Car Wash Appraisals

Automatic car washes consist of tunnel-like buildings into which cars are driven through. The car is put into a line-up called the stack or queue. The stack moves sequentially, so the wash knows what each car purchased. The tire sensor lets the car wash know where the wheels are and how far apart they are. The rollers come up behind the tires, pushing the car through a detector. The equipment arches vary in number and type. A good car wash makes use of many pieces of equipment and stages of chemical application to thoroughly clean the vehicle.

The car wash will typically start cleaning with pre-soaks applied through special arches. The vehicle next encounters tire and wheel nozzles, which the industry calls CTAs (Chemical Tire Applicators). These will apply specialized formulations, which remove brake dust and build-up from the surface of the wheels and tires. The next arch will often be wraparounds, usually made of a soft cloth, or closed-cell foam material. These wraparounds rub the front bumper and, after washing the sides, will follow across the rear of the vehicle, cleaning the rear. Past the first wraps or entrance wraps may be a tire brush that will scrub the tires and wheels. There may also be rocker panel washers which are shorter and clean the lower parts of the vehicle. Most rocker brushes house the motor below the brush hub, so they don't inhibit cloth movement and allow the brush to be mounted under a support frame. The car may then pass through a second set of wraparounds. This may also be where high-pressure water streams are used to clean difficult-to-reach parts of the vehicle. Next, the vehicle is treated with a final rinse. Many car washes utilize a "spot-free" rinse of soft water, that has been filtered of the salts normally present, and sent through semi-permeable membranes to produce highly purified water that will not leave spots. After using spot-free free water, the vehicle is finished with forced air drying, in some cases utilizing heat to produce a very dry car.

A self-service car wash is a simple and automated system that is typically coin-operated. Newer self-service car washes offer the ability to pay with credit cards. The vehicle is parked inside a large covered bay that is equipped with a trigger gun, a high-pressure sprayer, and a scrub foam brush. When customers insert coins into the controller, they can choose options such as soap, tire cleaner, wax, or clear water rinse, all dispensed from the sprayer, or scrub the vehicle with the foam brush. The number of coins inserted determines the amount of time customers have to operate the equipment. These facilities are often equipped with separate vacuum stations that allow customers to clean the upholstery and rugs inside their cars.

In order to avoid scratching paint, touchless or touch-free car washes were developed. A touchless car wash uses high water pressure to clean the vehicle instead of brushes, minimizing the chance of surface damage to the vehicle. There are five primary factors to cleaning a vehicle successfully using a touchless system. These five factors are water quality, water temperature, chemistry, time, and water pressure generated by the equipment. If these factors are all set properly, vehicles will come out clean and shiny without the chance of vehicle damage caused by brushes.

At full-service car washes, the exterior of the car is washed mechanically with conveyorized equipment, or in some cases by hand, with attendants available to dry the car manually, and to clean the interior (normally consisting of cleaning the windows, wiping the front and side dishes, and vacuuming the carpet and upholstery). Many full-service car washes also provide detailing services, which may include polishing and waxing the car's exterior by hand or machine, shampooing and steaming interiors, and other services to provide thorough cleaning and protection to the car.