Itinerant Air-Cooled

Spent this morning and this afternoon working on my doors. Yesterday, I had tried cleaning them up with SimpleGreen and more Target brand orange oil cleaner. Worked so-so; still a lot of gunk on there.

This morning, I set out to clean out the old weatherstrip adhesive. Was using a scraper and paint thinner (on advice of FLAPS guy who used to work @ paint shop). The paint thinner does a good job of dissolving old cured sealant.

I had a leftover soaked rag, and decided to hit the inside of the door itself. The paint thinner cut through that 30 year old grease/fuzz/gunk like a hot knife through butter. Even better, it doesn't harm cured paint!

bretski wrote: Even better, it doesn't harm cured paint!

Careful. Look at a clean rag after wiping your favorite hidden painted area. See transfer? Cuidado. . .

Amskeptic wrote:Careful. Look at a clean rag after wiping your favorite hidden painted area. See transfer? Cuidado. . .

Noted, kind sir

I double-checked with a clean rag...no transfer. That OG paint is tough!

If you're gonna be using it to clean with, try Kleen Strip's new mineral spirits replacement. Same degreasing and cleaning but no odor and doesn't dry out your skin.

I use it to clean my paint gun.

It's called KS PRO and is around $7 a gallon at wallyworld.

Thanks, Don. I'll look for that. Used Klean Strip brand paint thinner (smells like mineral spirits to me) for this job. Yellow dishwashing gloves were worn to maintain my baby-soft skin...

I like to use brake clean to clean up greasy parts. That stuff gets expensive @ ~$4 a can. I starting using rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle from Dollar Tree. Works pretty well and it is less harmful to painted surfaces and skin contact than brake clean. For really tough grease, I soak parts in Kerosene.

Snap wrote:I like to use brake clean to clean up greasy parts. That stuff gets expensive @ ~$4 a can. I starting using rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle from Dollar Tree. Works pretty well and it is less harmful to painted surfaces and skin contact than brake clean. For really tough grease, I soak parts in Kerosene.

Kerosene is a good bridge between water-based and solvent-based cleaners.
Colin

Amskeptic wrote:

Snap wrote:I like to use brake clean to clean up greasy parts. That stuff gets expensive @ ~$4 a can. I starting using rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle from Dollar Tree. Works pretty well and it is less harmful to painted surfaces and skin contact than brake clean. For really tough grease, I soak parts in Kerosene.

Kerosene is a good bridge between water-based and solvent-based cleaners.
Colin

Goof Off is my new favorite adhesive remover, it is what allowed me to remove acres of 45 year-old adhesive under my headliner in Chloe. It can damage your brain cells and it can eat through any resprayed areas that were not factory baked. There is a time component to Goof Off that allows you to determine how aggressively it is going to do its job. The longer you keep your wetted terrycloth on the area, the more it is going to soak into the paint. Once you have removed the adhesive, the paint will be vulnerable to even fingernail scratches until the solvents have fully evaporated.
Colin

Amskeptic wrote:
Goof Off is my new favorite adhesive remover,

I couldn't agree more. When I repainted my 67 bug, I pulled the original carpet under the dash. I was greeted by a copious amount of 45 year old glue from the overzealous factory worker who installed the carpet. I tried all the common chemicals to loosen it (paint thinner, gasoline, acetone, etc..). The only thing that worked was Goof off. As Colin mentioned, you have to let it soak a bit and then it removes it. Don't get me wrong, you still have to put some elbow grease in it but it worked nicely.

Brake cleaner is also good on original paint, doesn't seem to mind. Small doses of course.