Fleet washing products and fleet cleaning information.

Everyone knows how to pull out a bucket and a sponge and some soap to wash the family car and then rinse it with the hose. While that works fine on Saturday morning on your Saturn, it is probably not the most efficient method you could choose for finishing 50 trucks.

One well-known professional method is called “two-stepping”. In this technique, you hit the dirty surface with an acid-based washer and then finish with an alkaline neutralizer. By switching between the opposite ends of the pH spectrum, the dirt is “popped” off the surface. The acid washer used for the first part of the process is usually made with hydrofluoric acid. Our hydrofluoric-based washer is called Aluma Brite. This very aggressive washer is perfect for any type of truck or fleet washing and for washing aluminum surfaces.

Hydrofluoric acid is extremely dangerous for inexperienced people to use, however. It travels through the skin to seek and destroy the calcium in your bones and body. Severe exposure to hydrofluoric acid can be fatal in a matter of hours.

Since so many fleet washers rely on the two - step method for fast, effective results, Sun Brite Supply developed a Safety Ointment for emergency use after exposure to hydrofluoric. It can add several hours of time for you to get medical attention. We offer this with every purchase of our hydrofluoric washer.

We also offer alternatives to hydrofluoric- based washers, for those who are willing to sacrifice some of the aggressiveness of hydrofluoric for the safety of a different acid. We offer a citric/phosphoric solution called Aluma Safe that we sell all over the country to fleet washing companies. Because our have been specially tested and designed for fleet washing contractors, these products are made to remove the toughest stains and soil from any type of fleet or construction equipment.

If you are not washing the kind of tough road film usually found on tractor-trailer rigs,you will find that we offer several one-step washers that might just be ideal for you. The gentlest of these is called Glimmer, which is safe for all kinds of surfaces. This is a great chemical to start out with.

If you are washing paint-only surfaces, such as UPS or Frito Lay trucks, you will probably want to move up to Fleet Brite pretty quickly. This is an aggressive one-step washer that is very inexpensive to use. It will get you off the job quicker than any other fleet washing chemical we know of.

My personal favorite overall fleet washing products is Big Truck Brite. This washer is less aggressive than Fleet Brite, but it can be used on all surfaces and it leaves the vehicle with a near-wax shine. I use it on my own truck, and those of you who know how I feel about my truck will understand exactly what that means. By the way, we have Wet Wax that you can add to any fleet washing chemical to get that shine on the vehicle that fleet managers are looking for. (NOTE: We have lots of customers who even buy Wet Wax and add it to house wash mixtures for a nice gleam on vinyl and aluminum!)

Besides all of these concentrated fleet washing detergents, we offer a powdered product called Pearl Sheen. This product is relatively new to our stable from the folks at Extreme Solutions (the HD-80 people). We know that some of you prefer powders and some prefer liquids, so we decided to carry both.

Most products work better with hot water than cold. If you don’t have hot water, you will use about twice as much washer to get the job done. It’s pretty tough to wash fleets in January in Alaska if you don’t have hot water, too. There are alternatives to buying a new hot water pressure washer if you don’t already have one, though. Sun Brite Supply has Hot Boxes, which are heaters designed to connect to cold water machines. We have Hot Boxes capable of working with up to 4000 PSI, and the cost is a lot lower than buying a new hot water pressure washer. If you use a Hot Box, you can still use your trusty cold-water unit by itself when you want to. If you are ready to move up to a hot water pressure washer, though, please don’t forget that we have guaranteed low prices on some of the best units around!

The water you use for fleet washing makes a big difference, too. Many cleaners like to use de- ionized water (D. I. for short). This water goes through a treatment that makes it rinse off the vehicle without spots. A good wash rinse is the key to getting the most professional results. If you don’t have a D. I. system, there are some easy alternatives to D. I. that are extremely inexpensive. We have a product call SoSoft, for example, that costs only pennies to use and is almost as effective as using D. I. You just add it to your water to end up with a spot-free rinse.

The big pink elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about these days is the wash Water Act and the related local regulations. Most areas are targeting pressure washing companies and gas stations for strict enforcement of these regulations. If you are not up to speed on what it takes to stay within the laws and avoid fines, consider taking the Environmental washing Seminar being offered by The Power Washers of North America. You will gain incredible knowledge and have the opportunity to become Certified – and all at a very reasonable price.

If you do fleet cleaning environmentally, we have a very special product called Emulsion Breaker. This is an extremely fast truck wash product that works to break down the road film and oil aggressively for washing but will cause your water and detergent to separate (de-emulsify) in your collection tank within about 30 minutes.

If you wash environmentally, you can charge significantly more for your work. The reasons are simple. First, you will invest in tools and education and those are legitimate costs to pass on to the customer. Secondly, both you and the customer will likely be fined if you are spotted violating your community’s rules while fleet washing. No, you don’t get to split the fine – you BOTH are fined. Saving your customer a $10,000 fine certainly justifies a modest up-charge for your expertise in fleet washing, don’t you think?

There are some special pieces of equipment you just have to see in action, such as the Vader 1 - designed to speed up fleet cleaning and capture waste water all in one operation. These kinds of machines can be pricey, but if you are going into fleet washing seriously these sorts of tools can pay back the purchase price pretty quickly.

Sun Brite Supply has everything from tire dressing to fragrances for your fleet washing operation. If you have questions about any of our products or if you need any fleet washing equipment or supplies, please Contact Us. We’d love to help you get off on the right foot!