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Help! Tiger striping on side of vehicles

A

Axxlrod

Car Washer
We changed from a hand wash to automated last week. Today I noticed that almost every vehicle is coming out with "tiger striping" on the sides and rear. I only have one set of wraps (sonnys big man). Wraps are set at 80 rpm and chain speed is 60 cph. What could be the cause of this? Should the wraps turn slower or faster?
 
Could it be chemical application? I know that on a touchless auto, if the chemical is too foamy or the tips' spray is too narrow it won't cover well and will leave clean stripes on the car.
 
I think the neoglide was not put onto the wraps in the correct configuration. When the wraps are spinning without a car, I see way too much of the metal core. I think the neoglide needs to be removed from the core and reinserted in an overlapping fashion.

It's not a hydraulic leak and I don't think its a chemical problem. I think its a problem of the the neoglide not having 100% coverage on the car.
 
There should have been a diagram showing how to insert the neoglide. If you didn't get it I think it's in the Sonny's book. It does have an odd way of fitting together to get the coverage. Remember there's alot more neoglide on the bottom of the brush than on the top.
 
Its not uncommon to be able to see the brush core when a wrap is spinning. Try putting a little more inward pressure on the wraps. It sounds as though they are bouncing on the car. Are you using any high pressure? Zero degree nozzles can also cause a pinstripe effect if the pressure is too high. Give us more details about your setup.
 
Spent most of the day at the wash chasing this problem. I'm thinking it might be more chemical related than anything else. It rained here for the first time in 9 months 3 days ago. As soon as we re-opened after the rain passed is when this problem started. The cars are coming to us with a film on them that probably has some oil in it since it's from the first rain in 9 months. Maybe I need to switch to hi ph pre-soak? I'm using lo ph now.

The wraps don't appear to be bouncing on the cars; if anything there is too much inward pressure as the wraps fold mirrors in. The only hi pressure we use are wheel spinners, and those only come on the top packages. We are having this problem on all packages.

Do you guys switch chems when winter comes?
 
For us winter means salt which in itself is solvent. Car look horrible but easier to clean than baked on tree sap, bird droppings, and bugs. I have had on occasion had to bump up the soap solution but thats about it.
 
You might want to try a 2 step presoak. You get the best of both worlds combined with the heating effect of the 2 different ph levels mixing. Just a thought.
 
I'm going to switch to a hi-ph presoak and see if that works.

It almost seems as if neoglide is not heavy or robust enough to remove this road film. Anybody running an all-neoglide tunnel experience this?
 
Both of my sets of wraps have neoglide. I've never had a problem removing film but like I said I use a 2 step presoak. To help you might could run a high ph for the presoak, then use a low ph for your wrap foamer. The low ph will help with the glass, chrome, and drying.
 
Can you look along the side of the car while the wraps are running along it? I would think that you'd be able to see gaps in the neoglide if that were the problem.
 
I have a presoak arch first with K nozzles, than a wrap foamer with foam sticks. I was running low ph in both. I ordered hi ph presoak, and I think that should fix it.

When I watch the neoglide wash the cars, I see no way there is any gaps in coverage, but end result proves there is.

Thanks for all your help.
 
you need to describe the tiger stripe? is it dirt? If so, could be pre-soak cleaning ability or . Are the cars dry after the blower, and is the water beading after the rinse/wax stage? If not, turn up the drying agent.

good luck,
wood
 
I asked earlier about the presoak coverage but didn't get an answer - is there a good coverage before the wraps?
 
Wood, the stripes are dirt not being cleaned off the car; not spotting from water spots.

MEP, I have a presoak arch with 9 K nozzles (3 on top and 3 on each side). The car gets completely covered in presoak, but the wrap foamer is immediately following it, and the tri-foam is attached to the wrap frame. The presoak, wrap soap and tri-foam are all low-ph. I know now that I need a high Ph presoak to break down oily dirt. Hopefully this chem change will do the trick.
 
Axxlrod said:
Wood, the stripes are dirt not being cleaned off the car; not spotting from water spots.

MEP, I have a presoak arch with 9 K nozzles (3 on top and 3 on each side). The car gets completely covered in presoak, but the wrap foamer is immediately following it, and the tri-foam is attached to the wrap frame. The presoak, wrap soap and tri-foam are all low-ph. I know now that I need a high Ph presoak to break down oily dirt. Hopefully this chem change will do the trick.
Click to expand...

I think you are headed in the right direction now. What I have observed with neoglide is that it is not as agressive as cloth and unless you are using the correct cleaning solutions you will not have satisfactory results.
 
Slow your line speed down and up the pre-soak. Just like with high pressure, if you oscillate the high pressure or spin the wraps too fast and combine that with a high conveyor speed, there is not enough contact time - especially when the vehicles are extremely dirty like in the winter.
 
Well, I am still having the striping problem. I have switched to hi-ph presoak. I had my chem rep come in and help. It is better, but the cars are still not coming clean around door handles, trim, molding, indentations, adjacent to the wheel wells, and the backs of suvs. I have slowed the conveyor down to 50 cph, and am having the employees prep the sides and rear of vehicles which is impacting our volume on busy days.

I am thinking that maybe 1 set of wraps w/ neoglide is just not enough to clean a vehicle 100%. I can't think of any other wash I have seen with only 1 set of brushes to wash the whole car.

The solutions I am thinking about are switching the wrap material to cloth (but am worried about damage) or moving/re-ordering the equip so I can fit a set of van-high side washers in, but at the expense of some drip space.
 
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