Mike, What's the story with WD-40?

Chrisquickshine

Chrisquickshine

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I was just about to leave the bank, at which I detail three cars, when the bank owner stops me. He's a nice guy who always gives me feedback on my work. He asked if I had ever heard of using WD-40 to whipe away the bugs on the front of the car at the start of a wash. He further blew my mind by telling me uses it on his 08' Escalde all the time.

This afternoon he sent me a chain email he once received about WD-40's many uses. Upon further research I'm not coming up with anything that says WD-40 would be harmful to a cars paint job when it comes to the removal of bugs, sap, and tar. I'm extremely skeptical though as this is the first time I've heard of this use. I wanted to get some info from the expert before I go make a grave mistake. So I have to ask you Mike, what's the story with WD-40?

Thanks!

Chris
 
I've heard of a lot of guys using WD-40 to clean various items. Like goo-gone, it is a solvent but I don't think it'll harm your paint, although I've never tried it on my paint so I can't say for certain.
 
For new two stage paints and SS urethanes it would be perfectly fine but not so sure it would be safe to use on the older SS acrylic and laquer paints.
 
Chrisquickshine said:
I was just about to leave the bank, at which I detail three cars, when the bank owner stops me. He's a nice guy who always gives me feedback on my work. He asked if I had ever heard of using WD-40 to whipe away the bugs on the front of the car at the start of a wash. He further blew my mind by telling me uses it on his 08' Escalde all the time.

This afternoon he sent me a chain email he once received about WD-40's many uses. Upon further research I'm not coming up with anything that says WD-40 would be harmful to a cars paint job when it comes to the removal of bugs, sap, and tar. I'm extremely skeptical though as this is the first time I've heard of this use. I wanted to get some info from the expert before I go make a grave mistake. So I have to ask you Mike, what's the story with WD-40?

Thanks!

Chris
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I've actually used WD-40 on my kitchen walls when my son thought he was Picasso with a crayon. It took it right off and evaporated away leaving no residue.

Never thought of trying it on a vehicle, I'll let someone else go first!
 
I've used WD-40 after debagding to remove the sticky residue. It worked well to get the residue off. The spot I used it on still looks normal.
 
I've used it to remove road oil and bugs without any damage to the paint. Works great and I usually have a can or two around the house.
 
Growing up on a farm we spray just about anything with WD-40. I have never used it on a car but when used on other equiptment it has never caused any harm so maybe there is something to it.
 
I have a buddy that details his engine bay with WD. The entire area. Painted surfaces, not painted surfaces, etc.

I used to use it on my ATV to keep it shiny. Would wipe down all the plastics and all the engine with it.

Never had any problems with the stuff.

DLB
 
It works pretty well for getting gum out of carpets. I use ice and scrape off all I can the wd-40 to dissolve the rest. Follow up with megs apc or some carpet cleaner to remove the wd-40 smell. It has never caused me a problem
 
The story I've always heard was

WD-40 = Water Displacement formula try #40

That the person that created this tested 39 formulas and when they got to version #40 it was working like they wanted it to and that's where the name came from.

After writing the above, I took a moment to type in the words WD-40 and the word history into Google and found this which backs up what I've been told all my life.




WD-40 Company and Product History

history-50s.jpg


In 1953, a fledgling company called Rocket Chemical Company and its staff of three set out to create a line of rust-prevention solvents and degreasers for use in the aerospace industry, in a small lab in San Diego, California.

It took them 40 attempts to get the water displacing formula worked out. But they must have been really good, because the original secret formula for WD-40®—which stands for Water Displacement perfected on the 40th try—is still in use today.

Convair, an aerospace contractor, first used WD-40 to protect the outer skin of the Atlas Missile from rust and corrosion. The product actually worked so well that several employees snuck some WD-40 cans out of the plant to use at home.

A few years following WD-40's first industrial use, Rocket Chemical Company founder Norm Larsen experimented with putting WD-40 into aerosol cans, reasoning that consumers might find a use for the product at home as some of the employees had. The product made its first appearance on store shelves in San Diego in 1958.

In 1960 the company nearly doubled in size, growing to seven people, who sold an average of 45 cases per day from the trunk of their cars to hardware and sporting goods stores in the San Diego area.

In 1961 the first full truckload order for WD-40 was filled when employees came in on a Saturday to produce additional concentrate to meet the disaster needs of the victims of Hurricane Carla along the U.S. Gulf coast. WD-40 was used to recondition flood and rain damaged vehicles and equipment.


As for working on paint?

Some people use it for various things with success, I tend to reach for an actual paint care product for paint related procedures but use WD-40 when working on car components all the time.

:)
 
My father could work miracles with some bailing wire, vice grips and a can of WD-40.:xyxthumbs:
 
When I detail engine bays, I spray WD-40 on all wiring harnesses and electrical areas. I don't intyentionally spray these areas with water during the process but this gives a little protection for the elctrical areas from the water spraying all around.


I've read the many uses article before but haven't tried many except for the obvious reasons we all use it for.
 
Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
As for working on paint?

Some people use it for various things with success, I tend to reach for an actual paint care product for paint related procedures but use WD-40 when working on car components all the time.

:)
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That pretty much sums it up for me. There will always be many products that can do the same job. It's finding the one that works best for you and is the safest for what you are working on. I personally will always try to use a product designed for what I'm working on before using some "home remedy"

Rasky
 
To maintain my suspension I spray on some WD-40 and wipe off with a shop rag. Works great and keeps things looking new. My truck is lifted so it makes things easier for me.
 
I'll admit I tried it about 10 years back. I had heard the same stories and was taking a rental car down to Keys for several days and then back. It was dusk when I was starting and luvbug season so I figured what the heck.

I took a towel and sprayed it down with Wd-40 and wiped the entire front end from chrome grill to paint. We headed down and came back up several days later. Pulled into a car wash in Parkland and the guy freaked at all the bugs. I asked if he would spray front with pressure hose they use to pretreat/soak front prior to running it into wash. We were both amazed at the bugs coming off in sheets.

Now .... it was a rental car. It was returned without issue. It worked. But I dont pretend to know how the paint held up nor condition at a later date. I doubt it harmed it ..... I still hear drag racers use it as a trick on rear flanks quite often as the burnt rubber is removed quickly with a simple wash/wipe.
 
My 3 cents worth of experience with WD-40 as a mechanic, gunsmith, backyard hack detailer...... I'd use it in a heartbeat to remove tar on paint.... but not to remove bugs... Why, you ask? Because in all my time of using it in the various mechanical trades, I've come to the conclusion that it, (WD-40), is mostly mineral spirits with some rather thin, volatile oils that offer little in the way of long term lubrication. Great for penetrating rusted fasteners, superb at displacing moisture from the inside of an old style distributor cap or high voltage spark plug wire connections, and a great firing pin/trigger mechanism lube if you remove the excess when the firearm is to be used in severe cold as it won't slow down the action of those parts. However, it also removes wax, even better than it removes sticky residues left from adhesive tapes and stickers. It is mostly mineral based solvents and as such will remove any LSP on your paint, but will leave a thin, volatile oil film that may mimic the beading of a wax layer... IF I use WD-40 to remove some tar spots (remember, it's mostly solvent), I always follow with some Megs cleaner wax..... however, I've also found that just using a generous amount of Megs cleaner wax and massaging it gently with my fingertips on those same tar splatters works just as well and it leaves a nice wax coat when, after I wipe off the excess, I let the thin remaining coat to haze before buffing it off.

Sorry for the long paragraph, I'm not really gifted in the way of the written word.....

Regards

Christian aka

Kaptain "Me, I'll stick with the el-cheapo bottle of cleaner wax for this sort of thing" Zero
 
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Tesla said:
I've heard of a lot of guys using WD-40 to clean various items. Like goo-gone, it is a solvent but I don't think it'll harm your paint, although I've never tried it on my paint so I can't say for certain.
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It will not harm the paint ihave used it on my car for over five years and never had any problems. It has to be the best tar and bug remover i have ever used:dblthumb2:
 
WD-40 was first used by Convair to protect the outer skin of the Atlas missile from rust and corrosion.[1][2] The product first became commercially available on store shelves in San Diego in 1958.[1]
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WD-40's formula is a trade secret. The product is not patented in order to avoid completely disclosing its ingredients.[2] WD-40's main ingredients, according to U.S. Material Safety Data Sheet information, are:
The German version of the mandatory EU safety sheet lists the following safety-relevant ingredients:
It further lists flammability and effects to the human skin when repeatedly exposed to WD-40 as risks when using WD-40. Nitrile rubber gloves and safety glasses should be used. Water is unsuitable for extinguishing burning WD-40.
There is a popular urban legend that the key ingredient in WD-40 is fish oil.[3]
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sounds safe, doesnt it? with the small list of hazardous ingredients, one could only wonder the reason as to why it makes things sheet off easily... and why it makes rubber come off easily?

my guess would be that it contains mineral oil for lubricating purposes... and possibly OTHER oils that arent disclosed, which have no reason to be on a MSDS sheet.

and your basically spraying a cave man wax.... spray the wd 40 on the paint, and the high amount of solvents and oils lay onto it... the solvents evaporate and leave a thin sheet of oils behind that keep things from sticking.... id assume a good waxing or a powerful sealant like collinite would do the same thing? wax keeps things from sticking as well, which is why people who make fiberglass and carbon fiber parts will put wax on the insides of their molds to make them pop out and keep them from sticking to each other and being impossible to pry apart.


but thats just my take on it, and im no rocket scientist lol :xyxthumbs:
 
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