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Presoaks Stacked Or Don't Stack
- Thread starter Rickdm1722
- Start date
Did you get better results from Plummett compared to Lift Off?
Cleaning wise - not a noticeable difference.
Pop and Shine - was a noticeable difference. All I know is the increased acidity makes the ceramic perform at its very best!
More Customers commented this weekend on how long their car looks clean. For me, longevity is becoming a talked about item among my Customers.
Like I told my friend in the south - “I wasnt necessarily going for this, but its the effect I am getting from the process.”
If it keeps them from going to get an unlimited membership somewhere- then I win!
washnshine
Well-known member
Nice - glad you’ve got it all dialed in - the car looks great!
Looking at MSRP on chemquest total chemical- cost is listed as cents per ml
Plazma 66 mls @1.26=.84
Plummet 74mls@.83=.62
Total presoak costs=1.45/car
Prizm don't know
Zenith 32ml@1.7=54.4
Nova 28ml@1.3= 36.4
Estimating prizm (probably high)at .50 you're looking at total chemical costs at MSRP of less than 3.00/car. Most top ceramic washes theses days are $15 or more. The graphene package might fetch $20
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toddmullens
Active member
I thought titrations measured the strength of solutions and not the pH scale.
They do but you can still use pH paper to get a better idea about what is happening on the surface of the vehicle.
Big Chris
Member
I read through this thread and I'm interested in testing this out.
I currently do a low ph pass then a high ph pass then a high pressure rinse.
For me, this is a very simple thing to change in my PLC program.
The question I have: As we move toward summer and hotter temps, do you have any concerns with applying a high Ph on a hot car? (because of sunshine and ambient temps)
I currently do a low ph pass then a high ph pass then a high pressure rinse.
For me, this is a very simple thing to change in my PLC program.
The question I have: As we move toward summer and hotter temps, do you have any concerns with applying a high Ph on a hot car? (because of sunshine and ambient temps)
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I've always run a very strong high and never had any real issues in the Summer with 98% of the cars. I have measure car temps with an IR thermometer and some hoods are 130 degrees. But on painted surfaces I have seen zero issues. There is some anodized trim on certain vehicles that will blush from caustic solutions and I am primarily seeing that now on some Teslas. However, that could be the onboard tire cleaner doing that. But you can literally search "tesla discolored trim" and see it is a widespread issue. It seems that auto engineers don't learn from their mistakes, The problem with anodized trim has come up again and again on various car models(PT cruisers, some Volvo SUVs, and some C-class Mercedes). I think they anodize and then don't cover it with clearcoat. They discover the problem, fix it and then it happens again on another model. I've tried lower alkalinity polymer products such as synergy in an effort to minimize this but they didn't work well in my area.
Since this thread came up I will again say I feel like a dog chasing my tail. Tried chemquest last year and although it worked pretty good it was not the secret sauce for my area. I went back to Quest low/high ( CG 110/210)and it was working great all fall and Winter. Then, Spring came and I started seeing a film again following the warm rains. I pushed the alkalinity up and still no dice. Finally went the other direction by weakening the low about 25% and brought the high back down to where it was before. Now the cars are looking really good overall.
WashieCarWash
New member
How are you measuring ML usage so easy?
WashieCarWash
New member
I run low pH, dwell, high pH, then High Pressure Rinse. Get super clean cars, but we're based in Florida.
A scale is what my chemical guy uses. Measures weight of the container. Zeros is out then you can find the actual mls used on a vehicle. Depending on the size of vehicle of course.
WashieCarWash
New member
Wish there was something we can just hook up to the chemical line to see ML usage in real time. This scale method is a bit too much for me as I'm running 20 gallon containers.
I agree that would be nice although it is more of a set it and forget it thing. I’m sure all scales are different. All my chems are 6 gallon but my hi ph for auto. I buy those in 15g. His scale handles that. I’ll get a picture of what type it is this week when he comes to see me.
WashieCarWash
New member
That would be great! thank you.
washnshine
Well-known member
you mentioned some blushing on uncoated aluminum - do you get complaints from the customers? How do you handle it?
OurTown
Well-known member
Get a graduated cylinder large enough in diameter for your foot valve. I think ours are 200ml. Fill it 3/4 of the way up with your chemical. Mark or note the level. Pull your pick up tubing and foot valve out of your bucket and into the graduated cylinder. Wash a car. Pull the tubing and foot valve out and calculate the difference of chemical used. We have several graduated cylinders so we can check more than one chemical per wash. This only works with an injector system. Hydrominder set ups are more complicated to check and would like to hear how others check those.
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Very, very rarely. I see it more frequently than customers actually ask about it, which is maybe once per year. I keep some cleaner wax on hand (Meguiars D166) and it seems to handle it. Nowadays it's easy to point them to the internet and they will find issues nationwide from other owners. I then warn them it will likely happen again and refer them to the soft cloth which uses less harsh chemistry. When it doesn't happen to 99% of the vehicles on the market my view it is a manufacturing problem, not a car wash problem. Eventually every manufacturer corrects the problem once they are re-educated . Then it resurfaces somewhere else on another make and model. Teslas are the only one I know of currently with this issue but as the constant push for more efficient manufacturing and more environmentally friendly coatings I'm confident it will be a continual problem.
I've seen some people that will mark hydrominder tank levels, wash "X" number of cars, then refill tanks to that level, measuring the number of MLS needed divided by the number of cars to get a per car amount.
I tend to just mark containers with car counts and come back in a few days after 100 cars or even more. Mostly I use just write car counts on my container and use the entire container and then do the math. In my mind this is the most accurate way to get the true cost of washing with hydrominders as a large number of different size vehicles and other factors such as waste during testing, etc. are done. I do have a scale and can weigh if I have SG info but honestly I never bother.
