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Over the past 20 years, we owned many different other manufacturer's equipment (Ryko, Slant, PDQ, Autec, etc.) with a fair blend of touchless vs. friction. We have laboriously repaired every unit and in many cases our team developed more knowledge of each piece of equipment than their respective Distributor. We've had the best and worst all at very high prices.
Armed with this experience and frustration with price, service, quality of wash and an over-engineered industry, X-STREAM embarked to make a substantial difference in the industry for you. We believe in 'telling it like it is' in the following FAQ's section and hope this information helps with your wash selection. We apologize for our lengthy answers, but we wanted to provide as much of our insight as possible. Thanks for your patience.
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- What are the NEW Wheel & Rocker Blasters?
- Does X-STREAM have a Wheel Cleaner application? Is it an option? Why don't others offer it?
- What are the substantial differences between X-STREAM and other touchless providers?
- What about wash times?
- Why manufacture or buy a touchless wash?
- Does a touchless wash really clean a car?
- Are there touchless machines that don't 'clean' cars?
- The 'Chemicals' really clean the car. Right?
- What do you mean by 'type of high pressure'?
- Why does X-STREAM only use 750-800 psi vs. 1000 or more needed for other machines?
- Why does X-STREAM use plastic parking stoppers as guide rails seen in the home page picture?
- Why doesn't X-STREAM use the industry touted 'virtual treadle'?
- Why is your undercarriage operated with low pressure?
- What about Maintenance and Repairs?
- What are the NEW Wheel & Rocker Blasters?
Most often, the dirtiest part of the vehicle are the wheels and rocker areas...they are also the toughest to clean. Our Wheel & Rocker Blasters specifically attack those areas and clean the rims & rockers better that any other touchless wash. Period! This feature alone gives you a huge competitive advantage and will keep your customers coming back! Check out the videos because 'seeing is believing'!
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- Does X-STREAM have a Wheel Cleaner application? Is it an option? Why don't others offer it?
Yes, we have wheel cleaner and it's standard! Furthermore, we can apply the W/C during the Pre-Soak pass which eliminates the need for a separate pass just for the W/C. This reduces wash times and enhances equipment life. Lastly, you can't clean a car without attempting to clean the rims particularly in today's market. Most competitors don't even offer wheel cleaner as an option.
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- What are the substantial differences between X-STREAM and other touchless providers?
1)Price, Price and Price! Our everyday price is 30 to 40% or more (not a typo) below other machines.
2)We offer dual arms with 45 degree high pressure, high impact zero degree rotating nozzles, Wheel Cleaner, X-Stream Pre-Soak and Foam Coverage,
3) Super easy repairs and the best wash times in the industry.
We have outlined many of the other differences on our 'Features' tabb. Also, you can differentiate for yourself by viewing many of the video clips. An X-STREAM representative will fully explain if given the opportunity.
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- What about wash times?
Our dual arm design provides phenomenal wash times while maintaining wash quality second to none! Average size SUV, the Ford Explorer,
Express 1:30,
Deluxe 1:45,
Ultimate 2:30.
We're confident these may be the best in the industry ensuring the highest throughput per hour rates when you need them.
By design each wash gives a DOUBLE pass of pre-soak, a double pass of high pressure plus a rinse and yes all in 1:15 seconds! Additionally, we can apply the wheel cleaner in the same pass as the Pre-Soak which saves a lot of time.
These cycles are with No dryer. We believe our competitors are all wet when it comes to their through-put per hour vs. X-STREAM. This adds up to real money after a snow day and more available on normal days.
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- Why manufacture or buy a touchless wash?
Several reasons:
1) Customers in most markets seem to prefer touchless. When the best friction machine is across the street from a touchless, the touchless seems to get a majority of the business.
2) Friction machines tend to leave swirl marks in the clear-coat/paint finish which are easily buffed out. But, your customer doesn't want to go home and buff their car after buying your $6 car wash.
3) The friction wash is more likely to cause damage. Any spinning brush on the machine, particularly the top, can cause problems. A touchless is capable of damages too, but these are infrequent and mostly due to a malfunction rather than causing problems during the normal wash cycle.
4) X-Stream's Impact is so ferocious, you get "Friction-like Clean without the Friction"!
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- Does a touchless wash really clean a car?
Yes and no. A touchless using safe chemicals will NOT satisfactorily clean an un-maintained vehicle.
However, a touchless can do a great job (depending on several factors like manufacturer, chemicals used, high pressure, etc.) on any maintained car. We estimate 80-90% of the vehicles in most markets are maintained well enough to produce excellent results with our machine.
X-Stream provides the best formula to clean the car because our high pressure Impact is more aggressive than any other wash available.
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- Are there touchless machines that don't 'clean' cars?
Yes. We have never understood how some manufacturers can sell the first machine considering performance. We'll share this info in person or do a side by side comparison with any equipment whenever it is convenient. In this regard, buyer beware is the best strategy.
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- The 'Chemicals' really clean the car. Right?
Not be themselves. You'll hear this often from manufacturers with inefficient high pressure applications like flat fan spray arms which are tired and obsolete! If it were true, you'd simply cover the car with pre-soak and after the dwelling period, remove the dirt and grime with a garden hose!
Quality chemicals, ample coverage, a reasonable 'soaking' cycle and intense high pressure/high impact are inseparable.
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- What do you mean by 'type of high pressure'?
According to the 'cleaning experts', you need several things to effectively clean with high pressure in conjunction with quality chemicals.
1) 45 degree angle to the surface is best: When you power wash, you impact the surface at an angle which provides lift and...
2) Momentum: Spraying at the angle forces all the water (chemicals, dirt, etc.) in the same direction. (see 'Flat Fan Sprays Perpendicular'... clip)
3) Agitation: Zero degree rotating (agitating) nozzles are standard on our machine which provide an extraordinary impact on the surface unlike 25 degree flat fan sprays.
4) Volume: You can't create 'high impact' with 1 gpm nozzles! You need a high volume of water at high agitating pressure to hit the surface enabling HIGH IMPACT.
Remember: 45 Degree angle to the surface, Volume, Momentum, Agitation and of course High Pressure are key attributes to effective pressure cleaning of any kind. X-STREAM incorporates them all!
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- Why does X-STREAM only use 750-800 psi vs. 1000 or more needed for other machines?
We use one of the best high pressure pumps available, a Catpump 3545. It's capable of 45 gallons per minute at 1000 psi. Frankly, we had to reduce the pressure to 750 in our test bay! The impact of the '0' degree rotating nozzles at rated pressure was thunderous and would actually remove vinyl pin-striping.
These nozzles at 750-800 psi plus 45 gpm create HIGH IMPACT and all the power you'll ever need. Your customers will "Feel the Power and See the Difference".
Another advantage is a dramatic increase in pump life operating at only 60-70% of its rating!
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- Why does X-STREAM use plastic parking stoppers as guide rails seen in the home page picture?
Traditionally, providers install metal guide rails and activation treadles that rust and DO scratch rims since many cars have low riding, custom rims. We think our plastic rails provide a clear, safe guide for your customers and with an occasional power wash, they'll look brand new and can't rust.
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- Why doesn't X-STREAM use the industry touted 'virtual treadle'?
Because it's 'virtual'! 98% of customers have no problem with virtual treadles, it's the 2% that do and will hurt you. They can't get centered which will cause the machine to hit their auto, repair break-aways or reduce their quality of wash. Often they can't find 'Start' which results in resets and complaints. All of this causes expensive, unnecessary downtime.
Take a look at the side arms of virtual treadle machines and you'll see the scars from mirror strikes or worse to illustrate the point.
We simply align all your customers through the bright plastic guides to the
'start' position and eliminate confusion with the entry and start-up. Keep it simple!
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- Why is your undercarriage operated with low pressure?
Several reasons: 1) High pressure undercarriages will saturate most other areas of the car as well. When the Pre-Soak is applied, it's drastically diluted with the standing water already on the vehicle. This greatly reduces the soap's effectiveness. 2) Frankly, high pressure pumps don't like 10-15 second quick bursts.
3) The last time a customer commented about the undercarriage was never! They certainly will complain about poor wash quality because the Pre-Soak was diluted 1000:1 vs. 75:1.
4)We don't have a clue why some manufacturers will apply high pressure to the wheels and rocker panels on the way into the bay. Any chemical supplier would quickly discourage wetting any area of the car before applying the chemicals in order for the Pre-Soak and wheel cleaners to work properly. We're protecting the wash quality!
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- What about Maintenance and Repairs?
Our machine was designed to be simple! Also, the dual arm design has many substantial advantages like cleaning the car more quickly with less passes.
Over-engineered, unreliable machines and their distributors have cost operators thousands of dollars in downtime. Often their warranty becomes worthless because they can't be there on a timely basis and/or carry all the 'custom' parts needed to make the repairs. Most breakdowns translate into days of lost sales and customers seeking more reliable alternatives. There's nothing worse for a gas station, already operating on razor thin margins, to have the car wash down again and again. Obviously, an efficient, simple machine would by 'design' substantially reduce downtime. We have successfully accomplished this objective. So simple, if you can't fix it, mom can!
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