TIRE SHINE MACHINE: Sonny's, Hanna, Peco??

I've been researching tire shine machines and everyone has it's ups and downs. I'm getting ready to buy a couple and just want some opinions. So far in the lead, Sonny's Simoniz, and Hanna's Tire Glaze.

Get the Hanna. Simoniz has pads which cost 500 a set. They also do not last long at all. The Hanna Tire glaze is the way to go when compared to the simoniz.

Shawn do you have the Hanna machine? What do you think about Tommy's tire shine?

I have heard great things about the peco machine. With Tommy`s machine you have to hope that the nozzle does not get plugged and also that your drip space is far enuff from the blowers as if it does not set long enuff the blowers will blow a bit of it off. Also the cost per car for tireshine is quite high on the tommy considering the amount it uses to spray on to get enuff coverage. Peco and Hanna both make great tire brushes. As to me having one , not at this moment but I will have a hanna tire brush at a location I am about to build in about 90 days.

We have had good luck with the Simoniz machine. I have not paid for pads. My distributor just gives them to me. I have a new set waiting in the box for whenever I need them. Finishing up my second drum and I am still not in need of a pad change. Talk to your distributor about pads. Mine said you won't ever have to pay for a set.

How does the Hanna Tire Glaze work out on cars that have chrome wheels. We are using Tommys now and are leaving a milky residue on the tires. Is this common? Also it sprays so much chemical on the tires that it slings up on the car when its going down the road. The tires dook great, just not the wheels. What is the comparison between the two?

Chad how big is the nozzle on Tommy's machine. I heard the cost was 80cents per car, is that what your paying. Also what dressing are you using?

Check out Macneil and Motorcity Wash Works as well.

Where can I see Mcneil's, I dont see it on their website?

For my new wash, it's between Peco and Motor city.

See McNeil's Tire Shiner here...
http://talkcarwash.com/posts/show/4990

Haven't seen it in action but it worth a look.

We use a Tire Blaze which is similar in functionality to the PECO, basically a cloth tire brush with a chemical manifold. It's actually a very simple piece of machinery. We rotate at a very low RPM so we have almost no sling and very little runoff. We use ArmorAll, cost is about $0.21 per car. We receive at most one complaint for every 5,000 cars with tire shine, if that.
One problem has arisen recently, or rather it has just been brought to our attention. 2000-2004 Toyota Avalons with mud flaps. The front mud flaps have only 5-1/2" ground clearance. The plastic on the front of the tire shine machine bends the mud flaps backwards and tears them. About $125 to buy and paint new mudflaps. We have a new sign going up tomorrow advising these Avalons not to purchase tire shine.

Hey Andrew Who makes that tire blaze??

We are using a 40 degree nozzle. What do you suggest that we run? It just seems that there should be way for us to use a smaller nozzle and raise the pressure on the pump. Its a lot of chemical we're spraying. We are still around the 80 cents per car mark though.

Chad looking at the video sample Tommy gives us on their site it looks like the tire machine only covers around 80% of the tire. There depending on the rotation of the tire to cover the rest. Doesnt always happen though. I suggested to Chris from Tommy to add another nozzle up top, then you would be able to minimize the nozzle and use less product. Where in your tunnel do you have the tire machine??

Be sure to take a lot at the MacNeil 4 sided (square) applicator. Maybe worth the time. There's a pic on the Expo favorites posting under product reviews.

I've had a sonnys tire shiner for 4 years. I bought it used for $4500. It's one of the first models (There are 3 models out there). I never have paid for a set of pads. And it works well on almost every tire (big trucks are a problem). With PRISM the cost per tire is under 20 cents per car. With PAD PERFECT that cost is about 25 cents per car. The PAD PERFECT has a bettr gloss.

Jimmy recreated that tire blaze machine... don't know how he did it but it seemed to work well when I saw it.

I have a Tommy's tire shine machine. My cost is between $0.80 and $1, depending on the week. The quality is great. I am considering changing to the Motor City. Does any one know the cost per car of the Motor City and what is the quality. thank you.

The good news is that operators now have a choice of machines to dress tires. Just about every major manufacturer is coming out with a machine. Sonny's no longer is the only option... competition is good!

Hey Judd why are you considering switching to Motor City?? Jimmy Branch has a water base dressing that is more cost effective. You might want to ask him about that. It's around 7 or 8 a gal

Here' Jimmy's Email washem@hotmail.com

Tire Blaze is no longer in business, but it's just a cloth tire brush with a chemical manifold. You can buy a cloth tire brush from any manufacturer, and just spray chemical on it. It's a very simple process. The MacNeil and Motor City are both interesting. The Motor City uses cloth, so you won't have to change very often. The MacNeil uses foam with a little piece of cloth every 6-8" or so. When you do have to replace the cloth or foam on the MCWW or MacNeil, you will probably have to buy from them. I haven't seen either one work, so I can't compare them to what we are using right now. We used the Simoniz tire shiner in the past, but weren't happy with the quality, the sling, having to change the pads, the slippery floor. We ended up reshining every tire by hand. That was several years ago, so I'm sure the quality is much better now.

We had a Sonny's tire shine for 4+ years now. We sue Blue Corals black magic at 20.5 cents per car. We also never pay for pads but we also put it on every car.

I simply don't get the purpose of a menu for an express exterior. Special days, three (or more) different wash packages to have to explain, sales commission for greeters who rarely ask customers to upgrade? If you're priced at $5, $7, and $9 and you're per car average is $6.50 why not just charge them all $7 and eliminate the games - now that's express.

Bill

Something you guys should be aware of regarding the difference between buff on machine and the Tommy spray on machine.

I believe the folks at Tommy recommend a solvent based tire dressing to avoid spray back staining. The spray unit is so close to the air dryers that it sprays back onto the body. Most products are silicone based. When silicone is sprayed as opposed to being buffed in you are going to milky spray all over the vehicle. Thus, a silicone product doesn't work well in the Tommy machine.How do I know this? I tested the two type of products Their solvent and our silicone in the Tommy machine and those were the results. Great learning experience.

I think this is what was being refered to in an earlier post.

Stuart

I'm 95% sure we're going with Motor City. Check it out.

What is the cost per car with the Motor City machine, I saw one in Frisco Texas, and it did not work well. It would shine one car well and the next three would be awful. The manager on site was not a big fan of it.

It has been a while since any new posts have been added to this discussion. And I am curious if anyone has found, or seen, any of these tire shine machines and can offer feedback on the good and bad. I have about come to realize there is really not a good machine out there to handle the tire shine. Any thoughts?

I actually bought the simoniz machine, i will start using it in sept. I'll postfeedback as time goes.

We have two locations with the Simonize machine's and they work okay. If you really want to get good coverage then you risk getting the chemical on the rims. And if the pads are black, then the rims will be left with a black streak (at least that is the problem we are having). So the other option is to back off the pressure and not get good coverage on the tire.

Is there a good option out there for a tire shine machine or do they all stink?

FWIW I installed the Viper Shine and so far it has done about 400 applications. Cost is about 50 cents per app factoring in the shipping cost for the product.No maintenance No pads to wear out. Has worked flawlessly. Now I need to improve sales.

It has 10 nozzles each side over 8 feet of length. triggered in pairs by a 5 section tape switch. Nozzles positioned about 2 inches from the ground with horizontal V Jet triggered at bottom center of tire and about 15 degrees to the rear so product is rolling down th back side of the tire.

My local blue coral rep was so impressed he is trying to be their local distributor.

Here is the web site for the Viper Shine...

http://www.vipershine.com/

I would really love to see how this works. What kind of chemical do you use?

Dultmeier has had it in their catalog for a few months ($5,500)...thx, Earl
http://www.dultmeier.com/catpages.asp?page=E747

Earl, what is the gallon cost of the product you are using?
What size nozzels are you using?
How is the overspray?
I love the simplicity!
If someone could buy the oversized tape switchs. this would be easy to build yourself.
thx, Jimmy

Not so easy to build yourself because there is a controller in the back room that can adjust the on time per solenoid valve. That way if the conveyor stops with the car on the switch it does not keep spraying.

The product is proprietary to Viper shine. I asked if they used someone elses. They said no. The tested several others and came up with their own.

I would have to check the nozzle size. But you can call and aske them Ask for Dan. He spent three hours at my place at final hook up time. No charge.

He jsut told me about a guy in Chicago who bought 2. Replacing 2 very expensive units. I just orderd more. I think it is about $20.00 a gallon or about $600.00 for 30 gallons but I am answering off the top of my head.

One change I made was that rather than having the pump and lines always pressurized fearing I would lose a lot of costly product if there was a leak, I trigger the function a tad early and plug the iar line solenoid for the flo jet into that circuit. That gives about 2 seconds for it to pressurize before the solenoids open for the liquid and if there is a leak I will not lose a lot of product.

So far no oversparay because the nozzles are 2 inches from the floor. The V is horizontal. Had to cut holes in my conveyor rail for it to spray thru. No Big deal for a guy woith a torch. Since it is applied on a wet tire some product will end up on the wheels as it runs down. You don't notie it until later when durt tends to stick more on the wheels.

So far no oversparay because the nozzles are 2 inches from the floor. The V is horizontal. Had to cut holes in my conveyor rail for it to spray thru. No Big deal for a guy woith a torch. Since it is applied on a wet tire some product will end up on the wheels as it runs down. You don't notie it until later when durt tends to stick more on the wheels.

I have been using my Simonize machine for around 9 months now and here are my observations. I switched to Ecolabs black magic after the original drum of pad perfect ran out. It leaves a nice shine, but the sling factor seems to be the biggest drawback to these machines. I tried some of the Bioshine, but it disappeared after only a few hours and left streak marks from water coming off the wheels and rims, not acceptable to me. The other problem is uneven coverage, depending on the type of tire and how dry it is really affects the quality of the application. It seems to me that the type of machine you use is secondary to the product you run through it. If someone can come up with a product that doesn't sling, is silicone free and lasts around 72hrs after application the would own the market. My Zep guy says they are going to introduce 2 new ones soon, so I will try them and see what happens.

I have some questions on the Viper Tire Shine. How close is placement to the air dryer and if it is close does the dryer tend to blow the product away from the tire? Since there is no buffing action how does the unit adjust to different profile tires as well as adapting to different tire manufacturer rubber composition?

Stuart

You do need to see if air from the dryer will be an issue. However I found a couple of things at my places. Even if there is air turbulance 2 or 3 feet off the floor there is often a lot less 2 inches from the floor. Even less possibly due to the fact that the car itself blocks a lot of the turbulence. So, when checking for location don't stand in the spot withoutt a car there and see what the air feels like. Stand next to the car as it goes by where the tire would be when it sprays at 2 inchews from the ground to see what it feels like.

Since the nozzles are 2-3 inches from the floor with horizontal Vs and triggered in 5 pairs with one at bottom center and the second about 15 degrees to the rear, the fluid on the wet tire rolls down the trailing edge, so it covers well. I would not reccomend it for the extremely low profile aftermarket tires that only seem to have an inch from the wheel to the ground.
Cannot answer as to how different rubber compositiona affects it, if at all.

Jon,

Like you, I tried using Black Magic because it was cheaper. I ended up using a lot more product, getting a lower quality tire, slinging, and gummed up pump lines. I went back to the Pad Perfect and it's working great. This machine is kinda finicky and it helped me alot to talk to someone who was familiar with it. If the settings aren't just right, it really affects the quality. Talk to your Sonny's rep or Simonize rep, find someone who knows what they're doing. I hated this machine after the first 3 months I had it. Now I'm very pleased with it.

We have 3 tire blaze machines (no longer manufactured) which work well. I've watched the Hanna do a nice job also. We just purchased a Motor City unit for another location, and feel it's well built, consistent, and like it enough that we just ordered another.

Hey Mark do you have a Simoniz Machine? I have one and Ive been playing with the settings for a month now and I cant seem to get the tire I want. Its not consistent. Ive used recommeded settings and Ive talked to someof my expert buddies in the biz nothing seems to work. Im tired of wasting chemical. Any help would be appreciated.

We don't have the Simoniz machines - all of ours are either rotating cloth brush (Tire Blaze) or cloth wipe (MC Tire Gloss).
I would ask whoever you buy product from to roll up his sleeves and get the application working the way it should.
When you spend the amount of money we all do on tire dressing, the company selling the dressing should be your best friend. If not, find a new company.