How To Care for Your Car Wash After Winter
Spring is here, and it’s important to get your car wash ready for the new spring season. Everyone is looking to wash the springtime pollen off their cars. What steps should you remember to do to make sure your car wash is ready for the new spring season?
Turn the Heat off
If your car wash utilizes floor heating to make washing cars more comfortable during the winter months, make sure it’s turned off once the weather starts warming up! You don’t need it for the spring and summer months, and it’s a great way to save on your electricity bill.
Chemical Switch
Chemicals designed for use in summer months are formulated differently from those designed for winter washes, so make sure you switch out your washing chemicals when the weather starts to warm up.
Inspection Time
Spring is the perfect time to clean and inspect all hoses and equipment for leaks or cracks, especially on self-service bays where your clients might not be as careful with the equipment as you are.
Spring is also a good time to check your friction cloths and foam rotating brushes in the automatic wash bays to make sure they’re not showing signs of wear and tear. Finally, inspect your chains and conveyers to ensure they are properly adjusted and working safely. The lull between winter and spring washers is the best time to make sure all your equipment is up to snuff.
Unsalt Your Bays
Winter in cold climates is basically synonymous with salt, but you don’t want to leave your spring customers with salty bays. A good bay and wall cleaner will help you get your car wash bays as shiny and clean as the cars that leave them.
Turn off Ice Melt Systems
When the weather warms up, there’s no reason to keep your wash’s anti-ice systems running. They just end up burning through electricity when there is no ice for them to thaw. Wasted electricity is one of the biggest problems with car washes, and it makes them much more expensive to run.
Switch From Salt Worries to Pollen
If you’ve got signage on your car wash advertising different products, now is the time to update it to reflect the changing seasons. No one is going to be worrying about removing salt from their cars after they’ve stopped salting the road for the season. Update your signage to reflect the things people are worried about — bugs and pollen!
Do a Pump Check
All your chemical systems should be inspected between seasons to ensure all the mixes are being formulated properly, your valves are working correctly, and your tanks are able to maintain the correct pressure.
Spring Cleaning Tips
Spring cleaning isn’t just for your house — it’s important for your car and your car wash, too. There are three different presoaks you should consider providing for your clients to take care of the various sticky things that mess up your paint.
Bug Saw presoaks are designed to cut through all the bugs and bird poop that we inevitably run into while we’re on the road.
Low pH presoaks are better for sticky stuff — tree sap and other similar substances — so it’s easier to get those off your paint without having to scrub it off by hand. High pH presoaks, on the other hand, are better to soften and remove spring pollen that ends up coating your car once the trees and plants start growing their new spring foliage.
Finally, consider offering your clients either clear coat sealers or carnauba wax to finish off their car wash and keep their car looking its best between washes. These coats might not be the perfect proof against everything that spring will throw at your car, but they’re a great way to keep your car looking great until you can get back to the car wash.
