Welcome to the Corvette Forums at the Corvette Action Center!

My dirty underside...

Edmond

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 1, 2001
Messages
5,218
Location
Louisiana
Corvette
2003 Z06
I'm talking about the car!:L With all that yucky, dirty stuff underneath there, what's the best stuff to take it off with?

The car wash stuff doesn't seem to work too well!

I'm also looking for suggestions for the seats, to kind of protect them a little bit from the sun, etc...
 
I heard the stuff from Castrol is pretty mean for undercarraige clean-up. I use Meguiars leather cleaner then conditioner. My best advice: Park in the shade:L
 
I had Rare up on Jack Stands and used "Carb Cleaner" a brush, rags then went back over it with Brake Cleaner and wipe it down. Turned out pretty good :D Lot of work and floor time, lots of cardboard under all the mess too ;)

BudD
:w
 
Whesley's Bleech White tire cleaner works well for the underside of the car. It desolves the dirt and oil/grease ect. Spray it on and leave it set for a while but don't let it dry. Just like on the tires. Use a soft bristle tire brush and other brushes like cheap paint brushes to get into the corners and tight areas. Rinse with the hose. A stiff bristle brush will not do as good of a job and won't get into the tight areas.

I have used it on all areas under the car including the wheel wells with good success. No fumes and little clean up. Of course scrape off the heavy build up areas first.

Tom
 
All good advice. Here's what I have done on my last 2 major projects. A local company makes cleaning products, so I got a gallon of their whitewall cleaner, yup, I said whitewall cleaner. I mixed it 50-50 with water and it still ate my fingerprints off, ate right through my rubber gloves and turned my fingers slightly blue.....BUT, I sprayed it on and left it for about a minute, maybe two and hosed it off. The result was spectacular, 20 years of crud just fell off the car leaving a nice clean surface. Before I put the car in the garage I bought a big plastic tarp from Home Depot and put that down, taped it to the nose of the car so I wouldn't flood the garage. The problem witha lot of these solvents is that they are not good to aluminum, so if you use them don't leave them on very long on those parts or they will turn a dark grey color. I also bought a 5hp pressure washer at a garage sale cheap, money well spent.

Bud's suggestion of carb cleaner works well too, I just used that on my motor. Tom's suggestion of Whesley's Bleech White works nice too. Castrol and Royal Purple also make good cleaners, I found that Simple Green isn't very good even full strength.
 
I cleaned 32 years' worth of road crud off the entire bottom of my '69 Z/28 over the winter while I had it on the lift, with a heavy poly sheet on the floor and plenty of newspaper on top of it; Castrol Super-Clean is VERY effective (will remove paint if left on long enough), and final cleanup with Simple Green works well. Used a spray bottle with water in it for rinsing both off, did about a square foot at a time.
 
Tom Bryant said:
Whesley's Bleech White tire cleaner works well for the underside of the car. It desolves the dirt and oil/grease ect. Spray it on and leave it set for a while but don't let it dry. Just like on the tires. Use a soft bristle tire brush and other brushes like cheap paint brushes to get into the corners and tight areas. Rinse with the hose. A stiff bristle brush will not do as good of a job and won't get into the tight areas.

I have used it on all areas under the car including the wheel wells with good success. No fumes and little clean up. Of course scrape off the heavy build up areas first.

Tom

Tom,

Is this a product that I can pick up at a local Pep Boys?

Thanks,
 
I would second the use of Castrol Super-Clean. It is WAY stronger than Simple Green. I've tried using Simple Green first and it seems to work well... that is until you go over it again with the Castrol and tons more dirt and grease comes off! Don't get me wrong, I love Simple Green it's just a whole lot milder. I like the idea of using it second for final cleanup. I'll try that!
 
I third the Castrol Super Clean. Used it on the entire undercarriage when the suspension was disassembled. :upthumbs
 
Edmond,

Westley's Whitewall Cleaner is available at nearly any auto parts store or K Mart, Wall Mart ect.

Tom
 
What about using GUNK "Foamy Engine Brite" engine cleaner?

Has anyone used this stuff?

I am in the process of getting all my tools to clean my undercarage. It is not extremely dirty, I just want to clean it up.

1981
 
"Gunk" To Clean Engine and under side

Have had very good results using either the foaming or non-foaming version of Gunk. Best results comes with the Engine slightly warm and if the ouside temp is above 70 - 75 deg "F" which aids in lossing the hard caked-on build-up oil/dirt etc.
One step before you applying Gunk and washing off; is to take a double thickness of the plastic bags you get from the market and cover the entire alternator / generator and air intakes to insure no water / Gunk gets inside. Also remember to remove the trash bags prior to starting the engine after wash off step. The Gunk should not harm you paint if it is fair to good condition, as long as you rinse or wash the exterior before any water drops dry. I like to use a washing wand with solid spray nossile attached and a strong pressure water source to knock off any lossened, caked-on dirt, especially on the underside frame areas. You mite want to wear goggles during the wash off step, since you can count on a good deal of back splash from the high pressure water.
 
Why can't you just rent a steam cleaner or use a pressure washer? I did this on my Stude and it work well. Cost about $50 to rent and did it in about an hour. Messy but that's the nature of the project. You'll probably spend $50 in cleaning stuff by the time you are done if you do it by hand and brush.

Randy
 
Renting Cleaner ver Manual Cleaning

My experience with power cleaners (especially steam / hot water) is that they do a very good job of getting really baked on grease/dirt off with little or no prep, except for covering exposed electrical engine components. The down side is that older cars engine paint is also removed by the high presure heated water / steam.
Manual cleaning with a couple 16oz cans of Gunk (~$3 - $4) purchased from a discount store or auto supply store applied to a warm engine and then a 15 minute break to allow it to work, followed by a strong stream of water from a 60 - 90 psi source (un-regulate side of your house water supply) to blast away the loosen caked-on grease / dirt. The foaming Gunk is a little more active in loosening the really caked-on grease.
If you Gunk once a year you really don't have a problem with cake-on grease. I feel that keeping you vette clean, allows the maximum system cooling as designed.
 
Simple Green has worked very well for me in the past getting grim off of mine. What my brother, I both use on the seats is waterless hand cleaner with lanolin. What we have comes in a little blue tup with a white lid. What I do is rub it into the seat with my hand then buff it off with a towel, and you won't believe how many white towels you will go through, and it also makes the seats soft.
 
The had cleaner works good, because it cleans the material, and adds some conditioner to it. It was suggested to me from a guy that has detailed cars for 20 years. The last issue recommended using greased lightening, with repeated applications.

Craig
 

Corvette Forums

Not a member of the Corvette Action Center?  Join now!  It's free!

Help support the Corvette Action Center!

Supporting Vendors

Dealers:

MacMulkin Chevrolet - The Second Largest Corvette Dealer in the Country!

Advertise with the Corvette Action Center!

Double Your Chances!

Our Partners

Back
Top Bottom