Cleaning solvent / grease remover paint prep questions

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 3:27 pm
what the best method for cleaning up oily trunk, wheel well and engine compartments for paint prep?

I've seen posts that say"don't get a can of WD-40 anywhere near the paint area" and stuff like that for fear of contaminating the paint surface but for the dirty work clean up I have to use some form of solvents to clean up this gunk don't I?

Here's my tentative plan - scrape all gunk off I can, vacuum, wire brush w/paint thinner / cleaning solvent, dry & wipe down with PPG DX330 wax and grease remover, sand and wipe down with Dx330 again. I suppose I could use lacquer thinner in between solvent & DX330 as well.

How's that for a plan, yea or nay?

I'll take any advice I can get. Am I worrying too much?

I've got to get this c**p off of here somehow so it seems I can't avoid solvents.

Thanks all!
PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 5:09 pm
What I would do is use a VERY strong soap that you could spray on the surface with a hand sprayer.
Take it to the car wash and use the wand to remove your oil problem. You might have to do it twice to get most of it off,,,but that would be a good start. A steam cleaner would be great if you know some one who has one.
O-yeah,,,don't use Lacquer thinner on it. Use Enamel reducer if you have to.



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PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 5:43 pm
What's the problem with laquer thinner? I have heard that before but I have never been explained why.

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 6:46 pm
Lacquer thinner evaporates way too fast and it's highly flamable. ODG has the right way of doing it. There is one cleaner that you can use that will help, that is "Simple Green" you can get it at most grocery stores, and such.

Spray that on full strenght, and let it set a few minutes. Using a stiff brush, brush it around. Then take a pressuer washer and wash it off.

Frank
PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 7:18 pm
papdaddy, Technically I don't know why its not good to use. Evaporation has nothing to do with it though,,,they make enamel reducers that will evaporate just as fast and they are both very flammable (Sorry Frank)

If you are gonna use a solvent use a prepping solvent (Wax and grease remover) or a slow evaporating enamel reducer.
Another thing to remember is that a solvent based cleaner will not remove a water soluble contaminate such as "armour-all" or something like cooking oil or silicone. You need hot water and soap, and most of the time you should use soap first..................



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PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 10:41 pm
Well, I used to use laquer thinnner for everything but I have since stopped. I never had any problems with it except it would start to remove my primer sometimes. Thanks for the help.

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 11:43 pm
As much as I'd love to drive this thing to the car wash and pressure wash it I think I'll have to settle for rolling it into the driveway and scrubbing the crap out of it with Simple Green. It's on dollies I made so I could strip it down and work under it.
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these are older pic's of it so it's farther along now but I still need to clean the grungy area's before going much farther.

Man, this thing's a lot of work! If I stopped now (which I'm not going to do) it'd be all for naught.

I've been wiping panels with the DX330 prior to applying filler and reading the label it's primary content is Naphtha, what's different between that and an enamel reducer?

Wow! Don't I feel smart, I just figured out how to post a pic in the post itself, I must be brilliant! :D



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PostPosted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 6:59 am
Heres a little something when you start doing the body work.

http://www.1969supersport.com/paintprep.html

Rob



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PostPosted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 12:28 am
like someone else said,scrub it with a really strong cleaner.wax and grease remover,thinner,reducer or any other solvent based material just floats the contaminates.that means if you dont wipe it down before it evaporates,when it evaporates everything picked up by it lays right back down on your surface.hit it with a good soap then wax and grease remove it.now when youre ready to spray,dust your first coat to let it set up a barrier.



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PostPosted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:44 am
Will regular dish soap (dawn) be okay to scrub a car down before using prep sol, and then spraying?
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