Success factors for a good car wash

The actual heart of a car wash is, of course, the area in which the customer’s vehicle is cleaned with foam, shampoo and wash rollers and then dried and preserved.

Foam pattern and foam use in car washing

Foam not only cleans, it also demonstrates that to your customers. Choose a high-quality and foam-intensive cleaner to ensure the best results and high customer satisfaction.

While high-quality brushes provide the necessary portion of mechanical cleaning power, the use of car shampoo, car foam or similar cleaners is crucial for the chemical component of cleaning, but also for customer satisfaction.

Impressive foaming during the process illustrates to the customer the power of the service they have paid for. So skilfully showcase your facility by using foaming agents such as Caramba’s RMS Aqua Active Foam or RMS Aqua Shampoo.

In gantry systems and express wash lines, the use of highly alkaline foams already achieves good pre-cleaning. For example, the RMS Aqua active foam achieves the best cleaning results due to amphoteric washing-active substances and is therefore ideal for foam arches, portal systems or also for use in self-service wash boxes.

A good alternative is the RMS Aqua Shampoo, which is excellent to use as a brush shampoo, and thanks to its mild formula is not only very environmentally friendly, but also extremely compatible with drying aids and waxes as well as being very effective for service water recycling.

Felgenreinigung mit Bürsten zur Autowäsche

Some facts about brushes

Suitable sponges for pre-cleaning and high-quality textile or foam brushes are the decisive mechanical factor for every good car wash.

The rotating wash rollers and sponges that are so characteristic of car washes bring the mechanical component of Sinner’s circle into play. This makes it all the more important that you, as the operator, choose the right equipment here.

Sponges and brushes in manual pre-cleaning

The most common solution for manual pre-cleaning is the use of a pre-wash brush. As a rule, natural hairbrushes are used here because they are soft and also have a high cleaning performance with acceptable wear. Slightly harder brushes are only suitable for pre-cleaning the sills and rims in order to loosen the stuck dirt better.

Soft sponges are still used for manual pre-cleaning at one or the other facility. Here one should pay attention to soiling of the sponges in order not to cause damage to the vehicles. In any case, the low mechanical cleaning power of manual pre-cleaning can always be supported by the chemical factor – especially if the time factor is to be kept low. Products such as the RMS Aqua pre-cleaner from Caramba are ideal for this.

Brushes in the car wash: Polyethylene brushes

There are brushes which, due to their properties, achieve high cleaning performance through mechanical energy, but which, for other reasons, are nowadays hardly up to date. One example is brushes made of Polyethylene (PE). In fact, despite their power and relatively long life, these PE brushes have two significant disadvantages. They are unpleasantly loud and form clearly visible brush abrasion on the paint. Therefore these brushes are hardly ever used in modern systems today.

Brushes in the car wash: Textile brushes

The most common solution in car washes today is textile rollers. This material can absorb water very well and offers good cleaning performance without abrasion on the paint coat. With a high-quality textile roller, your system can easily perform 40,000 to 80,000 washes. Combined with the right car shampoo – such as RMS Aqua car shampoo from Caramba – you can achieve exactly what the customer expects.

Brushes in the car wash: foam brushes

Foam rollers are a common alternative. These have a very long service life and also do not form brush abrasion but absorb less water and perform somewhat less mechanical cleaning in itself. Success here depends on intensive pre-washing, which is why foam brushes are often used in gantry systems where intensive pre-cleaning is carried out. This type of brush also benefits, of course, from the use of appropriate chemical cleaners to support it.


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