Henry Weinschenk, owner of Express Car Wash, sent out a press release this afternoon announcing that his business will remain open without running afoul of drought laws. His company received much criticism after saying last week that they intend to stay open in spite of the laws prohibiting car washes from running. Weinschenk says that they have switched to an entirely “dry-wash” based system, using a cleaning product called “Spotless” in a process developed by Express Car Wash as a result of the water restrictions. Keep reading to see the press release.
EXPRESS CAR WASH STILL OPEN, LEGALLY!
Charlottesville, VA. — After receiving a citation last Friday for still “wet-washing” some cars at customers” request, Express Car Wash went all “Dry-Wash” as of Saturday morning. The process was developed by Express Car Wash as an answer to the draconian water restrictions (100%), which were suddenly imposed on them on September 17, 2002; despite the fact that all carwashes in Albemarle and Charlottesville together only use 1/3 of 1% of the water supply.
Within days of the imposition of the ban, Express Car Wash started to experiment on their own cars with various non-traditional methods. Finally they settled for a process they christened “Dry-Wash” based on a product they have used for touchup purposes all along for more than 12 years. It is called “Spotless” and is manufactured by ZEP, one of the largest manufacturers of cleaners for industrial, commercial and institutional use in the U.S.
“Spotless” main active ingredient is Butyl Glycol, an oxygenated solvent that has been manufactured since the thirties and extensively tested all along. It is recommended for automotive cleaning, inside and out, including rubber and vinyl surfaces. Each car is sprayed with a mist consisting of approximately 2 oz. of “Spotless” diluted with 3 quarts of bottled water. This is followed up with a complete rubbing down with clean towels.
“The results of the process are quite satisfactory, at least for cars that have not been extremely neglected before,” said Henry F. Weinschenk, General Partner of Express Car Wash of Charlottesville. “Cars with caked-on mud cannot be processed with this system at this time,” he added.
Finally Weinschenk said, “To produce the mist we use stainless steel tanks which can be pressurized with compressed air. We have removed some of our equipment in the tunnel to allow our people to apply the mist there, while the cars ride on the conveyor. The work process is not yet optimized, but it is already obvious to us that the labor content of each car washed will increase by at least 35 to 50%.”
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