I have noticed that the neo glide is leaving microscratches on the vehicles... The severity depends on what manafacturer and where on the vehicle... It usually leaves the most damge on plastic bumpers and around the mirrors... I was sold on Neoglide for awhile but now I definitly have my doubts... We have been told by Sonnys to use more soap but at what cost?... We have double our soap concentration and application on the side of the car... It would be nice if we could find something that wouldnt leave marks... I guess Consolo has it right HP first or lambscloth???? Jury still out here, anyone else have any input?
Neoglide leaving fine scratches
- Thread starter el jefe
- Start date
Neo glide
Jefe:
Cannot say for certain that neoglide causes fine scratches, but I can say that it will not clean certain "dirty" cars even with sufficient shampoo and water.
The only way I know of lessening the micro-scratching of the dirt on the finish of the car whethe you use plastic bristles; cloth; neoglide, a wash mitt or a wash brush is to insure you flood the surface with a lot of water and a lot of shampoo.
It is not so much the material doing the scratching as it is the dirty on the finish.
When I first saw "foam" 15+ years ago at Auto Mechanika in Frankfort visiting both the Italian brush company, Favagrosa who I believe developed the concept and also on the Italian equipment company, Ceccatto's equipment we asked one of the owners of Ceccatto if they had problems with the foam being too light to wash "dirty" cars. The man smiled and said, "you must be a car wash operator?"
He said, "yes that on certain dirty vehicles the foam was, in fact, too light to do as good a job of cleaning as plastic bristles or cloth."
As an operator of a 100' exterior wash a few years later I made the mistake of putting some "neoglide" in my wash, unfortunately on the wrap-around brushes and that was a big problem.
In Portland we have both a very difficult oil film first and then dirt film on the surface of the car from the constantly wet asphalt pavement and it is difficult to remove.
No matter what I did we could not get the neoglide to properly remove the oil film. When we switch to cloth the problem was solved.
Jefe:
Cannot say for certain that neoglide causes fine scratches, but I can say that it will not clean certain "dirty" cars even with sufficient shampoo and water.
The only way I know of lessening the micro-scratching of the dirt on the finish of the car whethe you use plastic bristles; cloth; neoglide, a wash mitt or a wash brush is to insure you flood the surface with a lot of water and a lot of shampoo.
It is not so much the material doing the scratching as it is the dirty on the finish.
When I first saw "foam" 15+ years ago at Auto Mechanika in Frankfort visiting both the Italian brush company, Favagrosa who I believe developed the concept and also on the Italian equipment company, Ceccatto's equipment we asked one of the owners of Ceccatto if they had problems with the foam being too light to wash "dirty" cars. The man smiled and said, "you must be a car wash operator?"
He said, "yes that on certain dirty vehicles the foam was, in fact, too light to do as good a job of cleaning as plastic bristles or cloth."
As an operator of a 100' exterior wash a few years later I made the mistake of putting some "neoglide" in my wash, unfortunately on the wrap-around brushes and that was a big problem.
In Portland we have both a very difficult oil film first and then dirt film on the surface of the car from the constantly wet asphalt pavement and it is difficult to remove.
No matter what I did we could not get the neoglide to properly remove the oil film. When we switch to cloth the problem was solved.
Earl Weiss
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Do you inject soap into the water feeds that spray on the foam? I asked a well known mfgr which lubricates better a foaming or non foaming solution sprayed on the foam. He said non foaming. I think the liquid with soap in the water is more slippery and will make the foam shed any residual dirt better than spraying foam on the neoglide or just having foam on the car.
You still need foam on the car for show.
Neo glide
Earl is correct, the foam is really for show. All that thick foam does not really do any good, it is the foam that is on the surface of the car that does the lubrication, just like shaving cream on your face. All that thick foam does no good it is only the lubrication directly on your skin.
I too would a agree that a strong shampoo application with the water is the best way to lubricate and clean the car.
Finally I would work on doing something more aggressive to get the dirt off the car before it goes into the washing part of the system.
Bud Abraham
Earl is correct, the foam is really for show. All that thick foam does not really do any good, it is the foam that is on the surface of the car that does the lubrication, just like shaving cream on your face. All that thick foam does no good it is only the lubrication directly on your skin.
I too would a agree that a strong shampoo application with the water is the best way to lubricate and clean the car.
Finally I would work on doing something more aggressive to get the dirt off the car before it goes into the washing part of the system.
Bud Abraham
Earl Weiss
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A pet peeve of mine is the way a lot of equip water feeds are set up. The feeds on a support leg for a side wheel hit the wheel more than 180 degrees before it contacts the car. A large % of solution is thrown off before contact.
I move the feed to the following piece of equipment or have even put in floor stands so the solution is applied 15 degrees or so before contact.
Wraps are more problematic. Applying from the support is Ok because they rotate the opposite way. But since wraps contact about 180 degrees around the circumfrance if you apply from a single location at some point the water won't be applied before contact or the vehicle might be in the way.
I move the feed to the following piece of equipment or have even put in floor stands so the solution is applied 15 degrees or so before contact.
Wraps are more problematic. Applying from the support is Ok because they rotate the opposite way. But since wraps contact about 180 degrees around the circumfrance if you apply from a single location at some point the water won't be applied before contact or the vehicle might be in the way.
CHOPPER7
New member
Neoglide scratching
What type of equipment you are having the problem. How old is the material? Has it been scratching from the beginning or it just started happening recently.
What type of equipment you are having the problem. How old is the material? Has it been scratching from the beginning or it just started happening recently.
Don't have enough real experience eith Neoglide to be helpful, but was a first hand witness to a wash switching over to the Lamms stuff. It wasn't a good fit. The heavier Lamms stuff slapped the car so loudly the brush rotation had to be slowed dramatically. The main issue was the ammount of "fuzz" that came off the material. It clogged everything in the reclaim system.
RykoPro
Technician/Manager
We have been using foambrite for over ten years now with very few problems. I have only heard of two instances were some one thinks it scratched a car (both cars were black). Foambrite is a closed cell polymer so no dirt or water can get trapped in the material. Quality filament poly propylene brushes do not scratch cars, they actually leave deposits of the brush when not properly lubricated. I have used brand new cloth to sand delicate areas of cars to prep for a paint job. One nice thing about foambrite is that it will tell you if you are not putting enough soap on the car. If you hear the brushes squeak during a wash (especially on tires), you need more soap.
washnvac
Well-known member
Mac: I am a s/s with ibas. I have a unit with Lammscloth. Those side brushes only rotate at 40 rpm. My units with neoglide turn much faster; at 100-120 rpm. You need the faster rpm with foam to clean; due to the lightnest of the material.
And you are correct, new Lammscloth leaves a lot of fuzz. When I put new cloth on, I clean my recalim filter about every other day for a month or two.
And you are correct, new Lammscloth leaves a lot of fuzz. When I put new cloth on, I clean my recalim filter about every other day for a month or two.
El jefe,
No way would I have the guts to put Lammscloth at the entrance of my wash process. Yes, its very gentle and conforms to the shape of the vehicle better and can be rotated at a much slower speed and creates less impact and noise on the vehcile. But I would never ever use it as my first cloth wash section without having pre-soak, foam and a good high pressure arch before it. To place the bulk of the cleaning on the Lammscloth would be a terrible mistake IMHO. By having the touchless part of the wash before the Lammscloth, you are able to get vehicles 80%+ clean save for a light film on some cars. This film can then be easily removed by the Lammscloth. This not only keeps the Lammscloth cleaner, but also prevents any significant dirt from building up in it.
Any cloth before your high pressure simply dilutes your pre-soak and causes heavy dirt build-up in your cloth (Of course this only applies to traditional cloth). However, even with neoglide, you are exposing the vehicles to the heaviest and grittiest dirt. This is plainly evident when you look at any cloth equipment at the begiinging of a car wash. Regardless of what the original color, after about 4 months or so, the part of the cloth that comes into contact with the vehicle gradually becomes (and stays) black.
The only way hybrid works best is to have all high pressure before the cloth - regardless of what kind of "cloth" it is.
No way would I have the guts to put Lammscloth at the entrance of my wash process. Yes, its very gentle and conforms to the shape of the vehicle better and can be rotated at a much slower speed and creates less impact and noise on the vehcile. But I would never ever use it as my first cloth wash section without having pre-soak, foam and a good high pressure arch before it. To place the bulk of the cleaning on the Lammscloth would be a terrible mistake IMHO. By having the touchless part of the wash before the Lammscloth, you are able to get vehicles 80%+ clean save for a light film on some cars. This film can then be easily removed by the Lammscloth. This not only keeps the Lammscloth cleaner, but also prevents any significant dirt from building up in it.
Any cloth before your high pressure simply dilutes your pre-soak and causes heavy dirt build-up in your cloth (Of course this only applies to traditional cloth). However, even with neoglide, you are exposing the vehicles to the heaviest and grittiest dirt. This is plainly evident when you look at any cloth equipment at the begiinging of a car wash. Regardless of what the original color, after about 4 months or so, the part of the cloth that comes into contact with the vehicle gradually becomes (and stays) black.
The only way hybrid works best is to have all high pressure before the cloth - regardless of what kind of "cloth" it is.
AppleExpress
carwash newbie
i am currently using neoglide in my tunnel, and really havent had any problems with it. Basically we pull the vehicle in, pressure wash the wheel wells and running boards(if applicable) and start the process. the first arch is a low ph soap, followed by a body shampoo, the vehicle also gets wheel cleaner applied via 4 cta's. Then the first set of wraps(neoglide). following this is a microclean f/b mitter and tire cleaner, just prior is another body shampoo arch, and following the mitter is a third body shampoo arch. This is also where my triple foam is applied. Next is the second set of wraps, followed by my omni system. finally the vehicle goes through a side to side mitter, followed by a drop rinse/dry agent/sealer wax and clear coat, and finally blowers. This is in a 90ft front wheel pull tunnel. only issues ive had with wraps is when people keep the vehicle in drive and run straight into them, or reverse through the tunnel.
pitzerwm
Active member
recycled water that isn't clean??
AppleExpress
carwash newbie
no, i dont think the recycled water would do it. Coming from detailing experience, and a stepfather who has been detailing for 20+ years, alot of times those fine scratches are already in the paint, its just hard to notice them when a vehicle is dirty. I run brand new vehicles through all day long and every now and then i get one that has those scratches and has never seen a carwash. I have been finding that as the neoglide "wears out" it will start to feel slightly stiffer though, and on a very rare occasion, will scratch the vehicle right at the edge of the roofline. im in the process of replacing my wraps in the next 2 weeks. this will be the first time they have been replaced in 5 years! now granted, the flow through my wash is roughly 60K a year. my other location, right off the highway and located in a 6 dealership park has replaced theirs every 2 years. they are running about 200K a year.
AppleExpress
carwash newbie
i can definately be wrong on the water, but i would think that i would see more scratches in my wash then as my pit hasnt been cleaned in almost a year.... joys of working for a dealership where if it aint broke dont spend the money to fix it.... i had to pull teeth for 3 months to get the funds to replace my wraps and mitter cloth.
