thanks JB, coming from a guy who keeps his baby in such good condition, that's a pretty big compliment in my book
ok Fil, you asked, i'll answer........i normally keep my opinions to myself unless asked directly, because 9 times out of 10 somebody comes along & tells you you're doing it all wrong...........LOL
first up i should explain my situation, as it has bearing on WHY i use the products i do.......at the time of purchasing the Karcher, my wife & i were running a 7 day a week business & had 3 vehicles, a mitsubishi canter with a 3.5 metre x 1.8 metre van body on it, a new mercedes sprinter & an almost new mitsubishi lancer MR...........i was using a normal type car wash machine at the bakery we contracted to & over a period of time it got weaker & weaker, so i went off to source a pressure cleaner of my own..........now, Karcher are probably the most popular domestic & industrial cleaner in Tasmania, so naturally that's where i went, spent a good hour there discussing what i needed & they showed me several models, recommending the one i eventually bought, which was the biggest of the domestic range at the time, pressure equal to or exceeding a normal car wash, it's own soap resorvoir & a roll up 10 metre hose with an extended wand, heavy duty enuff to take some licks but still affordable for the average joe, from memory it cost 1800 bucks, so it wasn't a supercheap auto midnight special....LOL...........i also went with the detergent they recommended, which was a "true blue chemicals" general purpose wash.......very quickly found out that altho it did everything expected, because it was thin (almost water type consistency) it was sucked thru the cleaner at an alarming rate, even on the lowest soap setting
....it also managed to leach thru on the high pressure water setting & left streaks on the vehicles..........so off i went again to research GOOD truck washes, hit a few truckies forums (yes, they DO exist....LOL)....talked to several ppl & finished up deciding on CT-18 because a) used correctly, it was heavy enuff to remove the worst of road grime/grease & light enuff to use on a car b) it was more a "soap" than what i'd been using & fed thru the karcher at the correct rate, c) it was readily available @ reasonable cost thru most car accessory shops in a 20 litre drum & d) it is reasonably priced (i think i paid 60 bucks trade price from repco for the last drum)
to explain why i didn't want a detergent that streaks after use, i wash all three vehicles weekly (we now have a newer version merc sprinter, a new 5 tonne isuzu tautliner & the NC)...............with the commercials, i don't have the time or the energy to chamois these dry & need to have something that won't leave residue behind.......with our car (we moved on from the lancer to a new mazda tribute & now the MX5) i am a helluva lot more fussy, but i STILL use the $1.50 sponge & the synthetic chamois
as i said before, i have used the karcher & CT-18 for 5 years now on a lot of different vehicles & other applications & have seen no adverse affects, so i'm happy with my methods, & anyone who has seen ANY of our vehicles can attest to how fussy i am with their cleanliness
