Dual foam brush

[soapy]

I had this idea at the ICA show. This is a rough mockup of a dual head foam brush. One side is regular hogs hair and the other a small tire and wheel brush for extra scrubbing power and to get into tight places on the wheels. To make it I used 1 - 1/2 T , 2- 1/2 threaded nipples, and 1- 1/2 inch street L. Other than being slightly heavier than a regular foam brush setup it seems to work well. I did have to thread the wheel wizard using a 1/2 inch tap. Still working on foam control, with this setup foam comes out of both brushes at the same time. Thoughts or ideas?

 

[I.B. Washincars]

I can't view the picture.

 

[soapy]

It is coming up for me when I pull up the thread.

 

[washnshine]

Looks like a neat idea, but I think it needs to have definite flow to one brush or the other. With it flowing to both heads all the time, wouldn't you have about a 50% or so decrease in product for whichever one you are using? I think some customers would be unsatisfied if they are washing their car with the hogs hair brush and see all the potential foam running out the other side.

Maybe if you watered down (less air/more solution) your soap solution enough, gravity could help more solution get to whichever head is "down" or angled lower. Whatever surface you are brushing would impact this too. You could probably get closer to all the foam coming from one head if you were brushing horizontal surfaces - trunk, roof , hood, but the side surfaces would be harder to get the flow to one head or the other.

Congrats on a new idea!

 

[soapy]

I played around with it a little today and I think it will be best to just have the foam come out of the hogs hair brush. A sign instructing them to soap up the tire and wheel with the hair side and scrub wheel with wheel brush. I had lots of foam coming out of both but it will be easy to block off the tire brush so it does not foam. I could add small gate valves but then I think it would be getting to heavy.

 

[DiamondWash]

What about the weight, would it be an issue for some customers to hold? I like the concept, did you pitch it to Erie Brush at the ICA?

 

[soapy]

Erie brush told me it would cost them $100,000 to recast a new head for a dual brush, Universal said $30,000 to recast, so both showed no interest. Kleenrite and Etowah valley showed interest and might be working on their own version soon. Having the 2 brushes coming off one handle seemed to be best way to proceed for this. The dual brush with aluminum handle weighs less than a single brush with a galvanized handle. If a aluminum handle with a welded in T was made and a aluminum fitting to go from the T to the wheel brush it would be lighter than my trial version. The dual brush setup will require a modification to the wall holder but I can see several low cost options to do this.

 

[Jim L.]

I.B.
I couldn’t see Soapy’s picture either when using my Internet Explorer browser. I changed to my Chrome browser and the picture showed up just fine.

 

[Earl Weiss]

"Thoughts or ideas?"
1. Looks like it will break easily where the Brush is T'd Off.
2. Have wobbleheads now to cut down on free use. This makes it more likely to use one for free.
3. If you just want a scrubbing option an entire seperate brush and handle could be provided without soap flow. Just some sort of cabling from the ceiling to keep it from disappearing.

 

[MEP001]

I've thought the same thing with using some sort of cabling, I'd want to use a coily hose with a cable through the center on a rewind reel that's locked from pulling down until the tire brush option is selected. It would have to be a very gentle rewind so customers wouldn't have to fight it to use it. I wouldn't want to have to replace a worn-out brush from people using their own wheel cleaner and a "free" tire brush.

 

[soapy]

The brush is plenty robust, I think the aluminum handle would break before the tire brush assembly. I thought about a tire brush alone but figured people would just try to use it for free.

 

[Earl Weiss]

I've thought the same thing with using some sort of cabling, I'd want to use a coily hose with a cable through the center on a rewind reel that's locked from pulling down until the tire brush option is selected. It would have to be a very gentle rewind so customers wouldn't have to fight it to use it. I wouldn't want to have to replace a worn-out brush from people using their own wheel cleaner and a "free" tire brush.

I think Ton Hoffman has the setup with a separate boom and wheel brush. A wobblehead handle would reduce the freeloaders.