Technical Removing WD40 from bare metal before priming?

Hi guys -
Installed new full floors a couple of years ago in my 1934 Ford Vicky. At the time I wasn’t ready to apply primer so I washed the panels down with WD40. Now I’m ready to prime. Looking for recommendations on how best to clean off the WD40.

Appreciate your recommendations.

- Bantam

 

Lots of wax and grease remover.
We had a bare steel body covered in that junk.
After several cleanings with wax and grease remover, we used PPGs metal prep cleaner.
The stuff we used to use with epoxy.
We thought we had it clean until we hit it with that.

 

Dawn dish soap works great to clean oils and grease .

thrn use a wax and grease remover .

I think dawn dish soap in the soap dispenser of a pressure washer and just go to to town.

 

Good luck, I learned never to put that stuff on bare metal, I wiped the body down with lacquer thinner and used a gallon of metal prep, I still gad spots that primer didn't adhere, at least it;s the floor, you can always use carpet or rubber. HRP

 

..........then WHY does my kitchen door start squeaking every couple month when using WD-40 on it??!
Sounds like that stuff really takes-a-hold on metal...just not monkey-metal door hinges!
6sally6

 

it's not really a lubricant, is why your hinges squeak.

I don't have any of that stuff around. When I want a lubricant, I use oil. When I want something to protect metal from rusting, I use paint. When I want something to get parts loose, I use liquid wrench or pb blaster or something.

There really isn't much use for a water displacer like WD-40 in my world.

 

How's about brake kleen?????....

 

I use Turpentine for prewash , But I have never used WD40 on bare metal .

 

It's hard too remove chemically . The more the metal is prepped by sanding the more difficult it's going to be to remove the WD40. I would soak the surface with a foaming engine degreaser first and then flood with a water wash, after that I would use a wax and grease remover. The other option is to sandblast the area.

 

This is why you use Gibbs.

 

What about Castrol super clean? Spray it on and scrub it with a brush, rinse with a hose or pressure washer....I don't know but I think that would get it off

 

Amen!

 

This is why you use Gibbs.
X 3

 

I'd put a quick cote of etching primer on the bare metal before I would ever use an oil based product on sheet metal.

 

I would scrub it down with clean dirt. Absorb the WD40 first. Then used standard paint process after that.


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Get a bucket of boiling hot water, put two cups of unscented basic Tide into it and go to town scrubbing the hell out of every spot.. Make sure you use the plain stuff without any sent or softening additives... Then hit it with Dawn. Then a boiling hot water rinse. Let it cool for 24 hours, then hit it again with another rinse..

 

This tamco stuff is TOUGH, Itll eat fresh paint before you realize what youre doing. It might help

https://tamcopaint.com/collections/cleaners/products/hr397

 

No WD 40 here, only Gibbs. You may not ever get the metal clean enough for a good paint job?

 

It’s why I’ve always kept a small can of 3 in 1 oil in my cabinet.

 

Ask your paint supply guys....they usually have seen just about every product used.....

 

Thanks for the replies! I purchased this Prep-All wax and grease remover. One gallon $23.99 at O’Reilly Auto Parts. Will clean thoroughly and see how it goes.

 

Gas an a rag would be my starting point.. then lacquer/urethane reducer, then final clean..

 

That would be kind of like getting rid of garlic on your breath by eating onions...

 

Yes, it would. I think WD-40 contains silicone which actually hardens when dry. I was a machinist for too many years. One shop I worked in had a rotary fixture to use spin parts on a surface grinder which had an air bearing. VERY close tolerance designed not to use lubricant. Some one took it apart to clean it and sprayed WD THINKING it would help. The next morning it was seized and would not turn at all. I took it apart and had to use scotch bright to clean the WD hardened crud off so it would spin. You will never find that crap on my property, I have no use for it.

 

I always keep a can of that Eastwood PRE stuff handy in the shop for quick prep.

 

Thanks for all the ideas everyone I was just wondering if I could get oil off my car before painting now I know

 

Apologies in advance for the thread hijack

Krylon I have a coupe which sat under a tarp for 30 years and some of the paint on the roof is gone. Would you suggest Gibbs to protect it? Paint is nearly 50yrs old so dont want to be redoing it all, just preserve and protect what I have.

 

Hahaha, typical HAMB thread, you ask a simple question and ....

 

i use ether and a clean rag.