What are the best ways to clean a raptor?

nitronate33 said:

i don't know what people have against simple green. i've been using it for years on very very well-maintained vehicles and i've never had a single problem. show me proof that simple green has screwed up your or anyone else's car/truck and i'll believe it. using words like "horrible" would be associated with rubbing your car down with acetone, not simple green.

when i use it, the simple green is on the car for all of about a minute since i spray, wipe/clean and move to the next spot. it never sits on the clearcoat (or plastic) and immediately after i'm done cleaning i either do a full sealant treatment on the area or a spray treatment if its very minor. but seriously, i wouldn't let any cleaner, regardless of how "gentle" or "safe" it was sit on any surface for very long.

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Simple Green is fairly caustic with a ph of 9.5. It is extremely damaging to paint and plastic. It breaks down oils quickly, which is why it makes a great degreaser. Spray a little on your fingers and rub your fingers together. The slippery feeling that it creates is the oils in your skin being broken down.

When it does this to plastic it removes the oils and reduces the UV protection, causing it to breakdown and discolor and eventually become brittle. It does the same to the oils in the waxes and protectants on your paint.

Once you spray a caustic onto your truck, it starts the destructive process. Wiping it off or even hosing it off doesn't stop it. You need to introduce an acid to neutralize the alkaline reaction. Most tap water as well as cleaners are fairly neutral and aren't going to neutralize the reaction.

Trust me. I worked in a chem lab for 10 yrs. You should be far more worried about alkaline solutions than acids. So no matter how short of time you leave on your truck, the damage is being done. Keep the simple green for cleaning the driveway, and get something a lot less caustic for you truck.

crash457 said:

Simple Green is fairly caustic with a ph of 9.5. It is extremely damaging to paint and plastic. It breaks down oils quickly, which is why it makes a great degreaser. Spray a little on your fingers and rub your fingers together. The slippery feeling that it creates is the oils in your skin being broken down.

When it does this to plastic it removes the oils and reduces the UV protection, causing it to breakdown and discolor and eventually become brittle. It does the same to the oils in the waxes and protectants on your paint.

Once you spray a caustic onto your truck, it starts the destructive process. Wiping it off or even hosing it off doesn't stop it. You need to introduce an acid to neutralize the alkaline reaction. Most tap water as well as cleaners are fairly neutral and aren't going to neutralize the reaction.

Trust me. I worked in a chem lab for 10 yrs. You should be far more worried about alkaline solutions than acids. So no matter how short of time you leave on your truck, the damage is being done. Keep the simple green for cleaning the driveway, and get something a lot less caustic for you truck.

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it's 8.5-9.5 (from the SDS) and meguiar's gold class shampoo is 8-9.5. hmmm....

shoot, bird crap is like a ph of 3-4 and as long as you get it off your car relatively quickly it'll be fine. i don't know the ph of bug guts, but you get my point. the idea that you would have to wipe down your car with an acidic or alkaline solution to counteract everything that touches your car that is not a neutral ph of 7 is ridiculous.

nitronate33 said:

it's 8.5-9.5 (from the SDS) and meguiar's gold class shampoo is 8-9.5. hmmm....

shoot, bird crap is like a ph of 3-4 and as long as you get it off your car relatively quickly it'll be fine. i don't know the ph of bug guts, but you get my point. the idea that you would have to wipe down your car with an acidic or alkaline solution to counteract everything that touches your car that is not a neutral ph of 7 is ridiculous.

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You dilute car shampoo with water before you use it (I hope). If you dilute Simple green (10:1 is recommended) then it should be fine as well. Most people use simple green concentrated (straight out of the spray bottle). Most tap water is mildly acid. That lowers the ph to closer to neutral. I also would only use a ph neutral soap, but that's me. I understand that you can't expect everything that touches your paint to be ph neutral, but as I have stated, alkaline is far worse than acidic. Acids don't need to be neutralized immediately since they can't break down oils and will simply sit on top of the wax/sealant. That's why all the car wax infomercials pour acid on the car, not alkaline. Bird poop and bug guts will have very little effect on your paint if it is properly protected since they are acidic. That was the original point. Nothing is better than proper paint protection. Alkaline cleaners like simple green start breaking down the protection on your paint and plastic the minute the come in contact. You can do what you want, but as someone who spent many years working with some very dangerous chemicals (including Acetic Acid, Sulfuric Acid, Sodium Hydroxide, and Cyanide), I will not ever put caustic materials on my truck. You can't argue with science and chemistry. Just trying to help others out.