Speed up my Mark VII Softwash

[8th Street Car Wash]

To all the experienced friction operators out there that put out an excellent car every time, any tips would be fantastic. My top wash is coming in at around 8 minutes from the start to the end of the driers. My machine is a 2018 Mark Vii Softwash. We asked our distributor to set us up with the absolute best washes possible, but I'm thinking we could possibly remove some passes? My passes are as follows:

Best:
--> High pressure rinse
<-- Tri color foam + tire cleaner
--> brushes + shampoo
<-- brushes + high pressure wheel storm
--> high pressure rinse
<-- ceramic + rain... product
--> extreme shine wax
<-- Spot free rinse
--> dry
<-- dry

Better:
--> High pressure rinse
<-- Tri color foam + tire cleaner
--> Brushes + shampoo
<-- Brushes + high pressure wheel storm
--> High pressure rinse
<-- Rinse (to bring to other side of bay)
--> Rain... product
<-- Spot Free
--> dry
<-- dry

Good:
--> High pressure rinse
<-- Shampoo
--> Brushes + shampoo
<-- Brushes
--> High pressure rinse
<-- Rinse
--> Rain... product
<-- Spot free rinse
--> dry
<-- dry




A couple other things...
I know I have too many rinse passes, but to add all the products that I wanted, this is how I was set up.

I know from other threads that I probably don't need ceramic, rain...product, AND extreme shine wax. I would have gotten rid of extreme shine when I added ceramic, but my customers have grown so accustomed to the purple wax that they feel skimped if they don't get it.

I like starting with high pressure because we have so many muddy vehicles here in Western Washington State that it helps knock off the big chunks instead of pressing them into the paint.

Can you layer rain...product/ ceramic directly on top of the soap for your brushes, or do you HAVE to rinse first?

 

[chaz]

I would only offer trifoam on top wash, (that would also eliminate one rinse in the wash). What are u charging

 

[8th Street Car Wash]

I would only offer trifoam on top wash, (that would also eliminate one rinse in the wash). What are u charging

I like the thought of having one less rinse pass.
My pricing is $14, $16, $18 and I increase pricing every other year.
Last month: 50% top wash, 26% middle wash, and 24% bottom wash

 

[washnshine]

A few questions:

Do you need 2 brush passes on every package? Can you do one on the lowest or even the lowest and the middle? Also, from what I have seen with these machines, having both the top brush and side brushes wash the front and rear slows things down a lot. Can you program the top brush to just wash the top surfaces and let the side brushes only cover the front and rear?

Additionally, can your trifoam be applied while you have your first brush pass? Can one pass with your dryer work? I would imagine it is still a slower speed that someone would drive through freestanding dryer, and with sfr, you don’t have to be quite as concerned with extra droplets.

Do you want every package sped up? It seems like you could just cut the time on the lowest two, but part of the top being the top would be all the cycles. You do have 10 passes on every package.

 

[8th Street Car Wash]

A few questions:

Do you need 2 brush passes on every package? Can you do one on the lowest or even the lowest and the middle? Also, from what I have seen with these machines, having both the top brush and side brushes wash the front and rear slows things down a lot. Can you program the top brush to just wash the top surfaces and let the side brushes only cover the front and rear?

Additionally, can your trifoam be applied while you have your first brush pass? Can one pass with your dryer work? I would imagine it is still a slower speed that someone would drive through freestanding dryer, and with sfr, you don’t have to be quite as concerned with extra droplets.

Do you want every package sped up? It seems like you could just cut the time on the lowest two, but part of the top being the top would be all the cycles. You do have 10 passes on every package.

We did try a single brush pass when we first opened on my bottom wash, but weren't able to get vehicles clean enough, so ended up going to two passes on every wash. Same problem with top and side brushes not hitting both ends of the vehicle. If the top brush doesn't hit the front and back we end up with a 10"skunk stripe.

Running the tri-foam during the first brush pass is a good idea, but would have to figure out a way to keep the tri-foam from flashing to a hot car, as we need something to cool down the paint before application, or white cars end up with a rainbow after the wash during hot weather.

Unless there is a different way to layer the chemical passes, I don't think there is anything I can remove from my top wash. As you said, it probably comes down to the bottom two washes, and figuring out how to get rid of one of the duplicate rinse passes and a single drier pass. 8 passes for the bottom and middle washes should be sufficient. I will see how a single drier pass works a little later when we don't have a line out front like this morning.

 

[washnshine]

We did try a single brush pass when we first opened on my bottom wash, but weren't able to get vehicles clean enough, so ended up going to two passes on every wash. Same problem with top and side brushes not hitting both ends of the vehicle. If the top brush doesn't hit the front and back we end up with a 10"skunk stripe.

Running the tri-foam during the first brush pass is a good idea, but would have to figure out a way to keep the tri-foam from flashing to a hot car, as we need something to cool down the paint before application, or white cars end up with a rainbow after the wash during hot weather.

You are applying a high pressure rinse as the first pass of every wash - tri foam should not be staining cars- you’ve just covered it with water. If it is staining, even with a pre rinse, you need to get a tri foam with non- staining dyes. Plenty of manufacturers make them. Every Ryko machine I have ever seen puts the trifoam on as the first function / often without any type of pre rinse. This should not be a problem especially with a pre rinse.

It’s too bad that your side brushes do not overlap. Most modern three brush machines do have a generous overlap - the tandem, profile etc. If yours does not, check to make sure it is not a matter or adjustment or a setting.
Good luck.

 

[8th Street Car Wash]

You are applying a high pressure rinse as the first pass of every wash - tri foam should not be staining cars- you’ve just covered it with water. If it is staining, even with a pre rinse, you need to get a tri foam with non- staining dyes. Plenty of manufacturers make them. Every Ryko machine I have ever seen puts the trifoam on as the first function / often without any type of pre rinse. This should not be a problem especially with a pre rinse.

It’s too bad that your side brushes do not overlap. Most modern three brush machines do have a generous overlap - the tandem, profile etc. If yours does not, check to make sure it is not a matter or adjustment or a setting.
Good luck.

Sorry I misunderstood, I thought you were speaking about STARTING with tri-color and brushes and removing the pre-rinse. We never have any staining with a pre-rinse. Only time we have seen staining is when tricolor is applied to a dry hot car.
I will look into our brush settings to see if there is a way to increase the overlap, as that could help.
I appreciate your time!

 

[Greg Pack]

A ten pass basic wash? Make a goal of good=six passes, better=eight passes and best=ten passes. My Istobals are 4,6,8, passes respectively but I have a standalone dryer and this is a five brush machine so it only requires one brush pass. Having said that, my washes are only $8,$12, and $16. With your close pricing I'm surprised you're not 75% best wash.

I've only got one machine (Touch free)with onboard dryers and I've found I can get a car pretty dry with just one blower pass-probably 90% as dry as the two pass. Now only the top wash gets two passes of dryer and the first pass is set at fast speed. If the wax is right a fast first pass will blow a ton of water off the car, then the second pass at slow speed makes for a dry car. I would experiment with one dryer pass on you good and better packages.

I love the idea of a pre-rinse for a friction but it's not really necessary if you're throwing the soap on. My basic wash starts with brushes on the first pass. Consider removing the pre rinse on the more basic washes. I mean, after all they are basic washes.

No, do not put waxes on top of soap. That will be a disaster. All foam needs to be off the car for the wax products to work properly. You could change your triple foam from a cleaning product to a wax product and rearrange in the menu if you like.

Don't know the machine but if you could speed up some rinse passes you can shave a few seconds here and there.