Due to the calcium and magnesium in the water in California, especially Southern California, it is necessary to soften our water in the auto detailing industry. The chlorine and fluoride that our government adds to our water doesn’t help any either. Hard water spots are a major problem. Just park your car next to your sprinklers at home and you will see exactly what we are talking about. If your car is a dark color and you park it in the sun, the hard water spots will etch themselves into your clear coat and cause permanent damage to your paint job. The chemicals bake into the paint.
Some of our crews in the desert cities such as Lancaster, Palm Springs, etc. have a major problem with this as does our competition. You see, when it’s 115° F in the shade, the cars dry in three minutes. Luckily, a trained car wash guy can dry a car in two minutes. A crew of two can stay on top of it by drying most cars in one to one and one-half minutes. The main problem is soaping. The soap dries before you can rinse it and the water evaporates out of the soap bucket every fifth car. The sprayer has to follow the soaper around the car, which is good because, by the time they are done, it’s hot. They take turns spraying each other off. All auto detailers who work mobile rigs know this and I am sure you too know just what I am talking about here.
If you have ever taken any chemistry classes, you know that just about everything is water-soluble eventually. Water can combine with almost anything and make some pretty weird compounds. Every mobile autodetailing rig, which is properly set up will be equipped with a water softener. Depending on the territory and types of services the mobile detailer is offering; de-ionizing tanks might also be deployed. If a mobile auto detailer works in areas where they will be doing car lot washing and there are over 20-30 car dealerships, it is well advised or if they work in the California or Nevada high deserts where it’s very hot. Mobile car washers who work with school bus washing contracts or Federal Express vans should also consider it. Or if the auto detailer works in expensive high income areas such as in Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Black Hawk, Laguna Niguel, Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Rancho Bernardo.
Poor water quality can damage pumps over time and cause scaling inside the coils of your steam cleaner. Pumps are not cheap and de-scaling the coils of your steam cleaner takes many hours of unnecessary down time and generally costs over $250. Mobile car washes and mobile auto detailers need to test the hardness of the water and consider their customer base when choosing to use a De-Ionization system or an RO system to filtrate the water to insure purity and no water spots. Think on this.