Dreaded Door Jambs (many pics)

[swanicyouth]

I've been dreading cleaning the door jambs on one of my vehicles. I bought it used 9 months ago and the jambs were gunked up with 10 years worth of dealer service spray on lithium grease. For some reason, I can't stand this. So, a 100 degree day seemed perfect for me to tackle this job (I almost died from the heat in the process). First, I had to figure out how I was going to get all this caked on grease off and not make a mess all over the newly washed vehicle, which was dumb, I know, I should have done this job first. Also, I knew once I started this job, I couldn't stop until they were spotless, so it was going to take a long time. Anyway, I sort of came up with a plan.

First, here are some of the supplies I assembled:









..... I came up with some crazy idea I was going to "foam" the jambs and blast them clean with the pressure washer. This seemed like it could work if I could just figure out some way from stopping the water and foam spraying all over the inside of the vehicle.

Maybe I was crazy from the heat, but I came up with this idea:



What you are looking at above is an oils drip catch (it's huge) that I place under the drain pan when I change vehicle fluids in my garage. It keeps the floor spot free, and I always clean it with BrakeKleen when I'm done, so it's clean.

So, here are some before pictures:











Rear Hatch:





Foaming the door jambs with Chemical Guys Citrus Wash and Gloss with some APC mixed strong:



Its hard to tell from the image, but the set-up actually kept the foam and water out of the vehicle fairly well. I little got on the external plastic of the door card, I was able to just wipe it off. Foaming and rinsing helped, but they weren't spotless yet.

Agitating the hatch jambs with Sonus APC straight:



I tried the Sonus APC at my standard mixture, 30:1 - and found that was useless. Using it strait put the grease right into solution. Then I was able to brush it to get it all mixed up. After that, I rinsed it away with the Sonus at 30:1, using a wad of blue paper shop towels around each jamb to catch the mess.

This is nasty, bristles were yellow:



The front jambs required a little more work. After foaming one, I would start agitating it with the paint brush spraying in a little of Meg's Chrome Wheel Cleaner and the Sonus 30:1. Then, quickly I went for the "dirt blaster wand" and pressured washed it away. It took several "brushing sessions" over and over, then rinsing to remove all the ten year old grease and crud.

I was also rinsing all my brushes in a rinse bucket in between. This is what was left once complete:



Then I cleaned around the door shell area and the seals with the Sonus 30:1. After that, I cleaned everything with Opti Clean, and sealed with Prima Hyro Spray sealant. I also lubed the seals with Gummi Pfledge

On to the AFTER pictures:



















Overall, this project was a huge success. I have been meaning to do this for while now and finally got the motivation to do it. Now, I need to find some kind of lube that attracts no dust.
Each one of the 5 doors took a little over a half hour each to do. It was super hot and by the end I was as wet as if I jumped in a pool. Neighbors walking by while walking their dogs looked at me like I was crazy to be doing this, especially in this heat. Thanks for looking. Comments welcome.


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[Finemess]

Cleaned up very nice. I'll wipe them down and use up old wax on jambs. NXT works great for this.

[rider9195]

I hate door jambs very much! But that is one reason I got a steamer. Good job of cleaning them up!

[Gretsch308]

Well done! Thats quite the transformation!

[mhphoto]

Looks great!

[excalibur]

Very Nice Looks New !

[RoadRageDetail]

That is quite possibly....

The best thing ever.

[sparty]

+1 for the steamer. It makes cleaning jams a breeze and is a huge time saver. I highly recommend the steamer method.

-Sparty

[ziggo99]

Maybe it's just me, but I find that spraying the door jams down with a pump sprayer of Meg's Super Degreaser and then following up with the pressure washer is the quickest method that gets the job done. Never had a problem with it. Maybe a little water got inside, but we're talking drops, not streams.

[agpatel]

Just make sure you re-lube the hinge points....1z Gel Lube (The stuff they sell for chains) is awesome for this as it coats the points well and stays there.