Degreasing, Deep cleaning and generally beautifying......

[Jimmy oldskool]

I thought I'd put up a thread asking everyone for their tips, methods and what products they use when stripping, deep cleaning, degreasing and generally beautifying their builds......

.....So who's gonna start us off????

 

[nathanman]

Autoglym (sp?) stuff is awesome for cars and bikes, they do everything you could need to polish your bike to sparkly loveliness.

 

[Harryburgundy]

Fenwicks concentrate is your friend. Undiluted it makes a superb degreaser or add some water to make a general cleaner. I leave some in an open container for it to evaporate down to a paste which is had to parts for that need longer degreasing (where the liquid state would just run off quickly)

Autoglym metal polish is great for bringing up paintwork, great metal polish too.

Glue residue (from old stickers etc) is usually easily removed with WD40.

Stripping? Pre-soak stubborn parts with PlusGas

 

[Tc]

Gt85

GT85 for cleaning & lubing !
TC

 

[cornholio's RC200]

Fenwicks concentrate is your friend. Undiluted it makes a superb degreaser or add some water to make a general cleaner. I leave some in an open container for it to evaporate down to a paste which is had to parts for that need longer degreasing (where the liquid state would just run off quickly)

This ^^

After years of using Muc-off and damaging the finish on the bike I started using Fenwicks and it's brilliant. Even smells nice

For tyres I use a weak washing up solution and an old nail brush in the bath. Brings them up lovely (even if the Mrs doesn't like it).

And the bikers friend. GT85 - the smell of a bike shop from years gone by.

After all that, for lubing it's finish line green. Nothing comes close.

 

[drystonepaul]

I use a variety of products for cleaning and restoring.
Diluted Muc-Off or it's equivalent from Fenwicks gets used as a good all rounder, and GT-85 is always good for pivot points on mechs etc, as well as for polishing with a rag.
I also use silicone based spray on suspension parts and for an occasional wipe over on paint work. T-Cut and synthetic wax based car polish will sometimes get some use to.

Autosol and Auto-Glym take care of bare aluminium, but for cleaning chains and de-greasing drive trains I swear by this stuff and a toothbrush:

A big cask of Jizer.

 

[Whatleymeister]

Jizer

+1 for fenwicks, nice strong mixes using the Fenwicks F1 variety to soak shiny bits in works very well. I had an old chain and cassette/chainring that were almost black which I soaked for a couple of hours in a strong mix with hot water - came out all shiny and silver.

Weak mixes for washing paintwork, too strong a mix and extended exposure to the paintwork can damage it. Apparently.

You scrubbing up the fixie then, Jimmy?

 

[brocklanders023]

For general degreasing I always use a product called Deepio. It's comes as a powder that you add to water. Stick some in a bucket, chuck in the filthiest cranks, canti's, mechs etc you can find, leave for a while. Job done I think you can get it from Bookers.

For paint I used Autoglym renovator + polish, for metal I use Autosol.

 

[DaveP_retro]

Bare metal

What's the best for cleaning up a bare aluminium frame?

 

[clockworkgazz]

Elbow grease and brasso worked for me