Red Baron
Active member
My 2 new i5000s have been in for about a week and here are my first impressions:
PROs
* I like them!
* Faster than my old 5000
* Tons of options for recipe and wash adjustments
* Touchscreen feature make it really easy to count washes, time each wash, etc.
* Simpler than the 5000 (fewer hoses, no pulleys & belts)
* The new pump stands are laid out realy nice - I actually have more room in my ER with 2 units than I had with the old D&S unit.
* The new wall-maount tiny hydraulic units are very cool and take up a lot less space and are in a better/unused area (the wall).
CONs
* Side spinners are adjusted by bending the tips - seems like threaded ends would be better.
* Cat pump releases head pressure at end of wash, blowing presoak water onto back of clean car thru undercarriage bar. We flipped the nozzles from pointing to the front, to pointing to the rear to eliminate this but now they drench my camera and the bay ceiling...under just the wrong conditions I can envision this causing a heavy accumulation of ice which could fall on a car and/or pull down my Extrutech ceiling panels...thoughts on this would be appreciated.
* Gantry lids are bolted on. Scratches to the powerder coat finish while removed bolts are inevitable over time...I'll replace with some kind of hand-twist fastener.
* Small stainless ramps that cover the undercarriage bar causes cars to spin and not advance, and of course a percentage of them are too stupid to know to back up a foot then continue over the slight ramp, rather they just sit there and spin until someone with an IQ over 50 tells them how to get off the ramps. I improved this some by drilling in a series of self-tapping screws to act as studs to grip their tires.
The cons being longer than the pros, don't read too much into that; I think I'm going to like the i5000s, and, I'm washing a lot more cars with 2 IBAs now as opposed to just 1.
PROs
* I like them!
* Faster than my old 5000
* Tons of options for recipe and wash adjustments
* Touchscreen feature make it really easy to count washes, time each wash, etc.
* Simpler than the 5000 (fewer hoses, no pulleys & belts)
* The new pump stands are laid out realy nice - I actually have more room in my ER with 2 units than I had with the old D&S unit.
* The new wall-maount tiny hydraulic units are very cool and take up a lot less space and are in a better/unused area (the wall).
CONs
* Side spinners are adjusted by bending the tips - seems like threaded ends would be better.
* Cat pump releases head pressure at end of wash, blowing presoak water onto back of clean car thru undercarriage bar. We flipped the nozzles from pointing to the front, to pointing to the rear to eliminate this but now they drench my camera and the bay ceiling...under just the wrong conditions I can envision this causing a heavy accumulation of ice which could fall on a car and/or pull down my Extrutech ceiling panels...thoughts on this would be appreciated.
* Gantry lids are bolted on. Scratches to the powerder coat finish while removed bolts are inevitable over time...I'll replace with some kind of hand-twist fastener.
* Small stainless ramps that cover the undercarriage bar causes cars to spin and not advance, and of course a percentage of them are too stupid to know to back up a foot then continue over the slight ramp, rather they just sit there and spin until someone with an IQ over 50 tells them how to get off the ramps. I improved this some by drilling in a series of self-tapping screws to act as studs to grip their tires.
The cons being longer than the pros, don't read too much into that; I think I'm going to like the i5000s, and, I'm washing a lot more cars with 2 IBAs now as opposed to just 1.
