chris walrod

Hello all,

Does anyone know of that citrus cleaner / degreaser that people have had success with removing the cosmoline under the car?

Thanks

Chris

Tom W

There was some discussion on the issue a few months ago (try an archive search). I used Simple Green. It didn't all come off at once but it's all gone now. Each time I swapped the wheels for autox, I sprayed the simple green on full strength, let it sit a bit and the used a scrub brush (or a putty knife for the really thick areas). I spent about 15 minutes per wheel well. After about 3 sessions it was all gone.

Jim Morton

Chris:

First. To ward off the flamers, I am in no way affiliated with the product I am about to mention. I found out about this product when health and safety regs did away with my companies use of petro chem slovents...

All that said. I use a product called HistoClear as a degreaser and cosmolene remover. This is a more refined and concentrated product from those commercially marketted. It is used in the biological specimen slide preparation industry. It is available directly from National Diagnostics, one of the manufacturers.

As a note. This is an "almost" pharmacy grade product. It is expensive. However, a little goes a long way. Do not let it sit for a long time on rubber. It will soften rubber after a 12+ hour soak. I let it soak for about 10 - 30 minutes, brush it and wash with simple green.

For another reference, I turned lister "JC in NY" onto this and he is another convert, from what I am told.

Have fun cleaning !

Jim Morton
'95 C2 - almost RS !

Best of luck with your cleaning. <img src="graemlins/xyxwave.gif" border="0" alt="[bigbye]" />

JPS

At the risk of looking really stupid...what is cosmoline? I feel suddenly I might have a terrible disease...worse than gingivitis! <img src="graemlins/jumper.gif" border="0" alt="[jumper]" />

BradB

Aerosol Brake Parts cleaner is very effective at removing it and available most everywhere. Gumout brand or any non-foaming brand is best. It wilkl not harm paint.

JPS

Thanks Kim,
Another newbie/stupid question...if it is there to protect...why remove? Am I missing an obvious point somewhere?

cmoss

JPS

Perhaps the only obvious thing you might be missing, is the fact that you (and I ) live in sunny California.

"Back East" they have this thing called winter. And they actually put salt on the roads to melt ice and snow! The horror!

Chris

Kevin

JS;

It would be very similar to paint overspray. It covers your suspension parts and most everything under your car. The only benifit of keeping it on is if you drove in areas that salt is used to remove the ice.

Another product that I have used is Big Orange which is sold by ZEP. Most major cites have a Zep dealer.

Chris W. - '96 Targa

I've found 3M's "Adhesive, Tar and Wax Remover" to work extremely well on removing the cosmoline with the least elbow grease involved. I picked up a can of the stuff at a local auto parts store (looks like a small mineral spirits can).

It also works great on pine tree sap drips and related sticky stuff, without harming paint.

<img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

-Chris

jec993

I undertook this project earlier this month! I removed the cosmoline in the wheel wells using Simple Green. It did the job, is safe, no gloves required, and it smells good

I did a little write up about it here:
<a href="http://www.cowlishaw.net/~jim/Photo/Cosmoline/" target="_blank">www.cowlishaw.net/~jim/Photo/Cosmoline/</a>


-jimC

chris walrod

JEC, Its funny because I did almost the same as you. It started with removing the RF headlight assy. to check the operation of the oil cooler fan, then I had the front wheels off, then the inner fender well removed, tested the fan, then I said to myself, heeeeeyyyyy, look at the grime in the wheel wells. So there I went, scrubbing and cleaning, and low and behold, yellow showed up after a few hours of cleaning. I started cleaning suspension, and said that this will be another day. I guess I have the same sickness as everyone else about getting our "mechanical art" clean, even where nobody really can see.

I will say that one can see when the car is on the ground. Although darker colored cars wont benefit as much other than knowing the car is clean as well as a little lighter.

I used Castrol Superclean to disolve the grime, works really good

Thank to all for the suggestions!

Chris

pncarrerars

For those of us who live the UK does anybody know where we can buy "Simply Green" or if there is an equivalent UK product?

Pete