PreSoak streaking

[soonermajic]

Brand new Petit install. My PreSoak is Quest 4WD Hi. I've also used Warsaw Wonder+.

I have most cars come out with the PreSoak streaks like crazy.
What's yalls advice?

Soft water, heat, more dwell, etc...?

 

[Waxman]

What are pre-soak streaks? A picture or three would help

For what it's worth I've always been told that you use heated water for presoak application and that all heated water is softened in an automatic touch free car wash

 

[SoakZone]

Check your water hardness. May need to regenerate the water softeners. Do a water hardness test before and after the regeneration.

 

[soonermajic]

What are pre-soak streaks? A picture or three would help

For what it's worth I've always been told that you use heated water for presoak application and that all heated water is softened in an automatic touch free car wash

Ha, not sure if you're joking. I have seen this @ many sites. WHen you have clean streaks running vertical down the sides of cars. They're hard to see, unless you look @ them at a certain angle. I am not sure that they would show up in pics...

 

[cantbreak80]

I’ve had good success with Quest 4WD Hi – single step Pre-soak.

Titration at 20-25 drops?

Air-assisted application?

Streaking could be due to excessive Pre-soak volume and low air pressure.

4WD Hi works best with warm soft water.

 

[Waxman]

If it were me, I'd have my distributor or chemical rep come out and titrate / test / adjust.

Is your water heated and softened? Were your results good when the machine was initially set up? If so, what changed? Did you experiment with more or less chemical? Adjust dwell time? Turn up water temp?

Your original post was very vague. "new petit. pre soak streaks. help." There's not enough information for us to go on there.....

 

[washnshine]

Brand new Petit install. My PreSoak is Quest 4WD Hi. I've also used Warsaw Wonder+.

I have most cars come out with the PreSoak streaks like crazy.
What's yalls advice?

Soft water, heat, more dwell, etc...?

Coach- when you say streaks, do you mean:

lines left clean
Lines left dirty
Stains

Vertical clean lines means that your presoak cleans but is not sticky enough to cling and to runs down the side too quickly. Like Can’tbreak said - increase the air so you get more even coverage and cling.

 

[soonermajic]

WaxMan, that is true. I was pretty vague.

WashNshine, I may need to make it a little more foamy & clingy. I will get with Petit & try & figure that out...

 

[soonermajic]

I’ve had good success with Quest 4WD Hi – single step Pre-soak.

Titration at 20-25 drops?

Air-assisted application?

Streaking could be due to excessive Pre-soak volume and low air pressure.

4WD Hi works best with warm soft water.

Can'tBreak80, is there a Quest PreSoak that is just as good, but has more "Foamy" properties?

My water is hot & soft

 

[GoBuckeyes]

Soonermajic, what is your air pressure set at? We run 4WD Hi boosted with Triad-Hi as our second step and its plenty clingy.

Any chance you're running it through your triple foam pods for the second pass? If so, maybe that needs adjusted. Try running it through the arms instead of the pods just to see if the striping goes away.

 

[Greg Pack]

Presoak has to be evenly applied. It can't be allowed to run down and cover missed spots. be certain you are getting 100% coverage on the first pass. If you do not it will streak. The fact that is is streaking tells me it is probably strong enough, you just need to fine tune the application.

4WD is plenty foamy in my application. I can make it look like white paint going on with my water wizards. You can try ultrasoak high or dissolvit if you like, but regardless coverage has to be even.

 

[cantbreak80]

Can'tBreak80, is there a Quest PreSoak that is just as good, but has more "Foamy" properties?

Coach,
4WD Hi is the only high pH touchless IBA presoak I offer.

Greg Pack's experience and advice is dead on...no need for me to repeat.

 

[soonermajic]

Presoak has to be evenly applied. It can't be allowed to run down and cover missed spots. be certain you are getting 100% coverage on the first pass. If you do not it will streak. The fact that is is streaking tells me it is probably strong enough, you just need to fine tune the application.

4WD is plenty foamy in my application. I can make it look like white paint going on with my water wizards. You can try ultrasoak high or dissolvit if you like, but regardless coverage has to be even.

Thanks Greg, I will work on the air & see if that makes my coverage better. I want it to look like white paint. Maybe it is not enough air...

 

[SuperShine]

A few questions,
What’s your air set at currently?
Are you using the standard light green rocket injectors?
Are you applying the presoak through the arms or layering with tri pods?
2 step or just 1 hph?

 

[soapy]

I would slow your pre soak pass down a little so you get more complete coverage.

 

[Greg Pack]

Thanks Greg, I will work on the air & see if that makes my coverage better. I want it to look like white paint. Maybe it is not enough air...

It's a fine line. I think the priority is to make sure an even sheet comes out of the nozzles onto the car. If I add too much air to my machines the presoak becomes too thick and coverage becomes uneven, resulting in the same uneven cleaning problem. I also try to apply enough product that it drips off the bottom of the car. To further complicate things, if you add too much air to an injection setup you can potentially reduce your draw of product so that needs to be re-titrared once you get the desired coverage.

Keep in mind I'm not familiar with petits, but I think the touchless cleaning concepts would apply to all machines.

APW has a petit and has used quest products in the past, maybe he can comment.

 

[AnalyticWash]

Have you checked that the water pressure is within spec coming off the LP pump?

 

[soonermajic]

Have you checked that the water pressure is within spec coming off the LP pump?

If it's too low, what would that affect?

 

[Greg Pack]

You need to familiarize yourself with your injector setup. I use hydraflex injectors on two autos and they want 180-200 psi inlet pressure going into the injector. Some people love injection systems and I like them but there are variables that affect the concentration of solution which aren't readily apparent to a casual observer. You need to titrate your chemicals occasionally too because you can't measure the cleaning strength of presoaks reliably any other way.

 

[AnalyticWash]

If it's too low, what would that affect?

You will not reach the flow rate required for a Petit to properly disperse PS onto the car with good coverage. They use such a large nozzle you need higher pressure and more flow. If you wanted to run lower pressure (to an extent) you could but you would need to slow your PS passes down.

For Petit: Spec for the LP pump with 1 injector on is 200-225PSI on the LP pump. I have seen these wired backwards before and they were only reaching about 160psi.