How many towels would you run through? When we use towels they get all damp/dirty and useless after 2 cars at most, just smearing a soggy, semi-dirty rag on the windows. It doesn’t seem like a “quick towel dry” is feasible
I’m using big premium microfibers
These were not microfiber towels. They were those Shamwow towels that the funny looking guy used to sell on TV. I always thought they were just another infomercial scam until I used them doing that job and they are the best drying towel I’ve ever used. You’d just get the best forearm workout of your life wringing it out after 4 or so cars.
Follow up - we have cleaned 1000+ cars this week. It took us around 16hr for each round of 500. Cars look good, few outliers get touched up on the final walk around as we count the cars for the invoice.
Congrats, amigo! Did you have any issues you weren’t anticipating?
Honestly, not many surprises. The car squeegee was a game-changer. At first I was definitely scratching my head trying to only use the smaller microfibers.
Other than that, biggest challenge is maneuvering around the cars. When they’re parked back-to-back in rows it’s hard to get through the backs, then if you keep spraying nearby it will mess up the guy drying.
But what we did is just run our hose up the middle of the row, then spray away from the backs to the fronts to avoid overspray on the dry cars.
We were worried at first the cars would look terrible but they honestly look good
What is this? Got a link?
That is probably one of the most challenging parts. Just keep in mind, your expectations are probably considerably higher than anyone associated with the dealership. They don’t care if they are spotless, they just want them out of there. So don’t fret too much on making everything perfect. This is coming from a former car salesman. I’ve sold cars that haven’t even been through detailing yet.
Great job. I hope these new accounts help you achieve your goals this year. Just don’t forget too make time to enjoy some of that hard-earned cash!
If you ever decide to go the pure water route, you probably want two or maybe even three 4x40 RO membranes in parallel, followed by a small DI filter. Small booster pump will improve efficiency of the membranes, but isn’t strictly necessary.
A few guys on the WCR forum have built their own RO/DI systems and could probably help with specifics.
As said before, I’d get a 4gpm belt or gear drive machine for the job. You could probably build a machine with a harbor freight engine and a gearbox from Envirospec for around 1200. Get a spare pump and rebuild kit in case the DI water burns through the seals, but my guess is you’ll still get 1000+ hours out of them running DI (just my gut sense, here)
Glad your first run through went smoothly!
Why would the di water burn through the seals?
Leeches minerals from the pump seals
