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gantry vs inverted L

K

kroy

New member
Thoughts on gantry style vs inverted L for touch free IBA?
I'm hearing that the gantry style units may require more maintenance, but that they do a better quality wash. I like the look of the inverted L and having a more open uncluttered bay but not if comes with more maintenance!
 
It's always a lottery guess when it comes to maintenance on any machine. I like the gantry machines that have the top spray bar profile the car. The reason is simple, it will clean better. And puleeeze you PDQ people don't bug me on this. The reason is called the inverse square law. It states that when you double the distance of a spray application, the impingement force quadruples. That is simple basic math. So look at the top spray bar on an L machine. It is around four to five feet away from the hood and trunk of a can, verses around 16" of a profiling spray bar. The L machines compensate for this by dumping lots of soap and water. Just my opinion for what it's worth.
 
Mac is right. I’ve had the L machines and hoods, trunks and windshields are a challenge - especially with bird droppings and bugs. They get grilles/front ends pretty good though when programmed for double passes.

You can also check out some machines that have inverted L designs, but offer more impact with nozzle design and oscillation. Not a profiling design, but will have more power on the tops over the traditional L design.

https://youtu.be/g7daqQnohi0

https://youtu.be/Rc-Q2F-A4zU

I do not represent or even own either of these machines. I’ve seen the Typhoon in person, but never the Accutrac.
 
I prefer gantry to clean better. Most use oscillating nozzles and narrow fan sprays. But there is a lot of stuff moving and they require more ongoing maintenance. If you have one you'd better be hands on or have a good service company local to you.

Inverted L for a more customer friendly experience and more reliability. The sprays nozzles are fixed and wider angle, resulting in less impingement on the surface. There are almost no inverted Ls in my metro area.
 
I agree with mac on the profiling of the car from a gantry style machine as distance from nozzle to car is really important. Inverted L machines do tend to get better soap coverage on the front and rear though! I do like the machines that have the soap not coming from the same nozzles as the high pressure though. This enables you to use rotating nozzles that make a huge difference to cleaning power and lowering water usage.
 
IMO it is the chemicals that really cleans a car in touchless wash. I know the maintenance is much lower on a inverted L machine. I also like the more open feel.
 
Chemical cleans the car as stated above
To many moving parts and hard access to gantry, boxey feel , floor rail etc
Just seems like too much for the customer to hit. I went with L
 
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