How different is the auto spa

Every motorist wishes to have a car sparkling clean at all times; whether it’s just been raining or during a dry and dusty season. For this reason, they will either wash their cars from home; take them to the washing bay or the auto spa.
However, while all they do at the washing bay and the auto spa, which seems to be a recent invention, seems to be the same thing, which is washing cars, Justus Musinguzi, a car cleaner at Metroplex Shopping Mall auto spa in Naalya, explains that it takes a number of processes to have a car washed at the auto spa.

Removing the dirt
“If a car is very dirty, we first get off the dirt using a jet spray. After using the jet spray, the car proceeds to the drive-through washing machine where it undergoes further mechanical washing and drying,” Musinguzi notes, adding that from the drive-through machine, the car is parked under a tent where carpets and the interior are thoroughly cleaned and polished with specific liquidised detergents. Special car fresheners and perfumes are also sprayed inside the car to make it have a good scent.

Clean the tryes
Unlike many, if not all washing bays that use locally made detergents, Joseph Kibanza, also a car cleaner at Metroplex Mall auto spa, says detergents such as Bell Gomm and Por Lega are among others used in washing cars at the auto spa. Bell Gomm, which is green in colour, is used for polishing only car tyres. “If a cleaner makes a mistake and uses it on parts like windows, they change colour. If they were tinted black, they may become light or colourless,” Kibanza cautions, adding that it brightens rubber parts and its special formula doesn’t damage but rather protects the parts.

Car body
For Por Lega detergent, it’s only meant for the rest of the car body and spraying the car engine to remove the dry dirty oils that get stack on it. There also is a specific detergent meant for car carpets, which leaves them in their finest form without getting bleached.
To have a car washed at Metroplex Mall, big cars like a Toyota TX or Mercedes ML is Shs30,000 and Shs25,000, for saloon cars such as Toyota Premio.

Polish the car
At Fusion auto spa in Munyonyo, detailed car cleaning takes some time and it’s characterised by removing all the car seats, washing the engine if the client so wishes, polishing the interior and exterior with car polish like Sheen vinyl for plastic and rubber care and Turtle wax for colour enhancing.

Wash under the car
There, a car is driven onto built and raised pillars, appear as if it’s reversing on a hill. This provides enough space for the car cleaner using a jet spray to clean beneath the car and remove the dirt and mud that could have got stack there overtime.
Steve Kirunda, the general manager at Fusion auto spa, explains that different levels of specialisation at the auto spa ensure that the client gets the best service beyond car washing.
Washing the engine
When washing the engine, the cleaner was trained. He has to be careful not to wash the engine parts that get affected by water.
It is cleaned when the car engine is switched on so that when water accidentally goes where it’s not supposed to, the engine pushes it away to avoid a large effect.”
Hovering
Because cars absorb seen and unseen dirt when on the road, a hovering machine that drains every kind of dirt within the car interior is as well used. It is also operated by a different person who understands how it works.
“As someone else hovers the car interior, two other people wipe it inside and outside to ensure that it’s thoroughly clean,” Kirunda explains when asked why more cleaners attend to one car, unlike washing bays where one person does everything. A different person washes the car tyres and applies polish to maintain them black. The water used, Kirunda says, goes through a water treatment system.
“The reason we use treated water is that there are cars that take a long time without being washed and when they use untreated water mixed with ordinary detergents, the initial car colour may not come out shining,” Kirunda explains.