Foam Brushes

[Greg Pack]

In the biz since 92. Never used plastic brushes. Hog's hair brushes was the standard around here nearly twenty years ago. I am not familiar with any wash that uses synthetic bristles around here. Talking about perception- to me they sound more abrasive than hog's hair when in use. I've never used one for any length of time so I can't comment on their effectiveness, or their effects on a surface over a period of time.

As far as cost- I generally get somewhere between six months to one year out of a brush, depending on bay volume. It's not a significant expense. My guess is that the poster that mentioned the brush pancaking after two weeks used a boar-tex. Those things were a POS.


Maybe you can could do an unscientific survey and put a hog's hair on, and see if the customer notices the difference, and really cares.

 

[pitzerwm]

Perception is "their" reality. Unless we are talking physics, i,e, like Gravity. In their mind there is nothing else. Almost nothing that you can do will change their perception.

 

[MEP001]

Maybe you can could do an unscientific survey and put a hog's hair on, and see if the customer notices the difference, and really cares.

I would bet that if you put hog's hair brushes on lesser-used bays you'd see customers with the nicest cars gravitate to them.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Maybe you can could do an unscientific survey and put a hog's hair on, and see if the customer notices the difference, and really cares.

Switched to Hogs hair 2 years ago in my 8 bay. Got one comment about the brush being too limp.

AFAIAC I don't tink most notice or care. I even put up signs saying we use the finest "Hogs Hair" brushes. (Got 'em from Erie.)

USed to go to the fishing tackle store with my dad who would buy a lure and say "I don't know if it will catch any fish, but it caught me."

Sometimes I think the car wash business is like that. Operators buy stuff because they think the customers will be attracted to it when in reality the customers don't notice.

I have 4 tunnels. 3 have triple color foam wax one does not. Many customers frequent more than one place. NEVER got a comment about not having triple color foam at the one place.

At one place I put in triple color soap 2 years ago. Never got a comment about the other places not having it.

 

[rph9168]

Earl brings up a good point. I think most customers are looking at the result of how their vehicle looks when they are done rather than how it is done. I was General Manager of a chain that had all touch free tunnels. We had signs all over the place about touch free washing. I had a regular customer complain to me that he thought we scratched his car. I told him we were touchless and did not use any friction. He told me that he had been coming to our wash for years and never noticed that.

RPH

This sums it up perfectly. I bet if you polled customers, the majority has no idea what the brush is made of or that boars hair even exists.