In episode 1 of ICA’s Car Wash Exchange (formerly Conversations with ICA), host Kendra Johnson talks with Rob Schoenherr and Ryan Linke of Solve Industrial Motion Group about why bearings and power transmission can make or break car wash uptime, and the practical maintenance moves that prevent failures and keep tunnels running.
Bearings do not look like profit. They look like a ring of steel tucked behind a chain, sprocket, or conveyor. Yet in a tunnel wash, one seized bearing can pause memberships, upsells, and every car in line.
The enemy list is familiar: constant washdown, aggressive chemicals, grit, and temperature swings. Water and detergents can wash out lubrication. Contaminants can work past seals and scar raceways. Corrosion can eat housings and hardware until alignment drifts and loads spike. The result usually arrives as a warning trio: noise, heat, and vibration. That damage shows up on conveyors, rollers, and high-cycle drives.
Rob and Ryan encourage operators to shift from “replace when it breaks” to “predict before it breaks.” Simple habits help: keep a baseline of normal sound and temperature, look for leaking seals or rusty purge, check belt and chain tension, and track failures by location to spot patterns. When possible, add vibration or temperature monitoring to high-value assets to catch issues early and schedule repairs.
The other lever is specification. Bearings designed for washdown duty can reduce maintenance and extend life. Solve points to car-wash-specific mounted bearings such as their QCW Series, pairing corrosion-resistant housings with a quad-lip silicone seal and a “lubed for life” design aimed at lowering total cost of ownership and downtime.
Bottom line: bearings are small, but they set the pace of your wash. Treat them like a strategic asset, and uptime follows. Catch the full episode and connect with Solve at solveindustrial.com. See industry innovations at The Car Wash Show, May 11-13, 2026, in Nashville, Tennessee.
📺 Watch the full conversation below.
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Car Wash Exchange | 2026 season, episode 1