after weeks of rain our car had the red dirt film all down the side as we live down a dirt road so as it was morning and out of the sun i tried the wal-mart foaming bathroom cleaner over the whole car. after only a minute i sprayed it off and it looked great! the car was clean as if i took a rag to it! rims and all. i have to wonder tho,is it safe on the paint? it acted almost like wheel cleaner lifting the dirt up to be sprayed off but didn't seem to dull the paint tho it was still wet when my wife took it to work.it only took about a third of a can to cover the whole car wheels and all. if it works so good, how come i haven't heard of this before to clean a car without scrubbing? there must be a down side.
jesse

[This message has been edited by possumlips (edited 07-17-2007).]

I would be concerned with harsh chemicals, such as chlorine or acetate. The idea is good, but not sure of the chemical make up of the cleaner. Look for a MSDS...
http://www2.itap.purdue.edu/msds/docs/1191.pdf

I use that stuff to degrease engines and stuff. It will remove underhood paint, so I wouldn't use it on the exterior.

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1986 SE 350 V8

I dont even use wheel cleaner. Its ruined some polished rims and valve covers for me. Even thats too harsh for my liking. I put some nice Moroso polished valve covers on my vette and got this bottle of aluminum wheel cleaner i won at a car show. I figured with all the aluminum parts under the hood, it would make it look awesome. Well, It took me 3 hours to pull the covers back off, then repolish them ( 2 more hours and still not as good as they were) and rubbed all the other parts with Mothers mag polish (more time). Ill never use any aluminum cleaners in any spray bottle ever again.

[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 07-17-2007).]

quote Originally posted by tesmith66: I use that stuff to degrease engines and stuff. It will remove underhood paint, so I wouldn't use it on the exterior.

really? i've used it on engines and rims with no problems but wont use it on hot items as it seemed to fade the paint under the hood one time when it dryed a lil too fast. i thought it would be safer than the pink or purple degreaser i bought at wal-mart since its for bathrooms. and the degreaser did mess up some alum. on my motorcycle when i sprayed it on one time.guess it was too strong.jesse

I find the Meguiars products to be pretty safe. Their wheel cleaner does a good job on the engine too.

I've been using their Gold Class car shampoo as well. Very good stuff. I even use it on my hardwood floors.

Arn

I've used Dow bathroom cleaner with "scrubbing bubbles" on my stove / gas range and it cleans up bacon grease like nothing else in the whole wide world, squeaky clean on one swipe too.
I have used it in a pinch on my stock rally wheels with no problems so far using a brush for the crevices. I have not tried it on engine yet, bet that the lemon scent would be a bit more palatable than the petroleum smell of standard engine degreasers.
Can I grasp the concept of a big V-6 macho powerplant smelling like dainty little lemons?

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jetman
Silver 86 SE 2M6 4-speed, with "check wallet light"

So what do you think is the best stuff ot use on the engine to degrease it and just basically clean it up? Meguiars wheel cleaner or is there something better that will not fade or remove pain?

quote Originally posted by Qcksilver: So what do you think is the best stuff ot use on the engine to degrease it and just basically clean it up? Meguiars wheel cleaner or is there something better that will not fade or remove pain?

good old gunk is a good degreaser

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Question wonder and be wierd
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