Courtesy: MSDS foam wash car shampoo
- Hand car wash facilities, where the vehicle is washed by employees.
- Self-service facilities, generally coin-operated, where the customer manually washes the car with a wand dispersing water and low pressure brushes, including pressurized “jet washing”.
- In-bay automatics involve the customer parking and an automatic wash-machine rolls back and forth over the stationary vehicle. Housed at filling stations and stand-alone wash sites.
- Conveyor or tunnel washes involves the car moving on a conveyor belt through a series of fixed cleaning mechanisms while the customer waits outside. Friction (brushes or curtains) or frictionless (high pressure nozzles and touches wash) are used.
- Mobile car washes, often also serving as mobile detailing systems, carry plastic water tanks and use pressure washers. Often systems are mounted on trailers, on trucks, or in vans. Generally, operators also have a generator to run a shop vac., buffers, and other tools.
- Car wash lift, where cars are placed on a lift platform that can be used to wash under the car.
- Touch-free (or touchless) car washing technology is the modern car wash system reducing consumption of water, chemical solutions and time. Washing machinery uses high pressure jets that measure the length and width of the vehicle.
Use of chemicals
Modern car wash facilities, whether tunnel, in-bay automatic, or self-serve, detergents, and other cleaning solutions used are designed to loosen and eliminate dirt and grime. This is in contrast to earlier times, when hydrofluoric acid, a hazardous chemical, was commonly used as a cleaning agent in the industry by some operators. There has been a move in the industry to shift to safer cleaning solutions. Most car wash facilities are required by law to treat and/or reuse their water and may be required to maintain wastewater discharge permits. This is in contrast to unregulated facilities or even driveway washing (at one’s home), where wastewater can end up in the storm drain and, eventually, in streams, rivers, and lakes.
A chemical car wash, also known as waterless car wash, uses chemicals to wash and polish car surface. This method is claimed to be eco-friendly. It is recommended only for cars with light dirt accumulation to avoid paint damage.
Mechanized car washes, especially those with brushes, may risk damaging the exterior finish. Paint finishes have improved as also car washing processes. More facilities utilize “brushless” (cloth) and “touch-free” (high-pressure water) equipment, as well as modern “foam” washing wheels made of closed-cell foam