Looking for help on finding a chemical that would be effective at removing the wax, soap, and grime buildup on the walls of this auto car wash bay. This is my second attempt at cleaning them, I know the owner and he asked me to give it a try.
So far I have tried Muriatic Acid, Klean-Wall (Hydrofluoric Acid), and some Aluma brite that the laborer for the owner said had worked for him on some spots.
The Klean-Wall, worked decent at about 50/50 on some black spots in the self-serve bays. However the buildup in the auto is much worse. I worked my way up from a 50/50 mix to a straight application with heavy brushing to agitate, with no success.
Has anyone ever used EacoChem ABF (Previously known as GSR)? The guy said they had used that before and it worked well. In my research I found that it is Ammonia Bifluoride.
I took my pocket knife and was able to scratch off the coating fairly easy, It seems like I need a very specific product to be able to cut through this stuff. Or it is just too far gone to ever get back to a “normal color”
Also using their water which is about 120 degrees, as I do not yet have a hotbox for my 8GPM.
Their videos look promising. I requested a free sample. I had full gear on this evening while I was using the Klean-Wall. Definitely takes some strong stuff to clean these things.
I’ve tried the acids, not sure if I need a different approach such as a heavy degreaser.
Id say a really really Stout degreaser is needed here to cut through the multiple layers of wax and grime build up. The 2 toughest I know of are Hydrochemsystems HCS400 premium and Ripper 2 from a local hotsy dealer. Both will melt clearcoat and paint on semis if not diluted properly.
Its crazy expensive now to , HCS400 in 2019 before the pandemic was way under $400 for a 2 part 55 gallon drum mix, today that same prices is over $700.
With the shipping and everything id get to a local hotsy dealer in his area and get Ripper 2 , $108 for a 5 gallon pail in my area.
So the owner of the car wash was satisfied with what I did in his self-service bays. After explaining to him what all I did to the walls of his auto bay, he thinks the only thing that can strip it will be blasting. But, he thought it looked better than before and was happy.
So currently waiting for him to send me the next location he wants cleaned. Out of his 5, this one was the worst from what he mentioned. Mainly because of the block material they used, compared to tile or panels.
The next time I will clean this auto bay will be in 2 months, so I am going to stockpile a couple of the mentioned products to give a try.
