The International Cessna^® 170 Association

As an aside, I has some exhaust residue on the lower cowl from the formerly too-short tailpipes, that nothing seemed to faze-- simple green,gasoline, whatever. I used some spray-on brake cleaner & it cleaned it off real well. Didn't affect the paint either. I din't let it sit on there any too laong though.

Eric

cchapin wrote:Dear Gahorn:

If I seemed "put out" it is only because you did not contact us for clarification of your information before posting to your chat group. ...

I wrote Ms. Chapin mentioning that I didn't realize I needed to check with her before reading specifications they promoted their product as meeting. I'm not paid by Simple Green to proof-read their advertising copy. I'm a customer who deserves more polite treatment when I find their claims inaccurate or less than fully informative.

I also pointed her to written requests I'd made to her department prior to this discussion ...to which Simple Green never responded.

zero.one.victor wrote:As an aside, I has some exhaust residue on the lower cowl from the formerly too-short tailpipes, that nothing seemed to faze-- simple green,gasoline, whatever. I used some spray-on brake cleaner & it cleaned it off real well. Didn't affect the paint either. I din't let it sit on there any too laong though.

Eric

Many years ago, while visiting with a pilot of the "Red Baron Pizza" flying team (Stearmans)...he showed me how they keep their airplane bellies clean. They use the Dow-Corning aerosol product known as "Scubbing Bubbles" bathroom cleaner. Spray it on. Let it rest about one minute, wipe it off. It was amazing. (I have no idea how harsh it might prove in the long run on paint and metal, but on that fabric/paint it was great, and I used it a long time on my 206 and Baron without noticeable adverse effects.)

George,
I have been wondering how long it would be before someone mentioned Scrubbng Bubbles, I did not think it would be you.

Does the character on the Scrubbing Bubbles can remind you of the Rod Serling "Wing Gremlin"?
Johneb

Ha! Yeah, you're right, it's kinda counter-intuitive that I'd do that I guess.
The stuff probably is pretty harsh actually. It certainly removed the dead paint off the belly of my 206 which had some navy blue on it. The rag I used had a light coating of navy blue when I wiped the "Scrubbing Bubbles" off. The funny thing about it tho' was that the navy blue on the airplane never seemed to fade either.
I only used it occasionally when things got really bad. I was a little bit scared of it. Use it at your own risk. (But man, it'll sure remove bad baked-on exhaust and greasy stuff.)

Got my free sample yesterday. Works great full strength-as good or better than any of the harsh cleaners Ive tried.

George,

I have to admit I have used Scrubbing Bubbles and found it effective. However you do have wonder at the trade off for some chemical that works this well. I do know that most all bathroom cleaners have Oxalic acid in them, while I have not seen any damage, is some etching happening?

Johneb

Just a quick FYI that the Coleman fuel someone posted about is Naptha with a small amount of rust retardant added. Nowhere near gasoline, even though it is sometimes known as "white gas".

I use it in place of acetone/mineral spirits for cleaning greasy stuff in my shop. It does tend to dry out plastic a little, and I find mineral spirits better for that.

Tried my free sample a few days ago. Seems to work well for tough cleanups (full strength on a rag). Diluted it does seem to clean the grease off the belly. After all the discussion I thought I would come to the airport today and find a white mass of oxidized aluminium. The plane looks OK, but I'm going to taxi it around to make sure it doesn't fall apart at the seams. I still prefer Pledge for cleaning the windshield and windows.

The plastic companys that manufacture aircraft windshields and windows of acrylic plastic claim that Pledge is detrimental to the surface of acrylics and do not recommend its use.

The fellow who was polishing windows at Petit Jean used "Plexus" as a final finish, and in the case of my windshield, that's all he used -- he didn't think the windshield needed his polishing treatment. I'm using Plexus now instead of Pledge or Favor, and it does a fine job of removing bugs and other things. It seems to be a wax; it leaves that kind of a coating. I buy it from my local pilot shop.

Best Regards,

John

blueldr wrote:The plastic companys that manufacture aircraft windshields and windows of acrylic plastic claim that Pledge is detrimental to the surface of acrylics and do not recommend its use.

My guess is that that the plastic companys haven't tested it and are just covering their posteriors. (Can't say that I blame them.) Either that or their definition of "detrimental" is different from mine. I installed a new windshield in 1984 and the only two cleaners that have ever been used on it are Pledge and clean water (much more of the former than the latter). Anybody know what the life of an acrylic windshield should be?

Miles

Another thing that works on exhaust stains is "Supercoat" and probably some of the cleaner waxes. I've cleaned the belly with solvent to get most of the oil off and then used the Supercoat. A little more work but you get some protection with the wax.

With the Lycoming I don't need to clean any oil off the belly between annuals anymore.

George,
Thank you for taking the time to read the Boeing Spec that Simple Green was quoting. I was currious also, but putting in long days left it to be done later.

For basic information on aluminum alloys,
2000 series is more corrosion resistant than the stronger 7000 series.
I would perform my quick testing on the 7000 series. This would be why the Boeing spec only has 7000 series.
There is a much lower possibility of selective attack by corrosion on the 2000 series and a good idea would be to test it later in the game.

BTW Boeing uses 7000 series on the wing upper surface for the higher compressive strength and 2000 series on the lower for the higher corrosion resistance.
Jim