removing black film from plane

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stapler101

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stapler101
My plane has a reasonably good paint job but it sits outside and has a black film on it.
The film has been waxed over (wasn't cleaned well before waxing).
What cleaner will "remove the wax and the film"?
Car wash concentrate and a rag will not touch it.
I have read several recommendations for wax. I just need to settle on a good one and get the plane cleaned up and waxed.

thanks, mike
 
I had the same problem with the first airplane I bought. The paint was good and there were no thin places, so a light wet sanding with a 1200 grit and then waxing did the trick. You might try that.
 
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Trapper John said:
I don't think I'd want to use anything with hypochlorite bleach on an aluminum aircraft...
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Ditto.

When I was working for a cropduster, we found a place where we could buy concentrated 'automatic car-wash' soap in 5-gal buckets. We would mix it fairly strongly to get the bug and exhaust grime off of the planes. We washed those planes more frequently than most planes get washed (5-6 times per month in some cases) and we started to notice some very light corrosion in the aluminum skins so we started diluting the soap a lot more to prevent it spreading.

I would stick to the automotive/aircraft soaps as they tend to be less corrosive than household cleaners. No matter what you use, though, a hard-core rinse afterwards is key.

Meguiar's makes good stuff. I think there is an 'aircraft grade' Simple-Green, though I've never used it. Have you tried Wash-Wax-All? It does wonders exhaust/oil stains on the belly - it might work for your grime issues, too.
 
ZEP. The stuff is made for cleaning aircraft and is absolutely amazing at removing the crud. You will be amazed. Bugs on leading edges, oil on belly, old baked on grease, black exhaust stains... In combo with the softest scotchbright pad you can get it all off easy.
 
wby0nder said:
ZEP. The stuff is made for cleaning aircraft and is absolutely amazing at removing the crud. You will be amazed. Bugs on leading edges, oil on belly, old baked on grease, black exhaust stains... In combo with the softest scotchbright pad you can get it all off easy.
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Ugh - I used to use that stuff to clean airplanes when I was a lineman. I'm quite sure I'm going to die of lung cancer because of it! :eek: Stuff's pretty toxic. And make sure you get it rinsed of fairly quickly and very thoroughly. That said, it does a GREAT job on black crud - We used it only for the bellies of airplanes and used a milder product for the cleaner sides and top.
 
Arrow Magnolia makes a product called Carbon X, available from Sporty's among other places. It will strip off the wax IF it is an organic wax. If it is a silicone wax it might be a more difficult proposition.
 
thanks for all the great info.
I will check locally for the cleaning wax and the zep.
If not found locally, I will get some ordered.

thanks again for taking time to reply
mike
 
"What causes the black flim? My plane gets the same thing on it every year."

It's this filmy black stuff.












....sorry couldn't resist...
 
GoJo hand cleaner. Not the gritty one .. the smooth one.
 
Ken Ibold said:
Windborne particulates from burned jet fuel would be my guess.
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So you're saying "Blame Lance!"? :rofl:

(Okay, that's jealousy speaking! WTG, Lance!)



And YES, Simple Green does have Aviation Grade product. I got a free bottle of "EXTREME simple green Aircraft Precision Cleaner" at Airventure a couple of years ago. Still waiting for the airplane to use it on!:yikes::rofl:
 
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