OTC degreaser safe for paint, wheels, etc

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chris11le

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Any suggestions for an over the counter degreaser that can be diluted and be safe for paint and/or wheels?

I wanted to apply C5 wheel armor to my wheels but realized I dont have a degreaser (aside from Castrol SuperClean but that stuff is seemingly pretty scary)

I have access to most standard places (Walmart, Target, Pep Boys, AZ), but NAPA and CarQuest around here dont stock Duragloss (which would be my go to answer if they did).

Thanks in advance.

-Chris
 
Go to Home Depot and get a gallon of Zep Citrus Cleaner. It's great stuff. Dilute 1:1 for wells and 3:1 for wheels.
 
I just bought some Purple Power citrus cleaner from walmart for less than $3 and used it to do a "dry wash" on some VW wheels the other day, and used it to clean white off my door trim on my truck. I had no adverse effects on the wheels but it left a little streaking/spotting on the lower, painted portion of my door that I just wet, and wiped down with a MF I sprayed the cleaner on. There is no streaking left on the paint. So, that being said I think if you follow the 1:1 ratio for paint if will be completely safe, and straight out the bottle on rinsed/wet wheels has proven safe for me. The label states that it can be used on most automotive surfaces to include rubber mats, vinyl seats, carpet, and dashboards. For the price it is worth a shout and good for around the house at least. Good luck with what ever you chose and let us know how it turns out.:)
 
Hi Chris...The safest OTC, IMO, is Stoner's Tarminator. Unlike other OTC products, this Stoner's product does not contain the harmful chemicals (to humans, the environment, and vehicles paint, exterior trim) such as heptanes, xylene, or hydrocarbon aliphatic solvents. Tarminator is readily found at the stores that you have listed above and also at AGO:

http:/www.autogeek.net/tarminator.

Read the product description contained therein for additional information.
 
chris11le said:
I wanted to apply C5 wheel armor to my wheels but realized I dont have a degreaser (aside from Castrol SuperClean but that stuff is seemingly pretty scary)
-Chris
Click to expand...

The stuff is pretty strong but there are many other products on the market that are much stronger than Castrol SuperClean. I've used it full strength for years but found that I was just wasting product.

Dilute the Castrol SuperClean you do have 4-1 and have at it.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I picked up some Zep Citrus just to have it (I can use it for everything, just liek the SuperClean)

Im going to use the product to degrease my wheels before putting on C5 Wheel Armor. Ive confirmed my wheels are painted and not polished.....still OK to have at them with Zep or SuperClean? Definitely going to dilute it.......the only real goal is to make sure Im at bare clearcoat so the C5 will bond correctly. The wheels are just about perfectly clean (car only has 1K miles on it) so I dont need to take off any brake dust/tar/etc

Although it would be nice if anyone has a suggestion on how to remove the blue dot at the heavy spot of the rim.
 
chris11le said:
Thanks for the suggestions. I picked up some Zep Citrus just to have it (I can use it for everything, just liek the SuperClean)

Im going to use the product to degrease my wheels before putting on C5 Wheel Armor. Ive confirmed my wheels are painted and not polished.....still OK to have at them with Zep or SuperClean? Definitely going to dilute it.......the only real goal is to make sure Im at bare clearcoat so the C5 will bond correctly. The wheels are just about perfectly clean (car only has 1K miles on it) so I dont need to take off any brake dust/tar/etc

Although it would be nice if anyone has a suggestion on how to remove the blue dot at the heavy spot of the rim.
Click to expand...

Be very careful using any products containing Butyls, sodium hydroxide, and (what was my favorite until it was placed on the hazardous to health,environment list) d-limonene. Also did not know there was a 'heavy spot' on rims.
 
The blue spot on the wheel is lined up with the red spot on the tire. I figured the spot on the tire is either heavy or light, and the spot on the wheel is the opposite so they balance each other out.

The factory (or my dealer, when they rebalanced the tires/wheels) used a blue dot of paint on the wheel.
 
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