Fleet Chemicals

Hey Superclean, It sounds like your happy with your soap. If I'm understanding you correctly, it is a brown soap. Russ J. is pretty confident in Panel Bright, and I've read a lot of good reviews on it as well. I've been thinking about experimenting with that style of soap to see if it would work in our application. It sounds like you've got a good background in fleetwashing. Would you also recommend the brown soaps as well? In your opinion, what sets it apart compared to the other types of soaps you've tried?
 
Yes I would recommend them Blaine. Like you I am a big supporter of two step washing. The "brown" soaps are good second step soaps but they can work as a one step if a job is competitvely bid and the customer doesn't have a high expectation for cleaning. They do great on the diesel soot you get on some trailers and they do a nice job helping on cleaning aluminum. Some "brown" soaps I have seen are high caustic without a good surfactant package or buffers. Not hard to brown rails with them especially in the summer when the surface is hotter. Thats why the Hydro Chem soap is the one I like so much. Gives me the aggressiveness without some of the downside. Like other brown soaps decals are a concern. You can "bleed" the color of decals if trying to use it as a one step because of the hydroxides but when two stepping the dilution rates make it safe. I have seen guys trying to one step with downstream at 10:1 - 15:1 and fading a decal. Thats why brown soaps are also known as Panel Bright soaps. Great for the old white trailers when you are trying to get those old heavily oxidized pieces clean. DynaClean & Bright also works well on the tractors. Of course it is not safe for use on rigs with polished aluminum.

If someone is looking to get rid of HF brighteners they could also look at Dynaclean & Bright because at 4:1 it actually does a pretty good job without burning (browning) the aluminum.

Hydro Chem also makes a kit soap called Fleet Brite HD, another brown soap, little less caustic then Dynaclean and less expensive because it is not built with all the techy buffers, it cleans amazingly well so I use that for the majority of my fleets.

What makes it different from other soaps is the relatively high caustic nature of the soap. They are pretty "hot" soaps. I know there is more to them chemically speaking but if you want to know give Hydro Chem a call, ask for Scott. I told them I found this forum recently so they may check it out too.
 
I know that soaps clean different depending on climate and types of "dirt" that the surfaces pick up. Being in Zeeland I would think that you would have a similar climate compared to us. Usually up here in the north it requires a better product than what a person could get by with in a warmer climate. If you're happy with that type of soap then maybe I should try it a little. Thanks!
 
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