Drive - Thru Mini tunnel

[soonermajic]

Too many folks get mad about simpke things on here. Wussification of 'Merica.
Tdl has given me as much sound advice as anyone (yeh & Randy). Ha.
OurTown, I think that Autec guy, giving put hige discount codes, does inglate those wash counts. However, maybe it's just to show how the #'s get real high, & it's reliability...? You believe in this concept, & TFL doesn't. He prolly just didn't want someone to make the same mistake his friend did....? I will admit, it sounds cery interesting, but after listening to some guys, i think "proceed with caution"...

 

[MGSMN]

-Drive through mini tunnels-

Pro:
-capable of high wash counts
-capable of good wash quality
-can be very reliable mechanically
-non of the conveyor issues
-cost less (no conveyor/trench)

Con:
-can't control wash speeds
-therefore can't control wash quality
-hard to see during much of the wash
-vehicles will jump the guide rails
-vehicles will run into each other

-IMO-
As someone who works on this type of setup I would not recommend it for unattended general public use. The equipment I service is at car rental facilities and car dealerships with trained staff using the wash. Some locations the employees fly through the wash. Some locations the employees know exactly how to drive through to get the best wash quality which saves them work and time on the back side. Most problems typically occur after hours when the normal crew has left. That's when people stop during the wash, jump the guide rails or worse.

 

[washnshine]

In a perfect world, it would work. You could trust that every customer will go through not too fast or not too slow. No one would get anxious/jumpy when the top brush lowers on the hood of their car or when all of their windows are covered by Mitter cloth or when they see a wraparound moving toward the center if their car. But that is a pretty tall order to expect of the motoring public.

You would have to have an attendant on duty for all hours that you are open, and you would also need some type of gated entry to assure that you do not get cars traveling too close together. There would have to be a very generous gap left between cars to accommodate the varied speeds people will be driving and make sure that they don’t start rear-ending each other. And that gap you would have to have will cut your cph down a lot.

Only way to assure consistency is to have the attendant drive every car through but that brings on a whole host of new problems and slows your operation down to a crawl. Not to mention the liability of having attendants in the cars and customers outside of them - yikes - no thank you - not for me.

There is usually a reason that you don’t see certain things as common practice.

 

[OurTown]

Ourtown I am afraid to say you are snowed over my freind and wish I never replied on this thread if I knew it was gonna cause such hurt feelings of the truth and do opologize. I guess me personally purchasing a wash and driving through the wash doesn't count as using one. I have no reason to lie and I actually drive by that wash all the time including today and its bone dry with about 20,000 cars a day at that location I sent you on a 4 lane highway. He offers a $16 month unlimited package now and people still do not use it due to the confusion on the wash process. I would love for you to chime in and share your numbers after about 2 years once you have instailed yours. I guess I am just a ol dumb blue collar guy that's a 3rd generation carwash operator that doesn't know anything about the carwash business best of Luck to you and the guy that wanted (Opinions) of this concept that started this thread.

Sorry Thomas I assumed you never used one because you said you don't put the car in park. I'm sure you really do care about not letting members here getting hosed or snowed. We do not have the years of experience that you have and do take your opinion and other members here to heart. With that being said I do want to put out a few facts about this location in case anyone is interested in why I think it probably won't make it. It is owned by someone who had an old used tire shop he tore down to build this wash. The average daily traffic count is 11,000. The median household income in the immediate area is $27,500. I don't have access to any of those programs that can do a radius demographics but I can tell you it does not get much better for several miles. The area on the other side of the street from that wash has a median household income of $19,700. I have never been to the area but on the Google's street view it looks a bit rough but maybe Thomas can verify. Seriously this wash owner is the guy that got snowed and hope he doesn't have a big payment. I'm not going to share the address publicly but you can PM me or Thomas to get it.

 

[OurTown]

There used to be some drive through touchless tunnels in California. That concept had a series of follow-me lights along the side that paced the customer's speed.

 

[washnshine]

There used to be some drive through touchless tunnels in California. That concept had a series of follow-me lights along the side that paced the customer's speed.

“Follow Charlie Pressure Washes” - was that them? An old timer told me about them once.

 

[OurTown]

Too many folks get mad about simpke things on here. Wussification of 'Merica.
Tdl has given me as much sound advice as anyone (yeh & Randy). Ha.
OurTown, I think that Autec guy, giving put hige discount codes, does inglate those wash counts. However, maybe it's just to show how the #'s get real high, & it's reliability...? You believe in this concept, & TFL doesn't. He prolly just didn't want someone to make the same mistake his friend did....? I will admit, it sounds cery interesting, but after listening to some guys, i think "proceed with caution"...

I agree about the numbers being skewed on Autec's factory wash. Like you said it is just to showcase what it can do as far as volume per day and its longevity. Sooner I would not proceed with caution on this concept but completely check out any company or concept. This in-bay-express has its place in some instances.

 

[OurTown]

“Follow Charlie Pressure Washes” - was that them? An old timer told me about them once.

It might have been called that and had a catchy name like that but as you some old timer told me about them too.

 

[OurTown]

Here is a Coleman Hanna 24' drive through.

 

[washnshine]

With these mainly being in dealerships there probably aren’t several wash packages and extra options. If you went with this in a commercial wash with lava, underspray, trifoam, polish waxes etc., I don’t think you could use the computer to measure the car and activate parts of the wash. There would be no consistency in speed and you’d either have stuff coming on early, late, or not lasting long enough. Also big potential for chemical waste.

In the dealerships it seems like you just have to activate the detergent and rinse and maybe a blower. Probably can be done with some photo eyes.

 

[washnshine]

I was just re-reading this thread and thought that someday - with self driven cars or at least cars that assist the driver more and more, there might be a “car wash” mode that you can put the car in and it stays at a steady 1-2 mph. We might all be able to be conveyor free someday lol!

 

[soonermajic]

OurTwon, have you got your's up & running yet? If so, thoughts? My buddy is set to Open March 1st. Im excited for him, & nervous & anxious to

Pretty good thread. So ttt...

 

[OurTown]

Nope.

 

[soonermajic]

When's opening?

 

[OurTown]

Not exactly sure because we are having a difficult time finalizing a contractor. Our project is a little more complex because we are doing a fair amount to our existing building and lot. There's so much work out there for them right now that they are really cherry picking jobs and don't really want our small but complex job unless they pad it a bunch.

 

[soonermajic]

Awh man, that sucks. Wondwr if there's another competent builder?

 

[OurTown]

There are plenty but they are busy enough around here most seem to be not be super excited about it. They are looking for low hanging fruit.

 

[Roz]

How long is the tunnel? Our IBA is 40' with off board dryers. Trying to figure out if there is greater potential than just an undercarriage, with a long drive to the IBA park area.

 

[OurTown]

65' building.

 

[mac]

I don't have much experience with this concept except at car rental agencies. Even they manage to screw it up every now an then. A mitter will simply NOT clean bugs off of a car, or much dirt either. Period. The only experience I had with Tom Hobby was when I worked in Texas. He made me a distributor and boy was I proud . For a while. Had a good lead in Arkansas and had him give me a price so I could sell it to the lead. I made the mistake of telling Mr. Hobby where the lead was. Well what do you know? Turns out Mr. Hobby went there and sold him the machine cheaper than my distributor discount. Welcome to car washing. If Mr Hobby wants to sue me or beat me up, I'm easy to find.