While others use machines, creams, lotions and elbow grease to do the job, Monty Casteel does what plenty of hard-working owner-operators do during a truck wash: He sleeps.
Casteel’s white late-model Freightliner FLD gleams in the sun at the Eagle Truck Wash, behind the Pilot on Salt Springs Road near Youngstown, Ohio. A generator purrs as employees of J&L Detailing finish polishing rims.
Casteel is awakened in his bunk by a knock from one of the detailers, Josh, who wants him to look at the rims on the passenger side before Josh and his wife start on the driver’s side. Casteel, who drives for Family Touch of Atlantic, Iowa, is pleased. “You can’t get much better than that for $7 a rim,” he says.
The typical owner-operator has a lot riding on his truck’s cleanliness. The grime of produce markets, steel mills and lumber yards and highway contaminants such as salt and chemical de-icers do a lot to dull and corrode a truck’s paint. When that happens, it also dulls the image of its dedicated professional.
To deal with these nasty agents, owner-operators use everything from commercial wash facilities to a variety of substances applied by hand or with tools. While any of these approaches can produce good results, some are better than others. Every truck owner should know his rig’s vulnerabilities to surface damage and the basics of how to fight the most damaging dirt.
Casteel says he normally washes his truck every other week but is paying to give it a good spit and polish before he turns the truck in to his boss and collects the new one he is leasing to own from Family Touch. Like many owner-operators, even those who frequent beauty shows, he’s happy to farm out his aluminum buffing. “I don’t worry about drying because the truck is white and doesn’t show spots.”
Carl Peterson hauls cattle with his 1997 Pete 379, which doesn’t get nearly as dirty as his trailer. To protect the DuPont Imron 6000 and DuPont Chroma finish of his purple Pete, Peterson goes to great lengths to wash his entire rig often, even hoisting it with a crane to reach the undercarriage. He also paints the frame at least once a year.
