Beware Super Clean

"Maule Driver" wrote in message
.com...
Anyone want to come clean bugs off my wings?


Let the birds do it. :-)

Don't know where Super Clean is sold...but this story is yet another
reason to not buy any old cleaner at Kragen's and apply it to your
airplane.

I was at an industrial conference when Castrol first introduced Super Clean.
I specifically asked about compatibility with aluminum. They said no way...


"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:i9JJc.85017$JR4.59356@attbi_s54...
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"

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

Yes,

The Beaverton, Oregon Airport.

Karl

I was at an industrial conference when Castrol first introduced Super
Clean.
I specifically asked about compatibility with aluminum. They said no
way...

Man, I don't want to even think about what it could do to aluminum. It
pitted chrome!

No wonder it works so well...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 18:11:36 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

I was at an industrial conference when Castrol first introduced Super
Clean.
I specifically asked about compatibility with aluminum. They said no
way...

Man, I don't want to even think about what it could do to aluminum. It
pitted chrome!

No wonder it works so well...

Anybody else old enough to remember when Pepsi-Cola was the thing for
cleaning chrome bumpers? But you couldn't leave it on.

Don

On Fri, 16 Jul 2004 15:59:31 GMT, "OtisWinslow"
wrote:

Getting the bugs off requires no expensive stuff. Just get a spray bottle
and fill
it with water and walk around and mist the areas with bugs on them. Let it
sit about 4 or 5 minutes and wipe it off with a towel. The bugs come right
off.

You must have different bugs than we do. :-)) They take more than a
water soak to come loose.

I use the same stuff I use to clean the plane, Carbon-X. Spray on,
let set a few minutes and wash off. Dilute 60:1 for wash and about
5:1 in the spray bottle for cleaning the grease and oil off the
bottom. Even cleans the landing gear nicely.

If we all remember to clean them off after a flight they pretty much
wipe off, but after sitting a while they seem to become part of the
airplane.

Also if the surface is kept waxed even if nothing more than Pledge,
they will come off easily.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

On Fri, 16 Jul 2004 21:50:36 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

I just cannot stand the look of bugs on the plane, especially if the
rest is immaculate.

I'll second that motion.

Nothing screams "rental" like a gross, bug-encrusted airplane.

Aw, come on... It tells me. "This guy must do a lot of flying". I
clean mine at least twice a year, whether it needs it or not.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

On Fri, 16 Jul 2004 15:23:01 -0700, "NW_PILOT"
wrote:

With all the construction around my home base they have dirt clouds that is
blowing around the airport I wash my windshield by the time I need to clean
it again just after take off witch is inpossable. I think the construction
workers need to spray their dirt while doing construction to keep the dust
clouds down they know they are 150' from an airport's runway.

A few years back was a very dry year at Oshkosh. At the end of the
fly-in the grass in the Antique/Classic/contemporary camping area was
all dead and dust was everywhere. I had to go over the windshield at
least 4 times using a bucket of water. Even then you could see a
ridge of that fine dust which was now mud, at the edge of the cloth.

When I fired up the whole area disappeared in a very thick and
spectacular dust cloud. At least I was near the outgoing end of the
row and didn't have to taxi by every one. I sure would have hated to
have been one of the last to leave.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com


"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:M4YJc.71720$WX.6133@attbi_s51...
I just cannot stand the look of bugs on the plane, especially if the
rest is immaculate.

I'll second that motion.

Nothing screams "rental" like a gross, bug-encrusted airplane.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Matthew P. Cummings wrote:
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.


Scrub? I use Bugs Be Gone. Spray on, wipe off. You don't even press hard.