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The Best, Cheapest Foaming Degreaser

4733 Views 62 Replies 19 Participants Last post by  tgeliot, 
Rides
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I’m a big fan of pump spray bottles, they are useful in many scenarios, camping and wrenching .
Dawn dish soap and the correct ratio of water agitated into a thick foam is as good a degreaser that I’ve found.
Be sure to get a thick foam with no water left in the bottle and you’re good to go.
Bottle Liquid Drinkware Bottled water Fluid

Gas Snow Freezing Chemical compound Cuisine
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oldjeep
Or now you can just buy the dawn sprayers that shoot foam straight from bottle.
Liquid Blue Drinkware Bottle Fluid
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gristle
I never use any degreaser now unless I have a specific reason but I found the Gunk products effective and reasonably priced. Over time I learned to appreciate the anti oxidation properties of some excess splattered oils and other petrol based mung
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oldjeep
Fwiw, simple green is my normal degreaser.
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Dado8
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PerazziMx14
Purple Power for me. $7 a gallon a Wally World and can dilute to different strengths.
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jettawreck
Dado8 said:
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I've used Dawn dish soap (small amounts) and warm water to wash every vehicle we have owned for decades.
Degreaser? I usually buy Gunk at the local Fleet store. Used to be less than $3 for a big can. Worked pretty good on filthy engines. I've found the "Original" formula to work better than the "Foaming" type.
Simple Green can oxidize aluminum.
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R
L.A.'s Totally Awesome is a great cleaner, degreaser, whitewall cleaner etc. $1 at Dollar General for a spray bottle or $3 for half gallon. Dilution table is on the bottle.
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tgeliot
PerazziMx14 said:
Purple Power for me. $7 a gallon a Wally World and can dilute to different strengths.
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That shit's strong. I took some paint off a vent hood with it once.

2008 Suzuki DL650A VStrom "Bucephalus"
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Rides said:
I’m a big fan of pump spray bottles, they are useful in many scenarios, camping and wrenching .
Dawn dish soap and the correct ratio of water agitated into a thick foam is as good a degreaser that I’ve found.
Be sure to get a thick foam with no water left in the bottle and you’re good to go. View attachment 314196
View attachment 314195
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Another great way to deliver a blanket if foam of whatever the surfactant of choice is, is a hose-end fertilizer/pesticide sprayer.
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T
Please, anything that melts chain fling from spoked wheels. I'm going to try Go-Jo orange hand cleaner, no grit formula.
Castrol superclass is very good but pay attention as it too is a sodium hydroxide base.
Goo Gone is a citrus oil base. It will melt the glue on balance weights
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TinMan88 said:
Please, anything that melts chain fling from spoked wheels. I'm going to try Go-Jo orange hand cleaner, no grit formula.
Castrol superclass is very good but pay attention as it too is a sodium hydroxide base.
Goo Gone is a citrus oil base. It will melt the glue on balance weights
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I've found this stuff to work real well in getting chain lube off the rear wheel, swingarm, center stand, etc.
Bottle Liquid Fluid Solution Drink
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PerazziMx14
tgeliot said:
That shit's strong. I took some paint off a vent hood with it once.

2008 Suzuki DL650A VStrom "Bucephalus"
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Its only as strong as you mix it.
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tgeliot
PerazziMx14 said:
Its only as strong as you mix it.
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This was ages ago, back in the mid 90s? I got a small free sample bottle in the mail. IIRC it was pre-mixed in a little squirt bottle.
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Hogges
I use Kerosene if I really want to get oily gunk off of metal parts. I find it much more effective than soap and it gives both steel and aluminum parts a nice sheen when done. I put a little bit into an open oil drain pan, keep it under the area I am cleaning, and then use a brush to apply liberally, with drippings being caught by the drain pan and some cardboard underneath for extra protection. For areas that are less dirty, such as wheels, I just put some on a rag.

A small amount goes a long way so it may even be better for the environment compared to soap as I am not washing the bike grease down the driveway, but rather catch it in my drip pan and a couple of rags for proper disposal.
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tgeliot
A little off-topic, but a heads-up: for quite a while I was mixing dish soap (Dawn) and water to refill my foaming hand soap dispenser. My son pointed out that detergent is sold with enough preservative mixed in to keep crap from growing in there, and I was diluting it down enough to make it ineffective. I opened up my (opaque) dispenser bottle and sure enough found a layer of disgusting slime. I don't know if it was slime mold or what, but eeeeeyuuk! I had been washing my hands with this stuff.

So if you dilute a detergent that isn't sold as being intended to be diluted in the dispenser bottle, keep an eye on whether you're growing stuff in there.
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tgeliot
Hogges said:
I use Kerosene . . .
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I've always been curious about the difference between kerosene and cheap paint thinner. Do you know?
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T
tgeliot said:
I've always been curious about the difference between kerosene and cheap paint thinner. Do you know?
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homeguidecorner.com

Mineral Spirits Vs Kerosene - Complete Guide - Home Guide Corner

Minerals spirits vs. kerosene is a long-contended issue for most users in DIY home projects. With lots of history and tons of reviews, most DIY-ers swear by each common solvent and debate which one is better for home use. So, we are putting the age-long argument to rest—right here and now...
homeguidecorner.com homeguidecorner.com

There ya go!
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T
Okay, I'm going to go on the dark side for all you do it yerseffers. What you may be looking for is an emulsion product that you can make - and works to your satisfaction. Many of the products mentioned above are some sort of strong base or alkaline formula. (soap) A few have mentioned using a petro solvent type. These used to be popular until enviro issues cropped up. Maxima used to make an emulsion product that really worked great. Trouble was , it combined petro with water and turned white like metal working fluid and down the drain or on the driveway it went. To make an emulsion one would combine a petro like kerosene with a detergent like Dawn with some water and mix it till it turns white which is when the molecules blend together. Goo-Gone is an orange oil with detergent in it . When you rinse it off a surface you can see the white in the driveway. But it is citrus, not petro.

A note on safety. A number of these products do not play well with brake pads, and I think we are focused on cleaning around the wheel and chain. Be sanitary about what gets on the disk or in the calipers.
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O
I also use Awesome from Dollar General. Cheap and very effective. I haven't found it to have any negative effects on bicycle chains or metal finishes on vehicles.
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