Removing Bugs, Traffic film, etc

Have found that what worked in the '70’s still works today … and I mean for car paint systems ( I’m getting too old to hope for that !!).

I used to crib at the cost of T-Cut et al, and found that domestic cleaning products (used with care) gave perfectly acceptable results.

I’ve only owned my blue-over-white Sprint for two years and, (not being that sort of owner) have never given it a really good external clean.

However, with the UK weather being so good, and bugs in abundance, not forgetting how long it took to clean last summer … well, I decided to take the plunge.

It took forever. I was going to be there for days !

When I bought the Sprint, it was in the knowledge that one of the first jobs would be to renew the nearside lattice framework within the cill. This is not a pleasant, nor easy job, and despite great care there was some external damage requiring filler. Consequently, at some point, the white areas will require a respray.

With this in mind, I decided to experiment.
I chose a product from Tesco’s (also elsewhere), namely CIF Power Cream (lemon) for kitchens.

Dabbed it on a couple of spots and left for 5 minutes. Came back and it literally wiped off. Rinsed the area with water and left it for a couple of days. Checked, and no loss of finish … indistinguishable from the surrounding areas.

Emboldened, I treated the rear boot skirt (with loads of exhaust residue) in one hit. Same result… clean as a whistle, although a couple of stubborn spots which needed further localised treatment.

Since I’m going to have to spray these areas at some time in the future, there’s little to lose. Whether I’ll try it on the blue area is a different question.

Any thoughts?

Regards,
Stuart.

Howdy, I’m not familiar with that product but I’ve used diluted bleach to take stains out of paint. Gray mold, tree droppings, exhaust soot, etc; that couldn’t be polished off, but it’ll need a good waxing after the bleach.
Here’s a gutsy one, Oven Cleaner. I’ve used it on various cars that had advertising signs PAINTED on their sides. Spray on the oven cleaner, hold your breath, wait for bubbles to appear on the lettering and… hose it off with water. Don’t leave it on too long! I’ve never seen anything like it, works perfectly.

Oven cleaner… strewth !

Got high blood pressure as it is. That’d just about see me off for good !

But good to know there’s someone else as daft as me.

A thought … Coca-Cola was always good for cleaning up old coins. I wonder how it will work on dirty chromium-plated parts ? I have a couple of painted rear light trims from ebay (need to remove the paint but leave the chrome underneath). Must give it a try.

Regards,
Stuart.

Stuart,

I don’t drink the stuff, but my memory from chemistry lessons is that Coke contains phosphoric acid so that may make a surprisingly good rust remover and etch primer - let us know you get on. Make sure you wash all the sugar and other crap off!

Much of the surface muck on paint is tar, diesel and oil and I wash it off with a white spirit soaked cloth, it’s amazing how smooth the paint feels after this (petrol works well too). No need for the Megulars’ much vaunted quik clay unless you’re after a perfect finish.

I’d be a bit careful with bathroom cleaners. Those that are suitable for plastic baths will be ok but products designed for ceramic sinks etc may be very abrasive.

Mike

Abrasive cleaners, you say? Many years ago I worked with a bloke who used to boast of cleaning his white Austin A60 with Ajax scouring powder. The poor old car was clean all right, but had a perfectly matt finish. :open_mouth:

and I had a schoolteacher whose son offered to wash her car, he was halfway through clening the bonnet when she took the brillo pad off him. Her Cortina retained its distinctive scratched bonnet as long as I knew her.

Mike

My three year old liked to help clean our cars…
I’d give him a cloth and get him to clean the wheels, nice and safe (or so I thought). One day he seemed very quiet. When I eventually got to the front of the car where he was working I found him cleaning the bonnet with the cloth to which he had added gravel! (Now thats what I call abrasive!). Luckily it was our old Renault Scenic, but note, his cleaning days are over until he gets his own car!
Cheers
Tim

I wax my cars with lemon pledge -a furniture polish in a spray can —works a treat -cooking oil takes tar spots off —some FINE steel wool and cooking oil for stubborn stains and dried road kill guts -spray pam on the front to allow wipe off of bugs as its very slippy ----used in cooking to allow non stick eggs to the pan —who knows what it does to your insides after its cooked but the bugs wipe off -ed

Guy’s,

I would be very carefull using oven cleaner as they are usually caustic.

Tony W

Yes it is. That’s why it eats the paint off. Gloves are suggested. Anyone else in this group removing signs from cars and trucks?