Removing dried compound from vehicle?

[14automobiles]

Ok. I worked on a vehicle this weekend that had dried polish or compound on exterior trim and on its Linex-ed rockers. I tried many different cleaning agents to remove it, but it was really dried into the pores of the plastic trim and the linex covered rockers.

PB spray and rinse wheel cleaner was working the best, but nothing- even extreme scrubbing on the rockers- was getting it all. There is still some white left in some of the pores.

1. What can I use that will remove dried polish/compounds from porous mateials?

2. One other question that I have is related to ISO alcohol...what is that used for? I see some guys talking about using it in a 50/50 mix with water.

thanks guys,

[maxisiri]

Originally Posted by 14automobiles

Ok. I worked on a vehicle this weekend that had dried polish or compound on exterior trim and on its Linex-ed rockers. I tried many different cleaning agents to remove it, but it was really dried into the pores of the plastic trim and the linex covered rockers.

PB spray and rinse wheel cleaner was working the best, but nothing- even extreme scrubbing on the rockers- was getting it all. There is still some white left in some of the pores.

1. What can I use that will remove dried polish/compounds from porous mateials?

2. One other question that I have is related to ISO alcohol...what is that used for? I see some guys talking about using it in a 50/50 mix with water.

thanks guys,

Hi, isopropyl alcohol diluted 1:1 with water is used for cleaning purposes, you can try that for cleaning dried compound or polish from exterior trim. This mixture is a good cleaner used for example as a wax cleaner...look on the forum for the word IPA and you will find lot of additional information. Other thing you can try for cleaning wax residue/dried compund,polish from exterior trim is peanut butter....believe me is a good cleaner, look on that on the forum and you will also find a lot of good information.

[Mike.Phillips@Autogeek]

IPA is Isopropyl Alcohol and people use it to strip off any 'substance' after they do their correction and polishing steps to inspect to see if they have in fact remove the defects an not merely filled them in. I do this sometimes for my Test Spots but once I'm confident my choice of products, pads and process is getting the job done I don't continue to chemically strip the paint.

Here's a great example of why I don't need to chemically strip the entire car to see if I know what I'm doing.

1-Step versus 3-Step Process by Hand

Originally Posted by maxisiri

Other thing you can try for cleaning wax residue/dried compound,polish from exterior trim is peanut butter....believe me is a good cleaner, look on that on the forum and you will also find a lot of good information.

It's actually the vegetable oil in the peanut butter, not the peanut part of the peanut butter that dissolves some polish/wax/compound residue. Have some stiff nylon brushes on had of different designs to help agitate dried residue. It's never going to be easy removing the other guy's splatter.

This is why many detailer will take the extra step to tape off rubber and plastic components just to avoid having to remove splatter that lands on these components by accident.





This is called, TOGW or The Other Guy's Wax





Here's a tip...

One of the thing I do before taking a job is to inspect the car for the other guy's wax in the cracks, often times this will be from the owner of the car that you're standing there talking to.

Look around any components, especially if they have a gasket under them or a seem with plastic, vinyl or rubber trim. If there's a sunroof, look around the gap for the rubber or fuzzy seal to be creamed-out with polish or wax.

If you find this kind of shoddy work, be sure to take a few pictures of it and also point ti out to the owner so he knows you know it's there before you even start to work on the car.

Then let them know that you're willing to try to remove the other guy's polish and wax splatter as a part of the job but let them know HOW DIFFICULT and TIME CONSUMING it is and that you can't make any promises that you can get it all off because it's so difficult and time consuming.

IF the person you're talking to is the person that normally waxes the car at a minimum it will bring attention to the fact that in the future they should be more careful and hopefully they'll appreciate your attention to detail as well as figure out you actually do know what you're talking about.

Also, while you're looking for wax in the cracks, take a look for any places some other guy may have burnt the paint off of high points and corners and point this out to the owner BEFORE you work on the car.

This is where an inspection form comes in handy so you can mark any pre-existing problems, point them out to the owner and protect yourself from getting the blame for someone else's mistakes.

[14automobiles]

From Mike "It's actually the vegetable oil in the peanut butter, not the peanut part of the peanut butter that dissolves some polish/wax/compound residue. Have some stiff nylon brushes on had of different designs to help agitate dried residue. It's never going to be easy removing the other guy's splatter."


Mike- Can I use vegetable oil on paint, glass, rubber, and porous material like Linex or Rhino linings? I would assume that on gentle areas like paint I would just use a MF towel and on tuff things like the Rhino linings I could use a scrub brush?

A side note, If I make a mistake and splatter compound/polish on trim or glass...while it is still wet what should I use to get it off...a QD and MF? thanks.

[14automobiles]

Originally Posted by maxisiri

Hi, isopropyl alcohol diluted 1:1 with water is used for cleaning purposes, you can try that for cleaning dried compound or polish from exterior trim. This mixture is a good cleaner used for example as a wax cleaner...look on the forum for the word IPA and you will find lot of additional information. Other thing you can try for cleaning wax residue/dried compund,polish from exterior trim is peanut butter....believe me is a good cleaner, look on that on the forum and you will also find a lot of good information.

I did try the IPA after reading some postings. It did not get the white out of the pores of the linex. I even tried a metal scrub brush...to no avail..LOL. Next I will try vegetable oil.

[Mike.Phillips@Autogeek]

Need to learn how to use the quote button! It looks like this



And can be found in the lower left hand side of the message or post you want to quote.

:laughing

Then learn to use the "Edit View" or code view to slice up a quote into specific segments, that button looks like this,




like this,

Originally Posted by 14automobiles

Mike- Can I use vegetable oil on paint, glass, rubber, and porous material like Linex or Rhino linings? I would assume that on gentle areas like paint I would just use a MF towel and on tuff things like the Rhino linings I could use a scrub brush?

Can't give you specific answer on that except to say test first to a small inconspicuous area and then check the results.

Originally Posted by 14automobiles

A side note, If I make a mistake and splatter compound/polish on trim or glass...while it is still wet what should I use to get it off...a QD and MF? thanks.

Yes to all of the above, sometimes glass cleaner works well too, or IPA or Mineral Spirits.

I keep Glass Cleaner, IPA using the strongest percentage I can find straight in a spray bottle, Mineral Spirits and APC all in spray bottles in the AG Garage for cleaning everything and anything up.

Just be sure to mark your bottles well so you and everyone else knows what's in them. If you have a fixed location or are a mobile detailer you should have all chemicals in OSHA approved labeled bottles to avoid a fine.

[Mike.Phillips@Autogeek]

These two products are made specifically for removing polish and wax residue form off rubber and plastic trim.

Wax Blaster Wax Remover


Duragloss Wax Eraser

[Mike.Phillips@Autogeek]

Originally Posted by 14automobiles

Next I will try vegetable oil.

And just to note, if you read my words carefully, I never said vegetable oil works great or will remove all the polish residue out of Detailer's Nightmares, Pebble Textured Black Plastic, I simply said it's not the peanut part of peanut butter that removes residue, it's the vegetable oil in the peanut butter.

It works the same way that if you've ever had chewing gum stuck in carpet or hair or clothes, you can use vegetable oils to dissolve it and then remove it.

It doesn't work perfect but it tends to work if you put some effort into it.

This is why I tape off everything I buff out and when I find "The Other Guy's Wax" on cars I'm asked to detail I take pictures and point it out to the owner FIRMLY so I don't' get blamed.

It can take HOURS to get the other guys wax out of the cracks or off pebble textured black and gray colored plastic trim and it's not fun and no customer wants to pay for it and usually they have no clue as to how hard it is to remove 100%

Best of luck to you...

[Mike.Phillips@Autogeek]

Actually wrote this a few weeks ago just never got around to posting it... now seems like a fitting time...

TOGW = The Other Guy's Wax