"new surface sealants"

[chadrpalmer]

ryko pro, you refer to "new surface sealants" what do you have in mind with that statement? our biggest shortcoming, as i see it, as that our cars are not as dry as i would like...have tried a ton of drying agents, none have done what i want...any advice, in general out there?

 

[addicted2cleancars]

Hey Chad, One advise I can give you from experiecne is not always look at your Drying Agent as your prodlem for not getting a dry car. Look at your soaps. If you are not using the proper ph soap, then that can hinder your drying ability. I have made a slight adjustment on my soaps and got much better drying. Do you use reclaim? Type of wash? What chemicals & Set up?

 

[chadrpalmer]

reply

exterior express wash, custom reclaim, 15 heated blowers, twenty five or so feet of drip space from spot free rinse to first blowers...blowers are blowing as hard as they can without blowing things off cars regularly...ph of car seems good, slightly acidic by the time it hits r.o. local chem supplier...good stuff, rinses well...low ph, then high pressure, then an acid bath and friction, then hp rinse, rinse aid, r.o., then blowers

 

[Washmee]

ryko pro, you refer to "new surface sealants" what do you have in mind with that statement? our biggest shortcoming, as i see it, as that our cars are not as dry as i would like...have tried a ton of drying agents, none have done what i want...any advice, in general out there?

How dry are you expecting? 80%,90%,100%?

 

[chadrpalmer]

how dry?

95-98%, as well as you can quantify dryness...how would you quantify it?

 

[Washmee]

95-98%, as well as you can quantify dryness...how would you quantify it?

What ever amount of water that is left when dry is invisible to the eye. You reach a certain point where the laws of diminishing returns come into play. Do you want to produce a "perfectly dry car"? It might require huge investments in either labor or equipment to acheive. How would you rate your drying effectiveness now?

 

[chadrpalmer]

i would say we are 80-85 percent dry, express exterior, so labor is out of the question for drying, already have a huge investment in this place, talking over seven million, i am the operator, not the owner, so i do not have complete say over spending, but i have a strong influence....if i can prove ill provide a much dryer car, it will happen...

 

[Washmee]

i would say we are 80-85 percent dry, express exterior, so labor is out of the question for drying, already have a huge investment in this place, talking over seven million, i am the operator, not the owner, so i do not have complete say over spending, but i have a strong influence....if i can prove ill provide a much dryer car, it will happen...

What kind of conveyor speed are you running? How many seconds does it take to travel 10 feet? It seems like you have a good setup. What drying agent are you using?

 

[RykoPro]

It sounds like you have plenty of dryers, you just need the water to break and bead better before the dryers. The best /easiest/cheapest way to do this is with a surface sealant. It is about the same price as a premium clear coat sealant. I really like the Ryko product (Rain Shield) and there is at least one other brand that is about the same quality. Ryko has an offer on their web site to try the rain Shield for free. You get 5 gallons no strings attached. 5 gallons will be more than enough for you to see the difference. Not only will the car be dryer, it will look better (shine) too! Ryko recommends you put it on BEFORE any other wax or sealant, but I do have a site that applies a tri-foam wax first. It works best if you inject about 90 PSI into the rain shield/water mixture. The air makes it look like you are putting a foaming soap on, but the bubbles break and the cars are remarkably dry even with a short drip space. Wire the air solenoid to the same control wires as the arch water valve and use a good check valve to inject the air through a 3/8" poly tube. Rinse with RO and you are done. Please let me know if you need any help setting this up.
These new surface sealants are one of the biggest advancements of the car wash industry in quite a while. As I have stated before, even the tech's were amazed at the results.
Thank you,
Mark

 

[buda]

One thing to remember in a lower-priced express wash, $5.00 to $7.00 you are not selling "perfection" you are selling "VALUE."

At $5 to $7 for a quality wash that is VALUE. It will not be perfect and most customers do not expect that. If they do tell them to go to the full service wash and pay $15 and get the hand dry and manual touchup.

Just had a discussion with a hand carwash operator (exterior only) and he was complaining the customers expected perfection.

As I pointed out, when a customer gets a hand wash they would expect perfection because a hand wash is supposed to be the "perfect" carwash, getting those areas we are not able to get in an exterior automatic wash system.

Just some well intentioned thoughts on this question.

Regards
Bud Abraham