Morning, all. After a month and 2,000 miles, I finally got around to washing my new MCS. Turns out it's actually red under all that grime...

I found some residue from what I believe to be the schmutz that gets sprayed on the car before it's shipped across the pond from the factory. I noticed it when I picked the car up from the dealer last month. It's kind of a heavy waxy kind of thing that resisted the Dawn and vigorous scrubbing didn't have much of an impact. What approach should I use to get the remainder of this stuff off before I cover the car with the liquid gold that is Zaino?

 

Where on the car is the residue?

Annette

 

One particularly stubborn (and heavy) spot is on the A panel next to the fender trim. There also seem to be a few spots on the passenger door near the handle.

 

My SA told me to use rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball to remove the cosmoline (schmutz) drip from under my rear wiper. Worked like a charm when nothing else would take it off.

 

Excellent! Now that I think about it, goof-off (or goo-gone, or whatever that citrusy stuff is called) will probably do the trick, too. I'll give 'em both a try. :-)

 

That's true those would probably work as well, although I have noticed that goo-gone seems to leave a greasy residue (i think it might have some sort of citrus oil in it). And don't forget to re-wax over the areas that you clean, since most of this stuff will remove whatever wax you had on the paint!

 

Haven't even done the first coat of wax, yet, so that's not an issue. :-) I did a wash with Dawn yesterday to try to get all of this gookus off, so "no wax" is exactly what I'm *trying* to achieve!

 

That stuff might also need to be melted off with hot water as well. If dawn or simple green don't work, step up to alcohol, then the goo gone/WD40. Be sure to wash off the latter two with dawn/simple green if you do use them. Or you could just wait till the first snow storm and see if the 50 grit sand that coats the roads will remove it.

 

The installer that put on my clearbra removed some of the gunk on my A-panel with an aerosol citrus-based degreaser from 3M. I keep meaning to pick some up, but I don't know if the chain stores around here stock it.
If the nice weather holds, I'll be detailing a HO cabrio this weekend that I know has a cosmoline spot on the A-panel as well, so I'll post the results afterwards.

 

A Google search for "cosmoline" turns up some interesting hits, including a product page for this stuff on Amazon. Amazing.

Here's a collection of posts on removing the stuff. Hrm, steam cleaning with hot kerosene, eh? Think I'll pass on that one.

 

Kerosene isn't that harsh as a cleaner. In fact, if you look in a British car or motorcycle service manual and find a reference to cleaning a part with "paraffin", they're actually talking about kerosene. Which leads into my next story...

The service manual for one of my motorcycles recommended cleaning the drive chain by heating some paraffin in a pot on the stove and soaking the chain in it. Well, being an American, and a Southerner to boot, "paraffin" to me means the white blocks of wax you buy for sealing the tops of Mason jars when you're making fruit preserves or jarring vegetables. (You may have seen "Gulfwax"-brand paraffin in the grocery store - that's what it's for).

Anyway, I melted down a few blocks of "paraffin" on the stove and dropped the chain in. Of course, when I took the chain out, the wax cooled and completely gunked up the chain - it would hardly bend. That's when I found out the "paraffin"/kerosene thing for the first time.

Oh, and if a British service manual tells you to inspect your gas tank with a "torch", they're talking about a flashlight!!

 

Yep, that would be a bummer!

Oh, and a clay bar is always a good bet to try.
Annette

 

Actually that white chunky stuff was a preferred method to lubricate bicycle/motor bike chains as it not only does it repel water it does not pick up road sand as readily as oil. It was done exactly how you described, however the chain should be first cleaned in room temperature Kerosene and away from an open flame (The stuff is very flammable).

Also being a southerner and have owned an assortment MG’s. Triumphs and Austin’s I agree on the terminology aspects.