Degreaser Recommendation

[sburns]

If you seen my bike it's a bit of a mess.

Thinking I might want to tackle some cleaning. I will need to degrease some stuff, any preferred products you can recommend which are useful for motorcycles?

 

[Gary]

Simple green purple.
Gunk engine.
99% isopropyl.
Brake cleaner.
Kerosene.

 

[GreyGhost]

For air cooled (or air cooled looking) I like the foaming ones. Gets into the fins and drags out most of the gunk. Then rinse off.

 

[robertv19]

Can you use contact cleaner? Or is that not safe for panted surfaces
(Like wheels)


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[PacoT]

Can you use contact cleaner? Or is that not safe for panted surfaces
(Like wheels)


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Just learned the hard way that this stuff isn’t great for car/motorcycle plastic trim. I was cleaning the contact on my throttle wire and some excess dripped onto the radiator trim—messed it up

 

[85K100]

I put Varsol or equivalent (generic Paint Thinner) into a spray bottle and spray it on the extra greasy bits. Varsol used to be cheap. It isn't now.

 

[JZ67]

+1 for Simple Green.

 

[Relax]

For actual degreasing, WD40 is my go-to.

 

[Soulcatcher668]

I put Varsol or equivalent (generic Paint Thinner) into a spray bottle and spray it on the extra greasy bits. Varsol used to be cheap. It isn't now.

Varsol will degrade plastics and chain o-rings very quickly.
You can buy odorless mineral spirits now which is a huge upgrade from the stink of Varsol.
Great stuff in the right application.

 

[85K100]

What is the difference between mineral sprints and paint thinner?

General PDP Template

www.canadiantire.ca

 

[GreyGhost]

What is the difference between mineral sprints and paint thinner?

Mineral spirits are more refined and less smelly. MS are a subset of paint thinner (eg all MS are PT but not all PT are MS).

 

[85K100]

Either are good enough for me, to spray onto accumulated gunk on my swingarm and centre stand/sidestand, from gear oil flung off my chain. Whichever is cheapest.

 

[Relax]

For actual degreasing, WD40 is my go-to.

I should add, I wouldn't use it on my chain or anywhere else where there are rubber seals.

 

[85K100]

20 times as expensive as my choice, or more. 50?

 

[Relax]

20 times as expensive as my choice, or more. 50?

You replying to me? I don't know where you're buying your WD40, but my 4L can with bonus spray bottle was about the same price as that paint thinner you linked.

 

[GreyGhost]

You replying to me? I don't know where you're buying your WD40, but my 4L can with bonus spray bottle was about the same price as that paint thinner you linked.

Liquid WD40 is much much cheaper than aerosol WD40. I know a company that was going through cases of aerosol so they bought a 45 gallon drum to save costs. Usage dropped to almost zero. The key was ease of use. Once they had to rebottle and manually spray, the users switched to other options. Now, there may be a middle ground with aerosol cans that you self-charge with compressed gas. I suspect you need to charge them with inert gas and not air though so that adds cost and complication.