pH of Some Common Products Unveiled

[swanicyouth]

Got me self some pH strips and decided to play with them...

LA's Totally Awesome neat ~ pH 11

Meg's APC+ 1:4 ~ pH 11

Mother's Back to Black Tire Cleaner ~ pH 10

IronX ~ neutral

TarX ~ neutral

Meg's Dub Wheel Cleaner ~ pH 8

Griot's Regular Wheel Cleaner ~ neutral

Chemical Guy's Sticky Wheel Cleaner 1:5 ~ pH 10

Meg's Wheel Brite 1:3 ~ pH 2

Gary Dean's Juice Waterless Dilution ~ neutral

Chemical Guys Citrus Red 1:32 ~ neutral

Auto Finesse Avalanche Snow Foam neat ~ pH 10

Auto Finesse Imperial Wheel Cleaner neat ~ pH 10

Bilt Hamber Snow Foam neat ~ pH 10-11

P21S Shampoo neat ~ neutral

 

[Chris@AutoCleanse]

Thanks for posting and sharing.

 

[swanicyouth]

More will follow. I did this to prove my theory that "pH neutral car soap" is pretty much bunk. I believe almost ALL car soaps will be neutral when diluted in 5 gallons of water. I know I only did 2 "soaps" (not snow foam) here - but more be coming.

 

[rms64]

Cool information and thank you.

So...for those of us less informed...what does this really mean?

All respect - love your posts...

 

[allenk4]

Great info

I know that each change of 1 on the pH scale is actually a 10x change

What is the formula for determining pH when diluting a product?

If it has a pH of 10 and you dilute it with 10 parts water....would that decrease the pH to 9? I don't think it does, bc most water is pH of 7

Just curious, especially with the soaps that are usually highly diluted by the time they are on the paint?

 

[allenk4]

Quick Google yields this:

Chemical Calculator: Dilution of Bases and Acids

 

[swanicyouth]

Cool information and thank you.

So...for those of us less informed...what does this really mean?

All respect - love your posts...

To me - not much. Pretty much what I expected. APCs are pretty basic. Euro type snow foam is basic (less so when diluted - keep in mind you dilute these less than "soap"), most wheel cleaners that are APC style are prolly basic. Wheel Brite is burn yr hands off acidic... And most "regular soaps" are prolly neutral.

Products like IronX and TarX that CarPro claims are neutral - really are. Which doesn't matter much, because they are decon products anyway. I expected this - because CarPro is first class. Griots super safe "BBS approved wheel cleaner" seems to be super safe.

Products that are very basic or acidic tend to clean better easier - but they can also be harder on "wax". But, as you can see - all the products here that are "for body paint" are basically neutral. Wheels tend to have tougher / harder / powder coat like paint from the factory - so the finish is a bit sturdier.

But, waxing wheels still makes no sense to me....

Really what it says to me is if you use the right product for the right job - it doesn't matter.

 

[allenk4]

I agree a soap with a pH of 10 drops down to 7.29 when one ounce is mixed with 4 gallons of water

 

[rms64]

Thank you sir for taking the time to post this. Hope the BMW is still aweseome (I'm sure it is) :xyxthumbs::xyxthumbs::xyxthumbs:

 

[Dr Oldz]

Very cool!

 

[nubaseal]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[FUNX650]

Meg's Wheel Brite 1:3 ~ pH 2

Interesting. From its MSDS:
Meguiar's D140 (neat) pH = 4.5-5.5

Cool information and thank you.

^^^:iagree:^^^

So...for those of us less informed...what does this really mean?

•Many, many things. But...Take this into consideration:

-When Meguiar's D140 is mixed with water, at a ratio of 1:3, it appears to become a "more acidic" solution than just pouring it straight-from-the-bottle. (Per: Steve's litmus testing)

-Even though this "morphing" occurs...It doesn't mean it becomes a "stronger" acidic solution.

-You have to dig deeper.

•D140 contains Ammonium Bifluoride---a precursor to Hydrofluoric Acid (HF)...a "weak" acid.

-What is the pH of HF?
-What are the dangers, if any, that are associated with HF?

Also:

•Have to define:
-weak acid vs. strong acid

-(Virtually)-100% Dissassociation/ionization vs
(incomplete)-Some % of disassociation/ionization

-{There's more }


•IMHO:
-This is just scraping the surface of the value, that comes from knowing pH values.


Bob

 

[PiPUK]

The point about all 'soaps' being neutral when diluted is quite reasonable assuming we are talking about SHAMPOO. As I have alluded to previously, the use of terminology in the US market is poor - many people use 'soap' to define anything you would use to wash a car, this can include highly alkaline products which are not comparable with shampoos.

Another note for you, whatever Carpro tells you and whatever your test strip says, TarX does NOT have a pH. pH is a characteristic of an aqueous product and TarX is not aqueous. You can put a test strip into it, but it is not measuring the pH (or anything meaningful). To define a pH for a product like this would be a bit like defining how far through his menstrual cycle a man has progressed - clearly nonsense.

As a rough guide, you should not define pH of something that cannot be diluted with water.

 

[Quiksilver5882]

Very cool! Thank you for the information

 

[2shiny]

Have you tried spaying iron x on a wheel and then measure pH when it's bleeding. Then it has become acidic...

 

[Pats300zx]

Great info. Thanks for posting.

 

[Bunky]

Can you test CG Citrus Wash and Gloss concentrated and diluted?

 

[frankprozzoly]

LOL.... I really am just a dumb driver. .. I don't understand any of this. . I just try and keep my car as clean as I can

 

[swanicyouth]

Can you test CG Citrus Wash and Gloss concentrated and diluted?

I can. But, I think it will be neutral - since Citrus Red was neutral at 1:32.

 

[knightmare]

Thats why I love groits garage wheel cleaner, i dont have to worry about spotting up wheels