Which touch-free machine would you say is the best today?

[soonermajic]

Most IBA's I see have a 7' clearance. What needs to be done, to make it 7'6", or 8'?
If it's raising the roof, then I wander how much that might cost? 3 I-beams & some tin....?

 

[BBE]

Most IBA's I see have a 7' clearance. What needs to be done, to make it 7'6", or 8'?
If it's raising the roof, then I wander how much that might cost? 3 I-beams & some tin....?

nah, it's not the ceiling. It's the equipment itself. On an inverted L it will be the distance between the ground and the top of the inverted L where the nozzles are. On a gantry like a monsoon, it's the same, it's the distance between the ground and the top of the boom. Laserwashes are actually around 7 foot 2. Our tandem is 7 foot 6. An oasis typhoon is also around 7 foot 6.

However if you have offboard dryers, and they are lower than the cleareance of your automatic, then the distance between the ground and your top producer is your clearance.

I had a guy with a rack on the top of his truck try and come through a few months ago and he didn't bother to check the clearance, he pulled into the automatic at about 10mph and ripped 7 foot clearance sign right off the wall with him.

 

[soonermajic]

I understand that, but can you just mount your IBA's a little higher...thus giving you a higher clearance? Conversley, if you have a low ceiling, like I do (10'6"), can you even mount a LaserWash 4000? That is what I am working to buy, used 1 that is...

 

[WikiWash]

I don't know what autos Wiki has, but most will wash a full-size 4 door long bed truck. I have Mark VII and Wesumat and no problem. My only exception is one wash I have has just 34½' inside length. The bay is the restriction, not the auto.

The same for my friction machine I have a 40 foot bay with stand-alone dryers and I can wash a double cab with 8 foot box but it just misses the tailgate a little bit. My touch frees can fit limos in them. I had a limo service wanting me to give them a bulk discount on washes and I said no bc they are already getting a deal.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

You should have put the dryer outside. My Wesumat bay is 42' with a standalone dryer. We put it outside because of bay length, but even if the bay was long enough I would still put it outside.

 

[soonermajic]

If somebody knows whether or not a LaserWash 4000 can be mounted in a bay w/ 10'6" ceiling, lemme know. I have a tentative deal to buy a used Laser, if it fits in my bay.
Also, I'd like to mount it as high in that ceiling as possible, to gimme about 7'6". Is that possible?

 

[BBE]

If somebody knows whether or not a LaserWash 4000 can be mounted in a bay w/ 10'6" ceiling, lemme know. I have a tentative deal to buy a used Laser, if it fits in my bay.
Also, I'd like to mount it as high in that ceiling as possible, to gimme about 7'6". Is that possible?

10'4" is pdq's stated minimum height requirement for wall mounting. So if you have a brick building, you should be ok, if you need to use a standing frame, then I do not believe your ceiling will be high enough.

I do not believe you would have any room to raise it and mount it any higher. And even if you could, having owned a laserwash and an auto with a 7' 6" clearance as well, I can tell you that I guarantee the number of vehicles that want to wash that you will be able to accommodate with those extra 4 inches will be able to be counted on one hand. Unless you extend the bottom of the L you also are going to be missing the bottom 5 to 6 inches of every vehicle as well. This will leave many a rocker panel very dirty.

 

[Gabriel]

And the Winner is!!!!!!!!!!!!! You guessed it. Has been for about 9 years..

 

[WikiWash]

10'4" is pdq's stated minimum height requirement for wall mounting. So if you have a brick building, you should be ok, if you need to use a standing frame, then I do not believe your ceiling will be high enough.

I do not believe you would have any room to raise it and mount it any higher. And even if you could, having owned a laserwash and an auto with a 7' 6" clearance as well, I can tell you that I guarantee the number of vehicles that want to wash that you will be able to accommodate with those extra 4 inches will be able to be counted on one hand. Unless you extend the bottom of the L you also are going to be missing the bottom 5 to 6 inches of every vehicle as well. This will leave many a rocker panel very dirty.

I thought of raising our new touch-free to be installed at 7'6" but BBE is right you will have to put an extension on the bottom to cover the rockers. They talk about how important it is to measure the sides of the vehicle but you have to remember they don't measure the height of the vehicle. On smaller low profile cars you won't be cleaning the hood and trunk areas as well if you had the machine set at 7'6.