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A KKE Wave touchless car wash mid-cycle, the programme display on the beam reading HIGHPRESSURE in green above a foam-covered car

KKE Wave · touchless rollover

L'équipement de lavage de voiture sans contact Wave

Inbay sans contact haute pression automatique

Shot on a commissioned Wave in a working bay. Images digitally enhanced for the web.

160 bar

working pressure

130 lpm

flow at the arms

10

vehicles an hour, up to

900

washes a month, the duty it is designed around

One cycle

What actually happens in the four minutes

The machine names each step on the beam as it runs it, and the LED bars on both columns change colour with it — so the driver, and anyone watching from the forecourt, can see what they are paying for. These are the labels the display shows.

  1. The overhead nozzle bar of a KKE Wave raked to follow the slope of a car's windscreen Profile
    01

    It reads the car before it touches it

    An ultrasound array measures the vehicle's profile as the gantry moves in. No photocell contour, nothing feeling for the bodywork — the arms are aimed from a measurement.

  2. A car under a KKE Wave being covered in foam, the display reading LAVA in red Lava dwell
    02

    Foam goes on and is left to work

    A clinging foam laid over the whole car and given dwell time. On a brush machine this step is a courtesy. Here it is half the wash.

  3. Fans of high-pressure water firing down across the rear of a car inside the wash bay Highpressure
    03

    160 bar, moving, from both sides and above

    Oscillating arm assemblies on rotary unions sweep the nozzles across the body while the gantry travels, so no part of the panel gets a single static hit.

  4. A car inside the bay seen past a gantry column carrying a strip of violet LEDs Wheels
    04

    Rims on their own chemistry

    Rim product runs on a dedicated dosing channel, so it is never diluted into the body wash. The high-pressure arms do the work — there is no wheel brush, and none is offered.

  5. A large SUV in a KKE Wave bay with the foam rinsed away, water sheeting down clean wet paint Rinse
    05

    Rinse, and optionally rinse with nothing in it

    A full rinse pass, and on sites that specify it an RO spot-free final rinse — water with nothing dissolved in it, so the car can be left to air-dry without marks.

  6. A clean, rinsed full-size SUV at the end of its wash under the black gantry Dry
    06

    High-volume roof and side dryers

    Every blower on its own motor protection breaker, set to that motor's full-load current. The car leaves the bay dry enough to drive away without a towel in anyone's hand.

The order above is the standard recipe. Six to eight programmes ship on the machine and the recipes are held as data, so a site can sell a short wash and a long one off the same steps.

A full-size SUV with its headlights on standing between the two columns of a KKE Wave

Why touchless

Choose it for the reason, not the reputation

We build brush machines and we build this one, so there is nothing here to defend. Touchless is the right answer when you cannot control what arrives on the car, or when the customer will not accept anything contacting the paint at all — dealer handovers, premium retail, fresh paintwork, and regions where abrasive dust is simply in the air.

  • Nothing contacts the paint, at any point in the cycle
  • Wheels are covered by the high-pressure arms rather than a separate brush
  • No brush maintenance regime to keep to — the trade is a chemistry regime instead
  • Where dust is abrasive and constant, this is the machine that does not carry it between cars
The overhead nozzle beam of a KKE Wave sweeping low across the roof of a large SUV

What it costs you

It buys you paint safety and it charges you throughput

Eight to ten vehicles an hour against fourteen to fifteen on an X2, and more water and chemistry for the same car. Pressure and chemistry need dwell time that mechanical action does not, and no amount of specification makes that difference disappear.

On a high-volume site charging a mid-market ticket, that arithmetic usually points back at brushes — and we will tell you so. Size the bay and the queue for the real number rather than the one that makes the business case work.

  • 8-10 vehicles an hour, against 14-15 on the X2
  • Meaningfully more water per car than a brush wash
  • Where water is metered, scarce or hard, budget recycling and softening into the installation

See it run

Wave, working

A full cycle on a commissioned machine — foam, high pressure, rinse and dry, with the programme naming itself on the beam as it goes. Thirty-two seconds, no soundtrack, nothing staged — the same bay every still on this page came from.

Ask us for the unedited footage, or come and watch one run.

Ask us for the unedited footage, or come and watch one run.

What is different

A pump station with a gantry attached

That is not a figure of speech. On every other machine in this range the gantry is most of the engineering; on the Wave the pump skid is, and the gantry is what aims it.

A pressure transducer on each high-pressure circuit means the controller knows what each circuit is actually delivering rather than what it was told to deliver, and the pumps start in stages so the supply is not asked for everything at once.

  • Oscillating high-pressure arm assemblies on rotary unions
  • 160 bar at 130 lpm
  • Vibration-isolated high-pressure pump skid
  • Ultrasound / 3D vehicle profiling array
  • One pressure transducer per high-pressure circuit
  • Staged pump starting
The column of a KKE Wave with its cable drag chain, travel drive and full-height LED strip
Inside a KKE Wave column: brass solenoid valves on a manifold, labelled cable glands and four electronic chemical dosing pumps in a row

Why dosing is not optional here

Chemistry does the work the brushes are not doing

On a brush machine an approximate dose still gets a clean car, because mechanical action covers for it. Touchless has no such margin: the chemistry and the pressure are the whole wash, and a dose that drifts shows up on the car within a week.

So on the Wave, measuring dose volumes on every channel at commissioning is a mandatory acceptance test rather than a recommendation. Four dosing channels, with more available.

  • Dose volumes measured on every channel before hand-over — a required test
  • Rim chemistry on a dedicated channel, standard
  • Sealer wax module and RO spot-free rinse available
  • Water softening and recycling available — hard water spots a car whatever the machine did

Installed and running

A commissioned machine, in a working bay

Not a concept and not a stand model — the rails set in the floor, the drag chain, the dosing pumps behind the column panel, the programme naming itself on the beam. Every picture on this page started as a photograph or a video frame of that machine and has been digitally enhanced for the web; ask us for the originals, or come and stand in the bay.

A thick sheet of wash foam pouring from the gantry beam under a red LED bar
Foam off the beam, mid LAVA step
Solenoid valves and dosing pumps inside a Wave column
Four dosing channels, behind the column panel
A Wave column with its drag chain, drive and LED strip
Drag chain and travel drive
A long tiled wash bay looking towards a black KKE Wave on its rails
The bay, between cars
An SUV under full foam in a bay lit red
Full foam coverage on a large SUV
A clean rinsed SUV at the end of its wash
Out the other side

Specification

At a glance

Every model runs on a 380-415 V three-phase industrial supply. The incoming supply requirement — connected load, cable size and earthing — is issued with the quotation for the configuration you order, because the options you add change it.

KKE Wave
WashingTouchless — oscillating high-pressure arms, 160 bar at 130 lpm
Paint contactNone — nothing touches the vehicle at any point in the cycle
Wash heights2.3 / 2.6 / 3.0 m — bolted extension kit. Further steps optional.
Throughput8-10 vehicles an hour
Duty cycle300-900 washes a month
Wash programs6-8 — recipes held as data
Vehicle positioningUltrasound / 3D array
Wheel washingCovered by the high-pressure arms
DryingHigh-volume roof and side dryers
Chemical dosing channels4
ReportingCloud dashboard
Pump stationVibration-isolated skid with staged starting and a transducer on each circuit.
CommissioningDose volumes measured on every channel — mandatory, not recommended.
Supply380-415 V, three phase. 50 Hz or 60 Hz.
BodyGalvanised sheet, high-gloss PU paint. Heavy-duty galvanised frame optional.
ShippingKnocked down, bolted assembly on site by trained technicians.

Options

What you can add

Priced add-ons for this model. Already fitted as standard, so there is nothing to add: rim chemistry dosing channel, side dryers (pair), LED positioning display.

Wash performance

Underbody / chassis wash arch

A separate arch at the bay entry. Sells well anywhere salt or site mud is a fact of life.

Chemistry and water

Additional chemical dosing channel

One more product on the menu. Added per channel.

Chemistry and water

Sealer wax module

A paid upgrade on the menu that costs seconds, not minutes.

Chemistry and water

Water softener

Hard water spots a car whatever the machine did to it. Softening is upstream of the argument.

Chemistry and water

RO spot-free rinse

A final rinse with nothing dissolved in it, so the car can be left to air-dry without marks.

Chemistry and water

Water recycling

Recovers and reuses the bulk of the wash water. See our water recycling systems.

Chemistry and water

Frost protection kit

Standard for Europe and New Zealand, an option everywhere that gets a cold week.

Control, payment and site

Cashless payment terminal

Takes payment at the bay. The gateway-ready wiring is already fitted for it.

Control, payment and site

Cloud dashboard hardware and gateway

Wash counts, faults and chemical levels, off the machine and onto a screen.

Control, payment and site

Unmanned-site package

Runs the bay without an operator on it. Needs the positioning and diagnostics to be trustworthy first.

Structure and finish

Additional wash-height step, per 300 mm

A bolted extension. Decide it before the building goes up, not after.

Structure and finish

Splash guards / bay screens

Keeps the wash inside the bay and off whatever is parked next to it.

Structure and finish

Custom colour and branding graphics

The machine is the biggest object on the forecourt. It can carry your name instead of ours.

Structure and finish

Stainless beam and fastener upgrade

For coastal and high-chloride sites, where fasteners go first.

Structure and finish

Heavy-duty galvanised frame

A heavier structure under the same machine, for the hardest environments.

Service

Commissioning and operator training

Quoted on every order. Your people are trained on your machine, on your site.

Service

Spares kit, twelve months

The wear parts a year of washing consumes, on the shelf instead of on a plane.

The overhead nozzle bar of a KKE Wave tracking the slope of a car's windscreen

The platform

What the Wave shares with the rest of the range

Designed to EN 17281. Safety hardwired to ISO 13849 Category 3 / PL d, with the PLC outside the safety path. Phase, sequence and under-voltage protection as standard, and every blower on its own motor protection breaker. Galvanised body panels in high-gloss polyurethane, with every galvanised-to-mild-steel joint isolated. Ships semi knocked down and bolts together on site.

Questions

Wave, in detail

Does touchless clean as well as brushes?

On a normally dirty car, yes — with more water, more chemistry and more time. On a genuinely filthy one, mechanical action is hard to replace, which is why brush machines still dominate high-volume sites. Choose touchless because contact is unacceptable on your cars, not because you expect it to outperform a brush on soiling.

How does it wash the wheels?

The high-pressure arms cover them — there is no separate wheel brush and none is offered, because adding one would defeat the point of the machine. A dedicated rim chemistry channel is standard.

Why is it slower than the brush machines?

Because pressure and chemistry need dwell time that mechanical action does not. Eight to ten vehicles an hour against twelve to fifteen. Size the bay and the queue for that number rather than hoping the difference disappears in practice.

What are the wash height options?

2.3, 2.6 and 3.0 m, using a bolted extension kit, with a further step available as an option.

Does it use more water?

Yes — meaningfully more than a brush wash of the same car. If water is metered, scarce or hard, budget for recycling and softening as part of the installation rather than as a later fix.

What does the supply have to be?

380-415 V three phase, 50 Hz or 60 Hz. The pumps are the load that decides the site, and they start in stages for exactly that reason. The connected load and cable size are issued with the quotation for your configuration.

Do you have a smaller touchless machine?

Yes — the ArrowClean is our compact touchless machine, aimed at smaller sites and lower volumes. The Wave is the touchless machine in the trolley range.

A long tiled wash bay looking towards a black KKE Wave gantry on its rails

Next step

Talk to us before you commit to touchless

Tell us what arrives on the cars, what the water is like and what you charge. If touchless is the right answer we will configure a Wave; if it is not, we will say so — we build the brush machines too.