So I have three dealerships that I pressure wash the entire building and clean the windows every six months. With all that is going on, I am looking at what I can do with the tools I already have to keep working if window cleaning falls off with both individuals and businesses looking to cut expenses. While I was speaking with the GM of one of the dealerships, he mentioned to me about pressure washing the cars once a week, but they are only averaging about $4 per car for a rinse off and chamois towel drying. My thought was if I used the Xero Pure Ro/DI system with a full nylon brush, I wouldn’t need to do the towel drying. There is no need for any significant pressure as the cars just need pollen and dust/blowing dirt from the empty construction lots next door, and any stubborn debris will be taken care of by the brush.
Does anyone have any experience or has attempted to clean their own car with their WFP system?
I have cleaned my truck with no issues, that said, my truck has a pretty crappy paint job. I’ve never taken the brush to my wife’s car being concerned that it might be to abrasive for the paint. I could be wrong but I think typical car wash brushes are a little bit softer on the edge of the bristles. I would be cautious with that, you don’t want to end up with spiderwebs scratches all over the cars. But, it might not even be an issue, just something to be aware of.
Be very careful with tiny scratch marks, I have thought of this previously but decided against it as i wasn’t too keen on purchasing extra brushes just for the odd use here and there. Also, yes, I did try on my van and it does leave spiderweb scratches. Would it be worth your while?
Being that these are new car inventory, definitely do not want to leave scrathes. @Fuddlecupz what brush did you use? @AdamPWC I wonder what the foaming brushes at the self serve car washes are made with. Could it be boars hair? I’m going to check Kleen-rite.com they are a car wash and pressure wash supply company.
Update:
So the foaming brushes that are used to scrub heavy grime and dirt at the self serve car washes are made from Boar’s Hair. So this makes me wonder if using a full Boar’s Hair tucker brush would be possible without causing scratches.
There are many people already doing this. Most as you said use a water rinse with some high polymer additive then dry with chamois. No need to agitate this way. Also the cars are so close together you can not use a pole of any size to get to the vehicles. I have introduced 2 of the local companies in my area to pure water and now they are no longer drying the cars just rinsing with pure water and air dry. Pure water is so aggressive there is no need to agitate. Also because the cars are done weekly they clean up nice. The biggest challenge is the large amount of pure water needed to wash 200 cars. Most of these companies are using a 2-3 gallons per minute PW and drawing from a 300 gallon tank. You will go through the tank before you finish all the cars on some lots that are big. Most of these companies that are doing this full time doing 2 or 3 lots a day are using the systems like IPC Eagle Hydrostation that can produce up to 8 gpm of pure water so the tank can fill fast. Do you have a way to set up a tank based system and bring the pure water with you? We have a roof cleaning system that could be used to rinse the cars. You would need a large tank that you can buy locally.
What is the gpm output of the xero pure RO/DI system?
I have a 16ft trailer with the front 8ft is a box and the back 8 is an open bed where my pressure washer and 200 gal buffer tank is mounted along with my Xero pure RO/DI system and multiple hose reels. Currently my Xero pure is plumbed to draw off the bottom dump valve via a 3/4" braided PVC hose that runs through a 7gpm 12v on demand pump which forces the water through the carbon, RO, and DI filters before running through another 3/4" line to a 200ft hose reel, half is 3/8" air hose, the other half is Xero hose.
If the output of the regular Xero Pure RO/DI system is high enough I could figure out how to re-route the water supply line to bypass the tank, run through the Xero Pure, and then dump back into the tank for the pressure washer to run off of.
The Xero Pure only produces 1/2 gpm. You could fill your buffer tank the day or night before with pure water then use that with your PW to rinse the cars. That would work.
Actually you could use your 7GPM pump to rinse the cars. That would work even better. Just fill the buffer tank with pure water and use on of your PW guns with a wide spray tip to rinse.
You think the 7 gpm 12v pump will have enough power? It only puts out 60psi. I guess I could run some 3/8" hose to a short wand and connect a 2gpm 40° tip to that, but I wonder how much umpf it will have.
If I run pure water through my HP pump and 250’ of steel braided line, won’t it pick up impurities?
With cars its not pressure that cleans its the pure water doing the work. So the 2gpm with 40 tip would work. Yes use the 3/8 hose like with a wfp fed line. Just need to keep and eye on your tank. If you run out of pure water it will take hours to refill with the Xero Pure.
One time,(I don’t highly recommend this) I actually ran filtered water through my pressure washer to rinse down a ton of storms. I checked the water TDS a few times throughout and there was no issue with picking up impurities. All the storms came out looking great!