Which cleaner do you need? Solvent or Waterborne?

  • Thread starter Bob Hollinshead
  • Start date
aae........try rm's 903. its like spi's 700 but much stronger and there are some other chemicals in there as well. it is an alcohol type cleaner safe for plastic and clearcoat but its so strong it will wipe off basecoat. sikkens antistatic cleaner is the same stuff if you don't have a local rm jobber.
 
I think I found my killer initial cleaner. Barry told me,not in these words, that I am too anal about cleaning. Guilty as charged. I have always strived for a panel that if I spray it with water, the water would sheet off with no bubbles. I mixed simple green with the 700-1 cleaner and now the water pours off the panel. My final clean is with the 700 and foam window cleaner. I know it's not conventional but it sure attacks the stuff the dealers use.
 
What mixing ratio did you come up with when mixing Simple Green with the 700?

Sounds like a killing combination if it takes care of the crap silicone dressing the dealers use.
 
After determining the specific gravity of each product I then was able to calculate the proper mixing ratios. The following is the exact formula: 3/4 spray bottle of SG and a couple good glugs of 700-1. Try it on the plastic parts in the engine compartment. Your tape will hopefully stick.
 
i use dawn original . it has only one chemical which is ethyl alcohol . simple green has a pretty good mix in it. some things i don't think i would want under my urethane or epoxy. woth looking at.
 
on new cars i would go stronger to clean. i remember all the toyota mini vans we did in the 80's. had to scrub with mineral spirits first them soap and water just to get the cosmoline off. but i dont do collision. too damn slow now :)
but on mine after blasting they get cleaned with dawn. from there on i use barry's w/b
 
That's the kind of stuff we encounter daily. I use the SG, paste, solvent and water. Shouldn't be any traces of SG after that.
 
I figured up a formula for Bondo king today as he was having a real issue with an interior that had been drowned in armoral, it was a nasty formula but maybe he will report if it worked or not, hard to say, might have melted him? LOL
 
I have had great success with the simple green and waterborne w&g remover mixed. Water sheets off the panel.
 
Just woke up today boys.. Getting ready to mix up what Barry suggested yesterday.. I am trying to epoxy a 40+ year old dash and plastic console etc,., that have been drowned in armoral as Barry pointed out.. The dash Ive had some luck with, but the dang plastic parts just laugh at my feeble threats :p

I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned to no avail.. Just wave my gun across it and it looks like bedliner every single time.. :mad:

So time to get off here. play chemist in the garage and I will report back later..

Dont ask for the mix though... Im pretty sure Barry would not want people mixing this up for daily use, as it is too strong and for this "special situation" only... Time to go play chemist Muuaaaaaaahhhhhh :cool:
 
Well as promised I am getting back with you all.. The plastic parts, still are not cooperating with us.. After a good talk with Barry last night, we have concluded we will win the battle, but thus far they continue to fight strong.. Today I will bridge these nasty boogers with epoxy and move along to the dash, which I think is going to be worse,..

I cant get tape to stick to the dash, even after I clean it with reducer or thinner.. Gonna be a long hard weekend.. I dont know If I will be able to repent enough for church on Sunday morning after this mess!!!
 
Not trying to hijack a thread here but I figure it might be helpful to many...

I've never sprayed epoxy on a dash or any plastic panels. But I have used cases of vinyl paint. I don't know what this stuff is made up from but it sticks like glue. I have found that reducer tends to dry out the vinyl to the point it wants to crack later down the road. Normally I start out with a wax and grease remover. Then move on the Simple green. From there I use dawn. And finally water/alcohol mix. Tack it off and spray away. I did this for years at the dealership with a 99% success rate. Like I said I have no idea what they put in the vinyl paint but it works. I've used it on vinyl, plastic, cloth, and carpet. On cloth and carpet it tends to feel hard and scratchy to the touch so after it drys I go over it with a semi soft hair brush until the fibers loosen up a bit. It never has the same soft feel of new material but it looks like new. And for dealer work that's all that ever mattered. Plastic is another animal all together. It will take a light coat or two before you can try to get coverage. This stuff is very thin. sprays like water. It will take a good 4-6 coats for even coverage. I had a Monte Carlo '1980' that was my fair weather driver/Sunday show car. Black with white interior. I used this stuff to clean up the look of the interior every year and nobody could ever tell the white vinyl seats were dyed.
 
The interior has a texture to it.. Owner wants it all gone and smooth.. So that wont do the trick for my application broski
 
Try using simple green with the h2o w&g remover. Let it sit for awhile. It might work really well. I would be interested in the results.
 
AAE, I will give that a go on the dash tonight or Monday, as these interior parts have eaten up my day, spraying and waiting.. Bridging with very thin epoxy coats, so this takes time, and Im not going to rush it and have it look like a turd next summer once it has set thru many heat cycles.. It sucks for me, as I hate to wait on anything, but the owner will be paying for my time, so that is comforting so to speak ;-)
 
The worst part about having fisheyes on textured plastic parts is removing all the primer to reclean and start over. Unless it all comes back off it's impossible to clean off the contaminants and then the only alternative is to bridge over them and cross your fingers. I've had good luck using the waterborne wax and grease remover and also some scotchbrite scrubbing with dawn and ajax followed by another waterborne cleaning.
 
Before i epoxied I scrubbed with dawn, a red scuff pad, wax and grease remover and scuff pad etc.. then cleaned with 50/50.. Didnt work. Sanded off majority of epoxy, used the very potent mix Barry suggested and still to no avail.. We believe it was gassing from the underside in nooks and crannies.. I scrubbed with tooth brush also, and sprayed cleaner in and around all areas, more than once.. Still fish eyes.. So finally, I just bridged with epoxy.. They are gone.. or hidden :p
 
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