What's up in Ohio?

[washnvac]

I have just recently traveled to Ohio from Delaware with my wife and kids. Ofcourse we got caught in a rainstorm for a few hours, so the black Yukon is pretty dirty. In Zainesville I drop my wife to the Hobby Lobby, and I go to the nearest car wash. It is an express tunnel, with a water wizard attatched. The tunnel is closed, so I run through the wizard. On that first soap pass, I can tell it ain't going to be a good wash job. Then the hp comes on, super fast pass with a clear break in the top boom hp line. I get back to pick my wife up, and the Yukon looks like this: /////////// Yep, tiger stripes all down it. It looks worse than before I washed, especially the russian "eyebrows" on the windshield; hood still totally dirty. What a waste!

So the next town we hit is Dresden, where we are staying at a B & B. There is a little 3-bay s/s just down the street. So I unload, and run down there to get this car clean. I go to the first bay, insert the money, turn on pre-soak....no pre-soak. Turn on hp soap, no soap or hot water and only about 800 psi. OK, it is only $.75 for three minutes. So I go to next bay for the heck of it. No pre-soak, no soap, no hot water, and boom swivel is leaking badly. Now I am thinking WTF?

Next day on the other side of town I see a newer wash with a hydro-spray. I think, this will probably do it. Get in the wash, it does what appears to be two nice heavy soap passes. I think, good maybe I will be clean now. After car dries...nope. Still unbelievaly dirty. I guess all that show was just foam brush soap. And those tiger stripes are still there, too.

In Columbus today, I find a newer 2-iba with Vector Rapid Washes. I always see these in the mags, so I thought I would give this a try. Went through, wash appeared to be pretty decent from inside the vehicle perspective. But guess what...when it dried, I had major streaking on the hood, and significant spots from mirror drip out, and the rear was very dirty.->

 

[washnvac]

(con't)
My point in all this ranting is that results from washes like these hurt all operators that run a good (not perfect) show. I run friction units at my four washes. A basic wash on my Nu*Star machine with foam will get my vehicle cleaner than the top wash package on these touchless units. The touchless guys can not skimp on the soap for their units. Or you will get results like I got. I guess I will have to wait to get my vehicle clean when I return to Delaware on Wednesday.

OK, I feel better now. I just get so aggravated when operators put all this money into a facility, just to let it not be run properly. Again, it hurts the good operators, too.

But like I said on another post, it would not be competition if we all operated the same. But the fact remains, out of four washes in Ohio, I could not find one that was satisfactory.

 

[Whale of a Wash]

I just visited about 30 washes in conn,mass, and N.H, I found some washes that I thought were awesome, and some that should be condemned. I just went to one about 100mi from my house and the car wasn't very dirty, I just wanted to try all his functions, on a wash that is for sale. The spot free spotted my car so bad, i thought it etched the paint. I find it to be hard work to run just an(average) wash. . I'm sure alot of them also have other jobs, and then can't find the energy needed to run the wash. Maybe all those washes you went to, could make more money with just a few minor tweaks to have everything working, and washing better.

 

[DivineSuccess]

I run friction units at my four washes.

Touch free washes will never get a car as clean as friction. You gotta compare apples to apples.

 

[Waxman]

No need to turn this into a friction vs. touchfree debate. Besides, he used SS, too, and last time I checked there was a thingy called a foamy brush and I'm fairly sure there's friction involved in using it.

I, too, have seen poorly run carwashes all over the place. The few good ones are the exceptions IMO.

Many investors seem to have the idea that this is an absentee owner-type business. I can say that it is not. Being at the carwash every day gives me a distinct advantage over competitors, C-store washes and fly-by-night detailers.

Luckily, there are places like this forum where 'standards' can be discussed and opinions shared about what 'clean' and 'fully functional' mean.

There are good and bad in every type of business, from your carwashes to hospitals to pizza shops.

 

[washboy]

Well in slower lower I found 4 washes that are good, the rest? How do you guys keep up on your wash. Do you have a check list that you follow everyday to make sure your wash is the best? What do you do? I started using ecolab because they test the dirt on the winshield to get the best match but still have some eyebrow thru the year.

 

[rph9168]

What test to they run on the windshield dirt?

 

[washboy]

they will take a sample of your windsheid dirt with a plastic blade then tell you the break down of the soil in your area and what is the best product for your area. waiting to see if it works.

 

[rph9168]

Sounds a little like "smoke and mirrors" to me. The road film on windshields is relatively similar in all parts of the country. Any soils unique to your area are suspended in the film. Road film's composition may change from season to season depending on the climate especially where it snows. The nasty film that is hardest to remove is usually oil based from abraded tires, oil, and other petroleum products that come off the roads and end up on your windshield. If that bond/film is broken, those other soils that are suspended in that solution will be removed. Since you are still getting some eyebrow you obviously are having trouble removing the base of the problem - oil based soils or film.

 

[Waxman]

I run cars thru my IBA daily and check functions on ss daily. No rocket science, just testing things daily to make sure they work. and I keep things tidy. I titrate the IBA, and do volumetrics. If presoak is sputtery, foam isn't proper, I fix it.

 

[soapy]

Rain on a hot day while driving long periods is the toughest kind of film for a touchfree wash to remove. Layers of oily road film may not get removed by any chemical without friction. You said in your post that you had this type of film you had. This is generally my biggest challenge with touchfree washes in the summer. Pretty easy to get cars clean in the winter with a touchfree.

 

[washnvac]

Yes, I admit it was probably fairly tough dirt. Here is my point. I spent over $30 at four different washes, yet my vehicle was still dirty. As a consumer, I do not care if it is friction, touchless, self-serve, cosmic, waterless, ninofied, etc. I spent money at a car wash to get my car clean. If you are running touchless, and you can not achieve a reasonably clean vehicle or a vehicle without steaks or spots, I gotta say send it to the scrap yard. This is mostly why I have 6 friction machines at my washes. I do have one Water Wizard at a wash I bought; it was already installed. It took a LOT of tuning in but it now provides a great wash, even on the eyebrows. When I bought that wash, I decided that if I could not get the Wizard to provide a good wash on a dirty vehicle, I was going to take it out. By adjusting the chemical tremendously, and slowing the wash pass way down, it provided the results I was looking for. Ofcourse I am able to use my black vehicle as the test car. As well, I was not just picking on Ohio. I was just really frustrated. Believe it or not, I just can not stand a dirty vehicle.

 

[Chiefs]

No need to turn this into a friction vs. touchless debate. We operate our 150 tunneltouchless from 1986 until 1997 when we added Lammscloth after the touchless wash and turned our process into a hybrid and went from full service to express exterior. Results: We cut chemical costs (pre-sopak and drying agent) by two-thirds and increased cleaning from 80% (thank God) we were full service at that time as we wiped off a lot of dirt and if the vehicle was really dirty had to re-wash it and apply friction with brushes before re-washing or else it would not come clean no matter how many times we sent it back through.

Simply put, IBA's at best help people keep their vehicle kind of clean. Friction and hybrid washes actually get vehicles clean and for a lot less cost and with a lot less headaches other than a very occasional damage claim which we limit to a whip antenna here or there, a side view mirror or a rear window wiper balde on a mini-van or SUV. We wash around 85,000 cars a year and have around $2,500 in damage claims that we accept. That's a pittance compared to the amount of money we would spend annually on chemicals.

We are very proactive when it comes to a dmage claim, we have forms for customer to fill out if we are not on site, have a body shop nearby that we send people to and follow up after the repair to make the customer is satisfied with the repair. Despite the cost, a dmage claim also represent an opportunity to demonstrate to the customer how professional and reputable you and your facility are.

 

[Waxman]

Don't ignore what many operators and customers refer to as the best, most efficient and low-cost way to wash a car; Self-Serve! Friction is involved, it's fast, you get some exercise and the car comes out as clean as you'd like it!

 

[washnvac]

Chiefs- I agree totally. We are getting paid to provide a service, and that service should meet or exceed the customer's expectations.

 

[Chiefs]

It's always fun to wash at a self serve in Ohio in January when its 3 degrees with a windchill of -10. Funny though, when its that cold you never see many people at the self-serve.

 

[Waxman]

people wash at my SS in all types of weather. Otherwise, I wouldn't need floor heat.

 

[pitzerwm]

The difference is being successful and owning an orphan/dumb investment