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Model Forum / Radio Controlled / Land Models / May 2005Claening Up
Read a recent e-zine article recently that recommended spraying your nitro car with WD40 after cleaning it. Love the smell of the stuff myself but was wondering about the wisdom of this given that its a solvent? Anyone tried this? Doesn't your car collect dust and crap more after wards? The only thing i've ever sprayed on mine was silicone spray, actually Simonize back to black! You spray it on then leave for a while until the solvent evaporates then use a brush to spread it around and get it into all the nooks and crannies. It was a godsend when racing 1/8 on-road as it made cleaning a breeze; just use an airline and then a brush to get the muck and dust out of the corners. It also tends to reduce the drag on the belts so freeing up the transmission a bit. I would hesitate to use WD40 on any part of an r/c car unless you can be sure it'll not melt or harden the plastic in any reaction also it's likeley to get into the pivots and gum them up over time. What it is good for is using as a quick get you going spray e.g. if you've been running in the wet then spray all the bearings and metal with it and it'll help prevent rust forming giving you plenty of time to strip and properly clean the car. Chris I clean my stuff with 50% water and 50% simple green mix...after cleaning...air compress dry or hairdryer... then spray a mist of denatured alcohol on it to evaporate any left over water. Relube anything that needs it or items that rust. > Read a recent e-zine article recently that recommended spraying your nitro > car with WD40 after cleaning it. Love the smell of the stuff myself but was > wondering about the wisdom of this given that its a solvent? Anyone tried > this? Doesn't your car collect dust and crap more after wards? Simple green is highly corrosive to alluminum.You are better off using some cheap dollar store degreaser mixed with isoproponal or denatured alcohol mix.Alcohol is highly evaporative,thus leaving little to zero residue.Simple green is good for serious buildup but i would not reccomend it for everytime cleanup.Besides it is exspensive.Dollar store variety degreasers work well.Exspecially when mixed with denatured alcohol.Actually i do not mix them i use the alcohol for the rinse.Works well.However for a fast clean i have mixed the two. Never had a problem with simple green and aluminum..I actually clean our automotive aluminum wheels with it and never had a problem..clean aluminum intakes with it and never had a problem..clean all my rc stuff with it and never had a problem for years..just be sure the surface isnt hot..now the other degreasers will hurt the aluminum such as purple power and citrus orange..plus they aren't biodegradable and some arent non toxic like the simple green. > Simple green is highly corrosive to alluminum.You are better off using > some cheap dollar store degreaser mixed with isoproponal or denatured [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > denatured alcohol.Actually i do not mix them i use the alcohol for the > rinse.Works well.However for a fast clean i have mixed the two. > Never had a problem with simple green and aluminum..I actually clean our > automotive aluminum wheels with it and never had a problem..clean aluminum [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > orange..plus they aren't biodegradable and some arent non toxic like the > simple green. Dont get me wrong i have used simple green for major grease build up and it worked excelent.I just remember hearing it is corrosive somewhere.Also it is quite exspensive. > > Simple green is highly corrosive to alluminum.You are better off using > > some cheap dollar store degreaser mixed with isoproponal or denatured [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > denatured alcohol.Actually i do not mix them i use the alcohol for the > > rinse.Works well.However for a fast clean i have mixed the two. I know guys in our local off road club who routinely spray their cars with WD40. I've heard the stuff about it softening and hardening (dunno how it could do both hehe) plastic, but I've not witnessed any abnormal breakages. If you think about the other things WD40 is absolutely HOSED onto, if it affected plastic too badly we would be seeing bits of distributor cap and various other bits and pieces on real cars disintegrating all over the place. As for collecting dust and crap afterward, I think as long as the WD40 is not still wet, then the gunk is LESS likely to collect. I've only tried it a couple of times on my EP off road cars. So far it has been the product which has made my cars the cleanest - Spary on then blast off with compressed air. The only thing I would be specially careful of is the lexan body. If anyone has direct experience of plastic hardening or softening, I'd be interested to hear about it before I do some damage with my WD40 :-) MIKE > Read a recent e-zine article recently that recommended spraying your nitro > car with WD40 after cleaning it. Love the smell of the stuff myself but > was > wondering about the wisdom of this given that its a solvent? Anyone tried > this? Doesn't your car collect dust and crap more after wards? > If anyone has direct experience of plastic hardening or softening, I'd be > interested to hear about it before I do some damage with my WD40 :-) I sprayed my Pred down with WD-40 after a particularly muddy meeting, and it permanently discoloured the carbon-fibre wishbone brackets - it turned them to a greyish-white instead of the usual black. It doesn't *seem* to have weakened them though... Jonny > If anyone has direct experience of plastic hardening or softening, I'd be > interested to hear about it before I do some damage with my WD40 :-) > > MIKE The only time I've seen it harm plastic is when it was allowed to pool and over the course of a week or so the plastic got soft that was on a Tamiya Fox, I've seen it harden some wire insulation under a cars bonnet before. ON most hard plastics (read: like Associateds glass reinforced plastic or standard RC10 wishbones) it seems fine but given that it was never designed to be anything other than a water dispersant that's all I'll use it for. I have seen it melt rubber grommets quite well so don't let it sit on your tyres too long... that reminds me it used to be a way to soften rubber tyres for extra grip. Given that in my opinion it makes a mess of everything it touches by either melting insulation tape adhesive or leaving a sticky residue (especially if left to sit) which attracts muck I prefer to just keep it away from anything that isn't metal. Chris > Read a recent e-zine article recently that recommended spraying your nitro > car with WD40 after cleaning it. Love the smell of the stuff myself but was > wondering about the wisdom of this given that its a solvent? Anyone tried > this? Doesn't your car collect dust and crap more after wards? From HPI's website........ General Cleanliness - Use a spray like HPI's Nitro Car Cleaner or undiluted Simple Green to clean the car of grease and road grime, and keep a natural bristle brush handy to clean dust off the body and chassis between races. |
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