Bite The Bullet

[sprocket]

I am going to have to purchase a soft touch machine of some kind. Does any one have likes or dislikes about any machines or any machines to stay away from.
THANKS

 

[Jimmy Buffett]

I like my Softgloss. There used to be a lot of slightly used friction machines available from markets where they were not well accepted. Don't know if that is still the case or not but you might look at carwashconsignment.com. The public is begining to see the light imo.

 

[Waxman]

How much maintenance is there on the cloth? How often do you have to replace it?

 

[I.B. Washincars]

I have a Wesumat with the closed cell foam material. It has about 70K washes on it and doesn't look close to needing replacement. The top brush got thin where it straddled trailer hitches. We took the worn middle sections out and moved them to the ends where they do virtually nothing anyway. As good as it looks, I doubt that it will need replacing at 100K.

 

[Jimmy Buffett]

Mine look fine after 150k.

 

[captain cw]

I'm a big believer in the Ryko Softgloss. They've been doing friction longer than most everybody else. I've got around 160,000 washes on mine.

 

[steve569]

Not to hijack the thread but how do friction machines do on a vehicle with caked on mud on the side of it such as you would see in a rural area. Does it usually get all the mud off? Are there concerns with scratching the paint? Thanks for your reply.

 

[DiamondWash]

Most friction units come with such options as "prewash" which is basically a high pressure wash before the friction side takes over, not saying it removes 100% of the caked on mud it might all depends on what the operator has it set for in terms of speed and passes of the prewash cycle.

 

[LakesideCarWash]

Which soft touch?

I am struggling with the same issue. Coming out of a G5 (Oh that G5, if it would be a horse!) the most important criteria for me are as follows:
1 - Reliability of the equipment. I am meticulous about PM schedule but even that doesn't help if the equipment is not designed and tested properly.
2 - Availability of parts from sources other than the manufacturer. An open sourcing environment.
3 - The strength and honesty of the distributor.
4 - Speed is not an issue but steady customer base gets ticked off with breakages. Then the whole cycle of rebuilding volume starts. This is why reliability is always at the forefront of my decision making process.

I'll be damned if I can find all these attributes in the Dallas metroplex area. Any thoughts?

 

[ScottV]

I visited 2 sites in Rochester this weekend that had the PDQ Tandem equipment. One was 1yr old and the other was 3-4yrs old. I wanted to see how the machine performs, but also how it holds up after a couple years in service.

The new machine cleaned very well, and the top wash clocked in at 7min23sec which I thought was long. The salesman told me that PDQ has addressed this issue with some different programming options for the wash packages. I'm interested in knowing how much time they were able to carve off of the top package. The older machine was an earlier version but didnt show significant signs of decay / wear. After checking it over I felt more comfortable about the expected life of these machines.

I've been through a Belanger Freestyler and only have that experience to compare with the Tandem. I do like the openness of the bay that the Tandem provides, and with the torque sensitive mechanisms, there is much less "impact" noticed from the drivers seat. The Freestyler felt like it was beating and shaking the car while the Tandem did not. I dont know whether this perception is worth anything from a customers standpoint, or even whether it would be noticed at all. I guess as operators we are all much more aware of the wash experience and any small detail that might give us a competitive advantage. From the customers standpoint, it's probably nothing more than price and a clean car.

Since I've got all PDQ IBA equipment in my sites, I'm leaning towards the Tandem for obvious reasons. I just guess I'm not ready to pull the trigger yet!

 

[Waxman]

The speed is too slow for a brand new state of the art PDQ.

Customers sometimes see more value in the car getting knocked around from the equipment in a touchfree. Many have commented the pressure in mine is better than a competitor.

Seems like my dream IBA (touchfree) would race around the car on passes where practical and crawl when practical.

It's not doing too many fast passes at 7 min 23 sec!

 

[Mike]

7 Min 23 sec is on the long side for a Tandem. My guess is that this was a upper level (double side brush pass) and or an on-board dryer in this package.
Or the operator may have had some of the cycles slowed down for some reason.

The time will depend on size of car or truck and what wash package is selected, and how the individual pass speeds are set.

in my experience a more typical time for a tandem average wash is in the 5 min range.

hope this helps

Regards
Mike

 

[Ric]

I looked at a Tandem a year ago. I too was concerned with the wash time. Being it is a 2 brush machine versus a 3 or 5 brush Mark VII, Ryko, etc. I can understand why it may take longer to wash a vehicle with the Tandem. From a customer stand point the bay was more open and you did not feel as though you were being swallowed by a bunch of brushes. I guess it's a trade off. If I were to install one today I'm still not sure what I would go with.

 

[RykoPro]

Ryko has been producing brush machines for over 30 years and almost every model they ever made will wash over a million cars in its lifetime. Ryko's Foambrite brush material became the standard for the industry when introduced over ten years ago and has yet to be replicated by anyone else. Its a no brainer!

 

[Waxman]

Ryko has been producing brush machines for over 30 years and almost every model they ever made will wash over a million cars in its lifetime. Ryko's Foambrite brush material became the standard for the industry when introduced over ten years ago and has yet to be replicated by anyone else. Its a no brainer!

How fast can the Ryko wash a car?

 

[RykoPro]

Every pass speed is adjustable so it will run as fast or slow as you want. It even has the capability to speed up if the line gets too long! I have a customer who has had us time his wash. These times are base4d on my tech's vans which are full size extended Ford and Chevy vans.
Express: 2:19
Foam bath going back
washes going forward
washes going back with top brush
RO rinses going forward


Deluxe: 3:33
White foam going back
washes going forward
washes going back with top brush
rinses going forward
waxes going back
RO rinses going forward


Works 4:51
On board Tire chemical going back
Tri-Foam Soap
washes going forward stops at rear wheels to run wheel scrubs
washes going back stops at front wheels to run wheel scrubs
washes going forward
rinses going back
rain shield forward
rinses going back
RO rinses going forward