Beware Super Clean

Nothing cleans fiberglass better than Castrol's Super Clean. I've been
using it for some time on oil and exhaust stains, and it works great.

Last week I used it to clean the bugs off the cowling, for the first time.
I had been on the road with the plane for a few days, and had not stuck with
my usual post-flight cleaning regimen -- so the bugs were especially
tenacious. I figured the Super Clean would make quick work of them, and I
was right.

Yesterday, while parked up at Madeline Island (in Lake Superior), I looked
at my chromed spinner during pre-flight and was appalled to find the chrome
pitted in a spattered pattern! Mary looked at it and immediately exclaimed
that it looked just like over-spray of some sort -- and I immediately knew
what it was.

I must've over-sprayed onto the spinner from underneath, while spraying up
at the nose cone. I wiped the spinner off thoroughly from above, but not
from below -- and the stuff actually started eating the chrome!

When I got home I immediately hit it with simichrome polish (the best thing
available, IMHO), and -- after an immense amount of elbow grease -- was
relieved to see that it mostly came clean. After 20 minutes or so, I got
it to look presentable again.

Be careful with that stuff. It clean everything, but perhaps a bit TOO
well?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In article i9JJc.85017$JR4.59356@attbi_s54,
"Jay Honeck" wrote:


Last week I used it to clean the bugs off the cowling

The best bug cleaner I've found is water...just plain old water.

--
Dale L. Falk

There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing around with airplanes.

http://home.gci.net/~sncdfalk/flying.html

Super Clean will corrode aluminum.

On Thu, 15 Jul 2004 21:20:38 -0800, Dale wrote:

The best bug cleaner I've found is water...just plain old water.

Yup, spray it on the plane and work all the way across the leading edges,
go back to the start with a damp rag and start scrubbing. It comes off
fairly easy if done that way, the water has a chance to soften up the bugs
during the wait and it's pretty good. Now it doesn't do a thing for oil
however.

Simple Green is also corrosive to aluminum (do a google on it, you'll
find that the military stopped using it).
Adolph's Meat Tenderizer dissolved in water makes a great bug remover.

monitor point seven wrote:
In article i9JJc.85017$JR4.59356@attbi_s54,
"Jay Honeck" wrote:


Be careful with that stuff. It clean everything, but perhaps a bit TOO
well?


In addition, that **** will BURN your skin., esp in high concentrations.
I avoid it for that reason, straight Simple Green will do the same work.

Yup, spray it on the plane and work all the way across the leading edges,
go back to the start with a damp rag and start scrubbing. It comes off
fairly easy if done that way, the water has a chance to soften up the bugs
during the wait and it's pretty good. Now it doesn't do a thing for oil
however.

We still like and use Lemon Pledge for the post-flight de-bugging. They
just wipe off, and it leaves the surface a little waxy so that they wipe off
easier in the future.

I'm sure not using Super Clean anywhere near my prop again. It works great
on wheel pants and other fiberglass, though...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Dale" wrote in message
...
In article i9JJc.85017$JR4.59356@attbi_s54,
"Jay Honeck" wrote:


Last week I used it to clean the bugs off the cowling

The best bug cleaner I've found is water...just plain old water.


If the water is hard, then adding Woolite to it works. The thing about bugs
is you can clean them off while their shells are soft and moist. The trick
is keeping them wet. It is also much easier to clean bugs off if the
airplane is waxed.

C J Campbell wrote:
If the water is hard, then adding Woolite to it works. The thing about bugs
is you can clean them off while their shells are soft and moist. The trick
is keeping them wet. It is also much easier to clean bugs off if the
airplane is waxed.

It seems like a lot of people whine about the relative ease it takes to
get bugs off. I use one of those sponges you can buy that has the
webbing/netting over it, and I can wipe the bugs off with very little
trouble, no matter what liquid I use as a cleaner (even plain water).
I've even cleaned them a week or two after the bugs were "applied" and
they still wipe off without a lot of trouble. I wax my plane
occasionally, but I'm certainly not obsessive about it. It seems that
people are making this a bigger issue than it really is.

--- Jay


--
__!__
Jay and Teresa Masino ___(_)___
http://www2.ari.net/jmasino ! ! !
http://www.oceancityairport.com
http://www.oc-adolfos.com

I take a couple of cloths, soak them in water, and lay them on the
area to be cleaned for a few minutes. Softens up the bugs. If you do
use somthing other than water, wash it well afterward, which is hard
to do as few of our hangars have spigots.

Best thing I've seen for clean is a Hotsy. Gas heated water. Works
great.

Has anyone everseen a car style pressure washer at an airport
anywhere?

Doug wrote:

Has anyone everseen a car style pressure washer at an airport
anywhere?

I saw one being used by the owner, but it wasn't provided by the airport. The
aircraft was a Cessna, and the owner said he only used the washer with low pressure
to apply the soapy water. He did the actual scrubbing by hand.

George Patterson
In Idaho, tossing a rattlesnake into a crowded room is felony assault.
In Tennessee, it's evangelism.