WD40 and Windex work the same

[Uncle Stretch]

Today I was cleaning some lightly rusted rims. I ran out of WD40 and I wasnt finshed cleaning ,so I picked up the closest thing at hand which turned out to be Windex. I sprayed some on the 000 steel wool and got the same results as using WD40 other than my hands smelled better when I finished. It looks like anything works that will lubricate the steel wool. Guess If your a diehard WD40 fan you could always spray some on your hands when your through. :roll: :lol: :lol:

 

[sensor]

you can also use water too :shock:
a friend of mine showed me that years and years back......anything to just keep it slick works

 

[CCR]

wet sanding = better than dry sanding

ive cleaned up small parts with steel wool under the tap, but for really usty stuff the WD40 seems to help things go faster IMO, havent tried windex though and yeah i agree the smell of windex is prefered with me too

i olso use fast orange hand cleaner to get the dirt out of the grooves and knock overspray off old grips - the orange smell is a pleasant side effect too :lol:

 

[ricksterr1221]

How about using BRILLO pads? Them are supposed 2 be wet when used any way + You get the soap, which helps like clean and protect. :wink:

 

[skoda]

My personal favorite is Bar Keeper's Friend and an old toothbrush, wet it enough to be pasty, rinse and/or wipe when done. Won't scratch chrome either.

I like BKF, Zud (if you can find it) but Comet, Ajax, anything powder works really good, the later two have bleach though.

I agree, the WD-40 smells and is overkill most of the time.

 

[Primrrdc]

the SOS pads with soap (like brillo) are great with water. also good on whitewalls.
ive used comet/water and steel wool b4, but it smells like bleach. i like the idea of barkeepers friend instead
**
caution.. i just recently disolved all of the vintage stripes on my shwinns chain gaurd with one blast of windex. :shock:

 

[GodHatesCleveland]

i read something on the vintage bmx forums a few days ago that wd40 actually has like acidic properties or something to it and will continue to eat away metal even when done cleaning unless it is neutralized..idk if anyone here has ever heard anything like that.

WD-40 was originally created as a rust preventative to protect our ICBM stockpile, it only became known as a lubricant much later on. They also found it protected some of the interior and electronic components in the missiles. So it should protect the metal from the things which corrode it, rather than eating the metal itself. However, since it serves a water displacement function (hence, the WD in WD-40), I could see where it might remove moisture from underneath the paint or from an old rubber component, giving it the appearance of something acidic.

http://www.wd40.com/AboutUs/our_history.html

You should NEVER use WD-40 on your bike chain. Although it's good at lubricating small items with low amounts of friction, it is not suited for the work a bike chain goes through. Plus it's water displacement function will actually cut through and ruin your regular chain grease, which then has the potential to dry out and damage the entire drive train. WD-40 is a great product, just not on the chain. I've seen where some people spray it inside the bike frame to keep rust out.

The best use of WD-40 I've seen was when the distributor cap on my truck went bad and wouldn't start after a thunderstorm. My buddy took off the cap, sprayed WD-40 in it, put it back in the truck and it started right up. The WD-40 took out the water which had gotten in under the cap.

 

[Person_TX]

I argue with my brother and his roomate all the time that WD-40 is not really a lubricant and is not supposed to be put on chains. They spray that stuff on everything. I swear they wear it as cologne too!

Later,

Eric