I'm another fan of Pledge.. Seats, tires, dash, paint ... Use it on the beat 50+ year old paint on the Burb twice a year and she will bead water and has a nice sheen ... Had a Leather shop in the late 70's recommend it for my riding jacket.. that and neats foot oil are about the only things I use on leather ....
Not advised. Mineral spirits are hazardous to your health. The vapor alone will cause brain or nervous system damage. If you are feeling dizzy or or have a headache, guess why. If you are diagnosed with cancer or your children have bith defects, guess why. Keep the windows down.
The pledge i am familiar with leaves a residue that builds up with repeated use. Whether or not it is the right product to use, with the number of people posting here I'm sure there is someone who can tell you it's not ok.
Mineral spirits dissolves most contamination really well, but anything more than a brief occasional exposure can damage vinyl and assorted other plastics. I am familiar with mineral spirits because my shop used a lot of it. We used it in a recirculating parts cleaner, and in solvent spray/blow guns as an initial wash-down. Most of what you warned about, especially the more serious stuff, is not mentioned on the MSDS for mineral spirits. With light/casual exposure the biggest hazard is skin irritation. And, the better grades, the ones that don't leave an oily residue, evaporate fairly quickly.
Love this stuff. Before that I used an Eagle product, but I think that was discontinued, it buffed down to look like new rubber. Armorall is like heroin. The more you use it, the more it dries out the parts. I've heard it also removes the lamp black in the rubber, graying it out. Can anyone confirm that? Gary
A long time ago, we used lacquer thinner on the black sidewalls! But that was when tires could sit 20 years without cracking, not like today.
Most of what you warned about, especially the more serious stuff, is not mentioned on the MSDS for mineral spirits. With light/casual exposure the biggest hazard is skin irritation. And, the better grades, the ones that don't leave an oily residue, evaporate fairly quickly.[/QUOTE] Everything I mentioned is spelled out clearly on hardware store containers. I developed a serious rash from being exposed to mineral spirits over a period of years. The rash went away after I stopped using it. The vapors are nasty stuff.
I just use mineral spirits to clean greasy hand prints off my door panels. I don't sit in my basement and huff the stuff.
Just one word PLEDGE, you can use it on anything you want from paint to glass. Rubber parts will look like new and stay that way. A tip for paint ,wash car, wipe dry ,spray entire car including tires with a can of pledge , wipe down with soft cloth turning frequantly, go over car again with new clean soft cloth, for final touch wipe car with clean very light damp soft cloth. Your gona love it man
Going to give Pledge a try and after reading this get rid of my Armour All. Anyone suggest the best cleaner for whitewalls on your tires. Is there any household cleaner that will brighten up the white?
Sustained exposure can irritate the skin. Mineral spirits also "de-fats" the skin. That's a fancy way of saying it dries your skin out. The same irritation and rash can happen if you wash your hands too much. While you obviously don't want to breath too much of anything that doesn't belong in your lungs, I'm not sure why you believe the fumes are so dangerous. The concentrations of mineral spirits that OSHA considers excessive are so strong you couldn't stand to be in the same room. As I already pointed out, the MSDS doesn't support your concerns. And then there is this: When I worked for Ford engineering they were using the fairly hazardous but non-flammable solvent trichloroethane to clean test samples and wash down oily areas. After being researched by both their health and medical people that solvent was replaced with mineral spirits. Although mineral spirits is flammable, it was found to be, per the MSDS, fairly benign. With Ford being such a big target for doing the wrong thing they were compelled to use the safest possible alternative. Had mineral spirits been as bad as you indicate they wouldn't have chosen it as a replacement. Given what I detailed above, the warnings on the hardware store cans are either overreaching to protect the seller, or the mineral spirits contains contaminants. For some reason mineral spirits isn't always pure. I once bought a drum of mineral spirits that turned out to contain chlorinated hyrdocarbons. Those ARE pretty bad for you. The un-pure solvent irritated the skin much more than mineral spirits normally does, and it had an odd smell. I found that if not stated up front, producers will provide info on anything else that's in the base product.
I got a used bench seat at the junk yard and it was a little dirty, asked my friend to clean it and he armour alled it. Was drivin and made a sharp corner and slid from the drivers side to the passenger side of the truck!!! I hate armour all with a passion... took 6 months for that greasy mess to wear off the seat
I just use good old fashion dish washing liquid for the tires. has a light sheen and if you get caught in the rain, clean tires. bonus. on the Pledge thing, if you have to do a spot repair to the paint, do you have to strip it to bare metal? seems like it would cause a contamination problem in that respect. Just a thought...
I have used Armorall since it came out... Never a problem drying things out. I agree NOT to use it on a motorcycle seat been there done that. Lately I have been using pledge on most everything and it works well and is cheap at Sam's you can get a three pack o fit.. Got in trouble with the wife for stealing hers. I agree works great on flat finish paint jobs
I used to use Lexol Vinylex on the interior and rubber parts on our cars and the stuff was great. The first time I did the all white interior on my Son's T bucket the rag came out black and the white never looked so clean. But I haven't been able to find it lately at Advance or Autozone. Now we are using Mother's interior cleaner/protector and it is also a good one. Mothers makes good products across the board, I feel, and this one is right up there. Don
in the past few yrs ive had a bike seat redone twice. the last shop i took it to told me to use saddle soap that the armorall was drying out my seat. he must have been right because ive not had any cranking since he redone it. i like shiney seats and dashes so i use that stuff on everything. so far good.
Everything I mentioned is spelled out clearly on hardware store containers. I developed a serious rash from being exposed to mineral spirits over a period of years. The rash went away after I stopped using it. The vapors are nasty stuff.[/QUOTE] Everything causes cancer in CALI!!!!
Babe's Seat Soap and Seat Saver is good stuff. It's made for boat interiors, but works well on dashes and tires and there's no silicone in it.
Everything causes cancer in CALI!!!![/QUOTE] You took the words right outta' my mouth! I have used mineral spirits almost daily since 1982 in my screen printing business, doing everything with it but drinking it. It is the universal thinner and cleaner for plastisol inks. I'm also a big fan of 303. It really is sunblock for tires, vinyl, plastic, etc.!
How I've kept the original dash pad in my '66 Dodge - NEVER, EVER used ArmorAll on it! All I've ever used on any part of the interior is a slightly soapy and wet cloth on it, followed by a wipe with a clean, soft, wet rinse cloth. Far as cleaning tires goes, I've used a scrub brush with soapy water and powdered Ajax or Comet. Works magnificently on whitewalls and blackwalls alike! Rinse thoroughly and wipe dry. The result is a great-looking tire. Do the same on vinyl floor mats, too. No shiny nonsense! This is an oldie...I've used WD40 on crappy paint to give it a temporary "shine". A good wash beforehand, spray it on the vehicle, wipe down, and "ta-da!" you have great (although temporary) looking paint for that car show or whatever.
Pledge ingredients are: 60-70% Water 10-20% Isoparaffinic Hydrocarbon Solvent 3-5% Butane 3-5% Propane 1-5% Silicone It's basically a non-aggressive cleaner that also coats the surface with a small amount of silicone for a short while. Isoparaffinic Hydrocarbon Solvent is also used in drycleaning, as it is non-toxic and gives a silky feel. Ingredients make it useful as a tire and vynil cleaner and conditioner. Armour All is 30-40% Silicone and the rest water, resulting to a lot more residue.
Sugar and water works pretty good on tires. Used it in the sixtys. Not sure of any repurcussions but makes for a pretty good shine and cheap!
Everything causes cancer in CALI!!!![/QUOTE] How do so many threads on the HAMB eventually turn into California bashing? You guys really need to get some semblance of a life, and stop your very obvious envy.
Someone suggested that to me once, I did it and it did look good - until the flies discovered it! Swarms around all 4 tires, pretty funny.
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