What's new
By:
Car Wash Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Foam Brush Soap for HP?

E

Earl Weiss

Well-known member
I use KR Foam Brush soap and their HP Soap as well.

Are there different charactersts for each. Thought of simplifying my inventory by just using the FB soap for High Pressure as well. Thoughts?
 
We?ve been using KR Vanilla Cream for a long time with good results in the High Pressure gun and Foam Brush system, works great. It?s foams nice and smells good.
 
Last spring I Bought two palllets of kr's soap- used the cherry , melon, the bubble gum is my favorite. But for cleaning I don't think there is much strength. I started last fall at one location using Blendco. Click on the corner tab in the forum home page. It really reduces inventory and the brush has 10x the slipperyness of regular foam soap and great cleaning power. We throw a box of alkaline into a tank and it mixes itself when needed. The alkaline is used for everything but the wax. Then 6 gal pals are used for everything else, the dilution ratio is very high, really an impressive system.
 
With regard to Blendco I will only say been there done that, and I am done with that. I am happy with KR soap from both a cost and cleaning standpoint.
 
Well, I figured the FB soap was the one with the Foaming ingrediant and teh HP Soap not neccesarily so. Obviously the FB needs to faom, so using the HP for FB may not give the show. But, I guess your ssytem works.

I guess my quesion would be cost. The KR brand seems the least expensive product I have tried with plenty of show and cleaning power. I use other tunnel products for wheel cleaning since I do not want something with that strength and potential improper use in the bays. I also was not happy with KR products for drying agent in the tunnel. Other than those items and Rain X, and Tire shine I am all KR in the SS and Tunnel.

I had a rep from one of the name companes claim he could mach KR (Tunnel)cost per car. By the time he got done he was lucky to escape unharmed. I had reps from another company try as well. They could not do it either. My oldest reps knew they could not compete on Soap, Sealer wax and Triple foam polish.
 
Earl try the vanilla cream for both. You will not be disappointed.
I had to use it last winter for the foaming brush for a mo0nth before I placed my noraml order. I could have put half a 5 gal. pail in a 20 gal. drum and have plenty of soap.
I would order a 5 gal. pail if you don't have one and try it.
What do you for the express washes for soap?
I've been using TWB and it cleans everything great but the price is a bit high.
 
I use KR Cherry in the Tunnels. Was using Purple passion Pre -Soak and the cherry. Ran out of the pre soak at one place and told the guy to just use the Chherry in both applicators until the Shipment came in. Did not notice any difference in cleaning so now we just use the Cherry fo bot the pre soak and Foam soap app in the tunnels. Still use the purple passion Pre soak in the SS pre soak so the customer gets the different aroma. Maybe I will use the Cherry I that pre soak as well since the gun produces other aromas than the Foam Brush. I use the KR Orange cream in the HP.
 
Blendco has done a great job for us. I love their mix system and results. My personal experience has been all good.
 
I don't understand why you would want to skimp on the high-pressure soap. If I were paying for something and found out that it was not what was promised, I wouldn't be happy. Shouldn't the high-pressure soap have a cleaning ability to it?

I run ours stronger than a lot of local washes run their presoak, and I get regular positive comments and compliments as well as people telling me "Xxxx wash down the road sucks! I can get my car cleaner with just a garden hose at home than with their spray!"
 
I run my soap so it looks almost like spray paint coming out of the gun. I?ve had customers comment that the soap grows on the car. I run the Foam brush so it?s little on the runny side, some operators like it dry, like shaving cream. I like it runny.
 
MEP001 said:
I don't understand why you would want to skimp on the high-pressure soap. If I were paying for something and found out that it was not what was promised, I wouldn't be happy. Shouldn't the high-pressure soap have a cleaning ability to it?

I run ours stronger than a lot of local washes run their presoak, and I get regular positive comments and compliments as well as people telling me "Xxxx wash down the road sucks! I can get my car cleaner with just a garden hose at home than with their spray!"
Click to expand...


Not sure if i was directed to me. IMNSHO the soaps all clean. Although an aggressive solution may clean a little better with only HP and no contact, I feel contact is the key whether it be a tunnel or SS. No contact requires intense chemical monitoring, High Volumes and pressures found only in some IBA and tunnel equip which I feel is not a safe environment for close uneducated customer contact. Bill Consolo frequently posts in the Tunnel forum. At one type he wwas a touchless guy and even he acknoledges how it is extremely difficut to gety a car clean without contact. So, it is not an issue of skimping. The product cost is about the same. It is really an issue of simplifying inventory and also conflicting aromas. Sure, the SS customer likes a change in Aroma at the gun for different items. I thinlk that is great. But, does there need to be a change from the FB to the HP? Or from the low pressure pre soak to the HP since the change in pressure shows the selection has changed. I am thinking the FB soap may even give a better show in the HP soap and pre soak.
 
Earl if you use the KR orange creme for high pressure why don't you try it as your F.B. soap at too? You'll get great foam.
The price of either product is about the same and it would simplify ordering.
I wished I would have done that this year because I ran out of hp soap.
This year I switched over to KR sonic soap, the guy at KR told me to try it, because I was getting to much soap snot. I haven't had a problem since.
It doesn't have the distinctive smells as orange/vanilla creme but the customers seem to like it.
 
It's always interesting reading the reactions of different operators to the same product. With regards to Blendco, which I sell, the person setting it up can make it or break it. If it's set too strong, which many reps seem to do, it will clean like the blazes, but cost a lot. I've found that the factory recommended settings should be used as a guideing place to start. I can usually drop down a couple of tip sizes and still get good results. I highly encourage Blendco users to do the same.
 
Here's my 2 cents,

I used KR Orange cream, but it would stick to the wall in the winter and look like rust. Changed to Vanilla cream and that was nice...but too expensive and poor cleaning power (mid pH). Even with the Monster soap special (buy 3 get 1 free), it still winds up being about $10 a gallon.

I switched to Kleen Track 2A and it's about $7 a gallon. It foams nice and has a "clean smell" to it. I can also buy it in 30 gallon pails so I'm not always switching 5 gallon pails). Since my presoak is alkaline, the acidic HP soap complements it good and cleans way better.

BigLeo
 
Earl Weiss said:
Not sure if i was directed to me.
Click to expand...
It was directed more toward the thought that most foam brush soaps are very poor cleaners on their own. They're designed to lubricate the brush, make foam, color and smell, and the brush itself does most of the cleaning.

Some believe that the high-pressure soap isn't meant to clean a car - that's what the brush is for. I agree to a certain extent, but the high-pressure soap should do something more than put on a show, otherwise customers will stop spending their money on it. We have a lot of regulars who wash 2 or 3 (or more) times a week and never use the brush at all. If they couldn't keep their cars clean that way, surely they would stop.
 
As many have stated, foam brush soap does not have the cleaning power that a decent presoak does. The high pressure definitely does some of the cleaning but without a presoak lifting the soils off the surface the high pressure would not work as well. I would consider consolidating my inventory only if it not only made it easier to inventory but also maintain quality at the wash. In this case the answer is no, it doesn't do both.
 
Bigleo,
I've been testing the KR Vanilla Cream in antipation of changing to it when the free shipping kicks in during April. Are you diluting the Kleen Track 2A the same as you did the Vanilla Cream? I couldn't find the recommended dulution on the KR website. I'm thinking I should take a look at that also before the big order that will lock me in for a year.

To answer the original question, To get ready for my anticipated change to KR's FB and HP soap, I am using FB for HP at some locations and HP for FB at other locations to deplete my current stock before my KR shipment comes in. They both work well for the other.
 
Ghetto Wash, I don?t believe you dilute the Kleen Track 2A at all. To get the best results from the KR S/S Ultra concentrates it?s a good idea to read the label on the container and use it as directed, add 10 gallons of water to 5 gallons on concentrate. That brings the cost down to about $3.20 or so a gallon before it is used in the Hydrominder. I got a call this afternoon from an operator who was trying to hook up 5 gallons of Cherry Blossom. I guess he has a heck of a mess, red soap on everything. He couldn?t understand that you have to premix it before you use it in the Hydrominder.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top