It’s said that perception is reality, and in the vehicle wash industry, customers won’t be comfortable if they think a system’s brushes could harm vehicle finishes and components, like mirrors and antennas. This perceived risk created a reality in which some drivers would shy away from patronizing their local washes.
Today, however, there is a new reality. In 2019,
Belanger, part of OPW Vehicle Wash Solutions, introduced
The Cube™ Car Wash System, which is a three-brush soft-touch in-bay automatic rollover system that provides a gentler, quieter wash to put customers at ease. The ultimate result is that vehicle wash owners can choose an innovative, reliable, high-quality way to deliver an improved vehicle wash experience to their customers.
Promoting customer comfort is just one of the many benefits that the Cube offers its users. The system features numerous “smart” technology systems, allowing it to be precise, intuitive and flexible, while providing the best possible cleaning result for each customer. These smart features include:
- Smart Wheel technology that tilts and adjusts to the shape of the specific vehicle, which accurately brings the cleaning media to the vehicle’s surface while still maintaining a gentle touch
- Smart Touch technology that works in tandem with Smart Wheels, while utilizing torque-sensing, radial-driven arms that detect friction levels and position the wash wheels in optimal geometric proximity to each vehicle
- Smart Spray manifolds that use their geometric-proximity capability to “know” the position of each wheel and apply spray at the right time, which maximizes cleaning power
In addition to a cleaner vehicle that is a result of the utilization of smart washing technology, the Cube does its job in a quieter fashion by deploying slow-spinning wash wheels that lower overall noise generation during the wash, making for a quieter vehicle interior. Noise levels are kept low through the incorporation of Belanger’s ShineMitt foam wash media. The design of the ShineMitt’s tips, or fingers, allows them to make constant contact with the vehicle surface, which enables it to deliver four times more touches than other forms of faster-spinning soft cloth media. These enhanced touches gently grab the vehicle’s surface, lifting dirt away to produce a tangibly cleaner and shinier vehicle.
The Cube also offers remote-access capabilities, patented LED-enhanced wheels and spray arms that cycle through six colors to provide Active Site Marketing™, and an innovative scissor-arm top wheel that precisely lowers to the vehicle and covers more area along the front, top and rear of the vehicle. The Cube’s LED lights also provide navigational assistance to move customers into and out of the wash bay quickly, which increases throughput rates.
The Cube’s game-changing capabilities were recognized in 2020 when it was named the winner in the Car Wash/Forecourt category of CSP magazine’s 17th Annual Retailer Choice Best New Product Contest (BNPC). The winners of the BNPC, which honors the convenience store industry’s most successful product launches from the previous year, are chosen via an online poll of c-store retailers, with more than 1,000 people voting in the 2020 contest.
Visit opwglobal.com to see how OPW Vehicle Wash Solutions and the rest of OPW are “Defining What’s Next” while protecting people, the environment and enhancing business performance.