Hi Sean, A good resource for understanding the composition of volcanic ash is located here: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/ash/properties.html Ash can be very abrasive, and in addition to the abrasiveness, ash particles are commonly coated with soluble salts. Much of these same characteristics are found in the silt and other fine-grained, non-volcanic sediment that occurs around Anchorage. -Janet -------- Sean Hannaman wrote: Hello, Have a quetion about ash and how it will affect a touchless carwash ability to clean cars. I maintain two carwashes in the Anchorage area and we are having some difficulties cleaning cars. I was thinking with the erutions that we have had there has been a fare amount of ash on the ground. What is the likelihood that this could be the cause? If it is, how would I go about getting info to send to Ecolab to come up with a chemical the will clean our customers cars?