Updating Car wash tunnel

[aminanish]

Currently we have 50 ft conveyor tunnel, about 40 ft building and 5 ft extended outside building on entrance and exit. Until last month before closing we were cleaning about 800 cars & over 1000 during pollen months. We didn’t had any brushes or Mitter in the tunnel. We were basically using hand brush with stick at the entrance for cleaning/scrubbing dirt and then send car in the tunnel for rinse. It was labor intensive.

We want to update our car wash tunnel.

Should we put mitter and side brushes or go with inbay automatic from Wash world?

Any advice would be highly appreciated.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

If it's 800-1000 cars in a month, those are IBA numbers. I would put in a Washworld Profile.

 

[washnshine]

It also depends on your traffic count. You may have the volume to support a mini tunnel and may also increase your car count if you have the ability to wash more cars, more quickly and at a higher level of quality than you are currently. Nothing against your employees, but relying that much on manual labor is tough. You also may not be offering the latest sealants , protectants and dressings that are available. With a mini tunnel, you could knock your employees down to one or two. You’d also have the capacity to wash 40+ cars per hour, so there is a lot of room for growth if your location will support it. Nothing wrong with an IBA, but if you already have the conveyor, that is one of the biggest expenses in a tunnel.
Check the out Sonny’s, Peco, MacNeil, Hanna etc. They all have equipment packages that would fit your conveyor length. If you really don’t think you’ll get your volume up, go with I.B.’s suggestion.

 

[Axxlrod]

1000 cars per month won't even pay for the labor to staff the wash.

That's a fool's errand.

Put in an IBA and get rid of the labor expense.

 

[liftheavy]

it really depends on your budget, projection, and traffic... in any case you definitely need to move away from your current model.

a conveyor mini-tunnel will cost you more, but has higher throughput and better cleaning power. if you think your car wash can eventually grow to do 3-4K in car count and you have the money, i would go conveyor mini-tunnel. my personal recommendations are:
1. ncs-macneil z-frame (https://www.macneilwash.com/car-wash-equipment/brushes-2/z-frame-wash-modules/)
2. avw's z-wrap mitter combo w/ optional rocker brush (https://avwequipment.com/equipments/z-wrapmitter-combo/)
3. sonny's spyder wrap combo and pick from its many different possible configuration (https://sonnysdirect.com/parts/p/SD...fHImDga2yUTS7tZe7dYY3xwXkQ2xi98shcsoKgWZ9nvWC).

an iba will require no labor aside from your own and costs much less, but has lower throughput and reduced cleaning capabilities in general.

or you can just go full detail model.

 

[washnshine]

1000 cars per month won't even pay for the labor to staff the wash.

That's a fool's errand.

Put in an IBA and get rid of the labor expense.

But that’s my point - we have no idea if he is realizing the traffic potential of the site. 1000 is what he is doing, but not necessarily what he can do on the site. He’s obviously paying huge labor bills now by handwashing everything - a mini tunnel will be much less in labor costs compared to what he is paying now. Sure, an IBA will be less in labor, but if he’s got a spot that can wash the volume to support a mini tunnel, he’d be wasting money on an IBA that can’t keep up with his volume or causes too many drive aways due to speed. I’m curious as to what the traffic count, speeds, access etc. is.

 

[Axxlrod]

But that’s my point - we have no idea if he is realizing the traffic potential of the site. 1000 is what he is doing, but not necessarily what he can do on the site. He’s obviously paying huge labor bills now by handwashing everything - a mini tunnel will be much less in labor costs compared to what he is paying now. Sure, an IBA will be less in labor, but if he’s got a spot that can wash the volume to support a mini tunnel, he’d be wasting money on an IBA that can’t keep up with his volume or causes too many drive aways due to speed. I’m curious as to what the traffic count, speeds, access etc. is.

Good point. OP needs to tell us more about the site/location/competition.

 

[liftheavy]

competition is a factor too. if there's an express tunnel nearby, i would run the other way and go iba and advertise touch-free to hit that niche.

if OP is considering mini tunnel i assume he's got some spending capital. go grab petit accutrac and go wild.

 

[washnshine]

competition is a factor too. if there's an express tunnel nearby, i would run the other way and go iba and advertise touch-free to hit that niche.

if OP is considering mini tunnel i assume he's got some spending capital. go grab petit accutrac and go wild.

The beauty is he already has a conveyor. That is golden.

 

[aminanish]

Currently we have 50 ft conveyor tunnel, about 40 ft building and 5 ft extended outside building on entrance and exit. Until last month before closing we were cleaning about 800 cars & over 1000 during pollen months. We didn’t had any brushes or Mitter in the tunnel. We were basically using hand brush with stick at the entrance for cleaning/scrubbing dirt and then send car in the tunnel for rinse. It was labor intensive.

We want to update our car wash tunnel.

Should we put mitter and side brushes or go with inbay automatic from Wash world?

Any advice would be highly appreciated.

Thank you so much for your responses.

Unfortunately conveyor hasn’t been in working condition as it’s almost 20 years old.

Our car wash is located at a gas station. There is a express car wash about 2 miles away from station

Currently we have 50 ft conveyor tunnel, about 40 ft building and 5 ft extended outside building on entrance and exit. Until last month before closing we were cleaning about 800 cars & over 1000 during pollen months. We didn’t had any brushes or Mitter in the tunnel. We were basically using hand brush with stick at the entrance for cleaning/scrubbing dirt and then send car in the tunnel for rinse. It was labor intensive.

We want to update our car wash tunnel.

Should we put mitter and side brushes or go with inbay automatic from Wash world?

Any advice would be highly appreciated.

Unfortunately conveyor is broken and needs to be updated as well.
We are located on the gas station property.
There is express car wash about 2 miles from gas station.

According to Sonny’s width of the tunnel (15ft) doesn’t support the spyder brushes. So only options was to put 63’ side brush and a mitter

The latest quote we received was 350k includes everything from controls to menu accept air compressor and air blower. Doesn’t include vaccums as well. In addition there will be expenses for concrete, plumbing and electrical work. I am assuming it will around 400k spending before up and running.

yes we had 4 employees and our payroll was very high to revenue. We were only open from 9-5 8hr shift everyday.

 

[liftheavy]

do you mind sharing your latest quote here to see if we can help to find ways to cut cost?

lots of the tunnel components do not need to be brand spanking new or the greatest of the greatest.

i recommend you shop around carwashconsignment or talkcarwash marketplace on facebook to see if there are parts you can buy cheaper.

otherwise, i would recommend budgeting for $500k. contractor works can be costly, and commercial electrician specializing in car wash can be a lot more expensive than you think unless the install team has one. i generally also recommend having reserve cash in case something goes wrong... and it will! at least around $30-50K.

i do recommend looking into ncs-macneil's z-frame. if your tunnel is 15ft wide, z-frame should barely fit:

here's one inside a gas station tunnel that's got a tight fit:

we use ncs-macneil in all our sites, and on top of my head if you bought everything brand new...
correlator $9k
conveyor $40k
pit grates $3k
double photo eye $2k
tape switch $400
cta $1.5k
z-frame $80K
5 10hp tech 21 dryers $30K
wheel brush $20K
tire shine $20k
wheel blaster $3k
air and water panel $10K
chemical board $30K
tunnel controller & board $20K
paystation $60K
motor control center $30k
2x utility arch $4k
chemical applicators and rainbars $5k
hydraulic power pack $10k
air compressor & dryer $20k
RO spot free $8k

shipping and handling would be like $20k, sales tax would be around $10k, install would be around $80k, contractor work for concrete and electrical $30K? so roughly around $600k if nothing goes wrong. if you try to scavenge for used items it'd be around $450-500K.

this is not counting other peripherals like grand entrance arch, inspection camera arch, tunnel cameras, high pressure prep guns, etc.

if you do go the mini tunnel route, i recommend retaining the staff you have to provide both exterior (via mini tunnel) and interior service so you would hit a different market from the express tunnel 2 miles away.

 

[washnshine]

Good post from liftheavy. Probably the most important piece of info you have is your traffic count and if you are doing cross merchandising with the gas station. You will really known if the site can support a tunnel. It’s a different animal from and IBA.

 

[Greg Pack]

I tried to do a conversion to an old tunnel in the mid 2000s from a tunnel that did a lot of prep work to the new express format. Admittedly that concept was new but the customers did not like it. We were putting out a good overall car but the customers wanted the old system of customers prepping and even offering the employees tips. We cash flowed but never really succeeded before being bought out, and the buyer eventually closed down shop. I learned one thing, a low volume tunnel is the absolute worst business model to own in the industry.

I'm wondering what it is about your car wash that the customers prefer over the tunnel down the road. Why do you think they come to you.? Will whatever new model you choose be a better choice than the competition? Plus you say you've been down a couple of Months already so you've lost any momentum you've had before you reopen.

I don't know if this is a site with tunnel potential, we would still need a lot more information such as density, traffic counts, etc. Based on your information provided and your proposed budget, history of car counts, and what sounds like little existing usable equipment I'd opt for an automatic of some sort. It would literally require no labor most days. You could have a customer self prep station and offer free vacuums if you like. Explore getting tied in with the gas station for sales. You're also open 24/7.

Although I prefer the consistent clean of a friction unit If you picked a touch less high volume model like a petit 360 or Oasis Typhoon you could even try a club.

 

[aminanish]

I will post quotes from Sonny’s in couple of days as we are also getting quotes from Washworld for Razor Edge.
I will take pictures of current tunnel and post it here also.

What brought people to us was that even though we did hand car wash, we were able to clean cars better then express. We offer full service so when customer got into the car after wash everything was clean including dashboard, matts etc They didn’t need to do anything, but at the same time we were only able to process 8-10 during peak hours.


We could have make the process faster by hiring more employees at $16/hr but it would have hurt the bottom line.

New tunnel will increase the car count at least by 10-15% and also will bring in more revenue per car by offering new products such as caranuba wax/ceramic or even graphene.

But I am skeptical that with miter and 63’ side will clean the cars properly. It would still require proper prepping the front and rear bumpers rims etc.

while on other hand if we decide to with IBA, we can cut 1-2 employees and still offer hand drying, hand tire shine & interior package by putting 2-3 guys at the exit end of tunnel.
We can offer full service during 9am-5am and run early morning specials (7am-9am) and evening special from (5pm-8pm) when no employees would be present.

IBA a better way?

 

[aminanish]

I will post quotes from Sonny’s in couple of days as we are also getting quotes from Washworld for Razor Edge.
I will take pictures of current tunnel and post it here also.

What brought people to us was that even though we did hand car wash, we were able to clean cars better then express. We offer full service so when customer got into the car after wash everything was clean including dashboard, matts etc They didn’t need to do anything, but at the same time we were only able to process 8-10 during peak hours.

We could have make the process faster by hiring more employees at $16/hr but it would have hurt the bottom line.

New tunnel will increase the car count at least by 10-15% and also will bring in more revenue per car by offering new products such as caranuba wax/ceramic or even graphene.

But I am skeptical that with miter and 63’ side will clean the cars properly. It would still require proper prepping the front and rear bumpers rims etc.

while on other hand if we decide to with IBA, we can cut 1-2 employees and still offer hand drying, hand tire shine & interior package by putting 2-3 guys at the exit end of tunnel.
We can offer full service during 9am-5am and run early morning specials (7am-9am) and evening special from (5pm-8pm) when no employees would be present.

We are going to make our decision within next 2 weeks once we get quote from Washworld

 

[Axxlrod]

The MCC and chemical board are inside the tunnel. Never seen that before.

 

[liftheavy]

yeah, that's an iba.

 

[Wash Dragon]

Either way, it looks like dismantling and removal will be necessary.

 

[AnalyticWash]

I'd be pricing a Petit, not a WW Razor. You need max throughput if you are paying employees to sit on the exit.

 

[liftheavy]

I'd be pricing a Petit, not a WW Razor. You need max throughput if you are paying employees to sit on the exit.

is that even a thing? touchless iba followed by a full service?