Favorite Chemical: tire shine, wax, drying agent, tire cleaner etc....

Most chemical mfrs have 1 or 2 products that stand out, better than the rest. For those that do a lot of experimenting: What's the "all star best" out there today in your opinion?

For me:
1) Qual Chem's new wheel and tire cleaner...one product...that peels the dirt off rubber and makes the wheels look better than a HF clean. It just came out.
2) EcoLab RainX...marketablity!...and with shower head nozzels my cost per car is only 10c.
3) BioShine newest product...low cost...clean drive way...next to that Q Chem silicone, Viper Shine Product, and Pad Perfect.
4) I've heard Blue Coral cold wax can't be beat for performance.

Prep Solution for hogs hair brushes - Witconate 90 flake, low cost, great
foaming and lubrication
Pre-soak- Equalizer Red - Chief's - Alkaline cleaner, low cost $117.50 to
make a 55 Gal. of concentrate
Wheel Cleaner - Equalizer -Red - Chief's
Show Foam - Witconate 90 flake - 50# bag makes a 55 gallon of concentrate for
less than $100
Polish - Body Brite by Blue Coral
Drying Agent - Cold Wax by Blue Coral
Tire Shine - Black Diamond by Blue Coral
Rain-X - by Blue Coral (though thinking of switching to Simonize's Double Bond

Bill, what kind of cost per car do you have with cold wax...a couple I've talked to were around 9c but happy with the results. Your overall cost/car must be pretty low...powders are the cheapest way to go with alkalies. I just don't like the occasional clogged jets. I prefer RainX over Double Bond.

I remember many years ago using your soap and mixing bleach with it. I guess that was for tire cleaner or presoak.

thx for the feedback,
Jim

I sell Blue Coral and CSI so I will name some products that I like that are'nt from those guys.

I think pad perfect is a good product...hmmm thats the only on I can really think of. Guess, I am more bias than I thought.

I like Filmbuster for a presoak and Body Shamoo as manufactured by Annford, Inc. Body shampoo is a versatile product - can be used in tunnel and self serves. Its a great foamer too. I realize I may be partial to these products since I distribute them too, but these two products are used extensively in my washes - they have good sudsing and clean very well. As an operator for over 20 years - I won't use nor recommend a chemical that does'nt work well.
I also like the seal and protect and Bioshine Tire Shine.

Joe

Somewhere in all of "Homer's travels" he must have seen more than Pad Perfect.... in the car wash "ODYSSEY".

Again I think BUG GOO from Lustra for prepping bugs can't be beat.

ZAP-IT, which is an interior spot cleaner works great on white walls as well as on the interior of carpets and seats.

I'm very impressed so far with the BIO-SHINE! Color me SHOCKED! The tires look BETTER THAN they did with PAD PERFECT. I haven't tried it on my truck to compare how long the shine last of if it will cover a lagre tire. But for the price (so far it was free) compared to PAD PERFECT, I think we have a winner!

Double Bond has out performed many other specialty waxes. I have been able to keep it's sale at above 30% now for 4 years. It's shine last long, the glass will bead up for weeks even in the hard Florida rains without wipers. It covers my cars (I even polish it into my motorcycle) to the point where it is not necessary to wax the vehicles. Even though I keep a good coat of wax on them, I have customer who never wax and only use DB every few weeks for years and those cars look fantastic. I have a customer who traded one in to a dealer who made a commet about how well he keep his car waxed, he told him he never waed it... only put on DB! That was quite a testimonial!

I'm ditching VISION CLEAR this week and switching to RAIN X for it brand recognition.

WONDER WAFFERS are convienant, fast and not messey. A winner for me.

ALL the rest can be substituted somewhere because except IMO a great drying agent. The chemisrty in the front maters a lot to get the car clear and ready to take the wax... that's available from many sources. But the outstanding peices of this puzzle seems to be SPEED, CONVIENACE and a DRY CAR so to me that means prepping them fast (grill, windshield, bumpers white walls, bugs) Inerior stains and after care and waxes to get them dry.

Waxes I haven't settled on YET. Seems to get a really dry car cost high $ per car.

nope, pad perfect is the only thing I have ever seen. Just kidding, I guess because I have been through a few washes that use it with my truck. I liked the results that day and the following days. A good tire dressing (to me) is worth its weight in gold. I guess thats why pad perfect is the only product I could really think of that I liked. When you deal with name brand products they all should do a good job for the most part, every company has a few flagship products that raise the bar of quality. I think that (pad perfect) is their bar raiser.

Finding the right chemicals is similar to the "Odyssey" or maybe the more modern version "O Brother, where art thou". Remember the scene where the Bible salesman(John Goodman) takes the boys out for a wooping under the oak tree and the women bequile the three by the river. I've wandered down those difficult paths in search of the "right stuff". Very good Doug!

"Wonder wafers"...agreed! ...another winner in my book.

A quick question about "Wonder Wafers"... I was considering distributing or manufacturing (since I am a distributor) a fragrance product similiar to the wafers. I am curious about pros, cons and pricing to that brand and other similiar products you have tried. Give me the good, the bad and the ugly?

Thank you
Danny

Jim, yes our pre-soak Equalizer-Red is a two part formula that the operator mixes on-site to make a 55 gallon drum of concentrated pre-soak. And yes, the final ingredient is one you buy locally - a gallon of bleach which really boosts its cleaning power - especially important for touchless tunnels or in-bays. It's also a great as a bug off, wheel cleaner and prep gun solution. The two part formula saves a ton in shipping costs too.

Bill

Danny, If I remember, in the 15 to 20c range. The only cons are if they are put on a dash, console or middle of the carpet, sometimes they can stain. I believe a warning is on the item.

i think no one can top octopus for touch free chemcials, worked for them for five years, they were always tweaking the chems and making them better.

Nobody is better at full serve production than the Jurkens and Octopus. Chemicals, I don't know, they keep those secret I think.

Zep and Armor-All put out an amazing car. Cheater wax is a bit on the pricey side at $800/55 gal. BUT...I will get around 200k cars out of one drum, so its cheap in the long run. I have been using zep for over 10 years and have been VERY happy with their product. My cost is around 32 Cents per car.

you get 200 thousand cars out of 1 55gal. drum. i drum would last me 2 years, is that right? iused zep, blue coral and trans-mate a few years ago but got out and are using a local company autowash maitnence out of Malden, MA. Good price and good produst and good service

Danny,

As Jimmy points out the Wonder Waffers can stain dashes, carpets, consoles or plastics (however I have yet to see it happen in 5 years of using them). They cost about 11 cents each if bought in bulk cans and in quantities of over 14 cans at a time. So the cost effectiveness is very low and the speed is very fast without any mess. It is also CONSISTANT. The CONS are trying to keep the employees from putting more than one at a time in or limiting the selection (they now have 20 availiable fragrances). I recently dropped my selection to 8 fragrances from 18!

JENRAY makes a sheet that can be cut into section that is powerful. I haven't used any but I have head that they are very good. But I think the cost per unit is high. I did use these CORK DISK once for a few months as a trial but they did seem to have the lowere unit price of keep the same lasting fragrance as the wonder waffers. Another guty recently dropped off a sample that he is selling for about $1.13 per unit! It has a nice smell.... but the COST IS WAY TOO MUCH!

They will not stain the dash, they will actually eat a hole in it. At least it will if an employee puts it on a 2005 Suburban dash because he thought it would work better there. Dash costs $2000.00 to replace. Other than that mishap we have been very pleased with the wonder wafers. We have been using the wafers for 8 years now.

Thank you for all for the input on the wafers.

Jim at 15-20c each are you buying the bulk pack canisters or the individually wrapped wafers?

Doug at .11c each in bulk canisters of 250 you are paying $27.50 a fragrance correct?

David...that is a first for me, I have never heard of that problem in all my years, fragrance damaging plastic...yes, eating a hole...no. Did heat, chemical reaction (with a cleaner, or dressing), or anything else in the immeadiate environment, in your opinion, contribute to the hole?

I was planning on carrying the basics of: Baby powder, cherry, green apple, jasmine, lemon, new car, pina colada, pine, spice/cinnamon, strawberry, vanilla.
What are some other popular fragrances for your washes?
I have also heard concerns on the various containers available, too expensive, take too long to open and close, what are your preferences?

Thank you

2great...I was way off, make that around 20k not 200k,excuse my extra 0! There are a few variables of course. How fast your conveyer is going, how much you want your cars to break. I put out a slightly wetter car in the summer because of sun drying and leaving spots. The name of the cheater wax is "Armor-All concentrated drying agent" item number H468. Very good product, highly recomended. If you are interested I can give you the name of the rep here in Jersey and he will be more than happy to point you in the right direction.

Danny
There are a lot of offshore employees in this area. The Suburban had a few factors that I did't mention. The vehicles owner went offshore for around two or three weeks (I don't remember the exact time)and the vehicle remained parked in an outdoor parking lot for the entire duration. It was also in August and I'm sure the inside temperature of the vehicle was extreme. We use new car, baby powder, mulberry (most popular), cherry, new leather, and cocunut. I never had a problem with the containers. The only problem is keeping the employees from installing too many in the vehicle. Another positive on the wafers is that if the costumer does not like the smell the wafers can be removed.

Danny,

Last time I ordered I payed $16.95 per canister (about 3 weeks ago) I ordered 8 cans I think. I usually buy them from my automagic supplier under a deal for $15.95 for any number I need 1-20. You need to order a min of 18 to get them for $14.95 per canister from arabesque. I recently "fired" my automagic supplier so I began to order dirrectly from arabesque again.