions, this forum is for professional carwash operators. Check out Autopia detailing forum. https://www.autopia.org/forums/
  18. 8th Street Car Wash

    How to Rescue a Sweet Potato Trapped in a Seat Belt Buckle?

    Compressed air, or disassemble your seatbelt mechanism. They come apart fairly easily depending on the model. Not the correct forum for these questions though, I would check out Autopia detailers forum. https://www.autopia.org/forums/
  19. 8th Street Car Wash

    Trash Can Recommendations

    We use cheap 32 gallon black plastic containers from the local hardware store. We used to have issues with the lids blowing away (literally gone with the wind) so I took some cheap small gauge stainless cable and a stainless fishing swivel, and tethered the lids to the nearest place that was...
  20. 8th Street Car Wash

    Multiple items for sale. Message me if interested! 13 items listed

    Might do better with better pictures, some acid, and a pressure washer. Posting pics as "like new" with weeds growing through them and rust doesn't give much confidence in what you're selling.
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