South Florida Detailer 6+ yrs

[GearHead_1]

The definition of a tunnel wash may also be different from place to place. The tunnel washes we have here offer the services that are the equivelant of what the OP describes in his package. We don`t have the type of car washes that you often see in California (10 people running around your car with a towel and a spray bottle), people don`t perform the wash anyplace around here that I can think of short of it being an actual detailer. The Detailers that have a name around here are also mostly brick and mortar with only a couple of exceptions that I`m aware. I`m sure this has much to do with a less dense population than more metropolitan areas.

These tunnel washes include a person standing with long handled brush and some chemicals squirted on the front of the car the mirrors and windshield to begin, a trip down the conveyor with the owner in the vehicle. It`ll get a vehicle fairly clean but you will leave with swirls. Then once it`s gone down the conveyor, the owner drives the vehicle into the vacuum bay wher they vacuum the inside, dress the interior (poorly from what I`ve seen), wash windows on the inside and dress the tire`s.

They can do this in about 30 minutes but if it`s a rocking day it might take closer to an hour. They probably have 30 employees running around pointing fingers to direct you into the appropriate bay. The drivers walk into what I guess could be described as an Internet coffee, soda, treat waiting room that will probably hold about 35 people while their cars are being vacuumed and dressed. For another $30 or so they`ll throw a wax on it with a 10" orbital buffer, they do this back in the same bays as where they vacuum. That`s the tunnel wash that I was trying to describe.

[SawgrassRider]

These tunnel washes include a person standing with long handled brush and some chemicals squirted on the front of the car the mirrors and windshield to begin, a trip down the conveyor with the owner in the vehicle. It`ll get a vehicle fairly clean but you will leave with swirls. Then once it`s gone down the conveyor, the owner drives the vehicle into the vacuum bay wher they vacuum the inside, dress the interior (poorly from what I`ve seen), wash windows on the inside and dress the tire`s.

They can do this in about 30 minutes but if it`s a rocking day it might take closer to an hour. They probably have 30 employees running around pointing fingers to direct you into the appropriate bay. The drivers walk into what I guess could be described as an Internet coffee, soda, treat waiting room that will probably hold about 35 people while their cars are being vacuumed and dressed. For another $30 or so they`ll throw a wax on it with a 10" orbital buffer, they do this back in the same bays as where they vacuum. That`s the tunnel wash that I was trying to describe.

Yep that describes the Simoniz tunnel to the T, except the only difference is the vacuuming comes before the wash and the drivers are not inside the car while it is conveyed through the tunnel. The tunnel always takes the same about of time to clean the car, so the the employees who vacuum and dry are the ones who determine the total time for a wash. Usually a car is in and out within 20 minutes or less. Like stated before, this process induces swirls in the paint, especially with the use of cotton terry towel drying. But these customers are usually driving leased vehicles or just don`t care about swirls.

[GearHead_1]

Yep that describes the Simoniz tunnel to the T, except the only difference is the vacuuming comes before the wash and the drivers are not inside the car while it is conveyed through the tunnel. The tunnel always takes the same about of time to clean the car, so the the employees who vacuum and dry are the ones who determine the total time for a wash. Usually a car is in and out within 20 minutes or less. Like stated before, this process induces swirls in the paint, especially with the use of cotton terry towel drying. But these customers are usually driving leased vehicles or just don`t care about swirls.

Drove my father and his truck through one of these years ago. Had the lady in front of me knock her car out of neutral and into reverse (reaching for a kid, you know the story). Seeing back up lights come on through all of that hanging wash media is a very disconcerting experience. She started to jump the track. I too hit reverse with no one behind me, going backwards in one of these is not recommended as you need to climb over the tire chocks, it`s very bouncy. Had I not been there that Mercedes sport ute would have been parked in the front of my Dads Ford truck. Between me laying on the horn and backing up we avoided what could have been a real problem. The attendant hit the stop button and got the conveyor shut down and she came to her senses and hit the brakes. She wouldn`t even look at us when we were in the waiting area.