Cleaning Undercarriage

J

jasonmac

New member
I have a 2001 VW Passat, and have never had the undercarriage cleaned (yet!), but am looking into trying.



In searching, I've seen some folks use kerosene to get the underbody clean, but would something like Aerospace 303 Cleaner work? This is a daily driver, so plenty of road tar,grime, etc. is under there.



Would a pressure washer help here?
 
~One man’s opinion / observations ~



Undercarriage:

Thoroughly spray an undiluted citrus cleaner (P21S Total Auto Wash) and let it soak in, remove by thoroughly rinsing with water. If you have a pressure washer available, fill tank with citrus cleaner and spray (do not use excess pressure as water may penetrate crevices and seams where it cannot drain, causing corrosion) undercarriage, let it soak and then remove with plain water, Spray undercarriage with Undercarriage Spray (Groit’s PN 11138) Two or three light coats are better than one heavy one, allow drying between coats. This product contains silicone so wipe away any over spray from floors immediately as it will cause a slipping hazard.



~Hope this helps~



Experience unshared; is knowledge wasted…/ Jon

justadumbarchitect *so I question everything*
 
Jasonmac- Welcome to Autopia!



What TOGWT said :xyxthumbs



A pressure washer can help, but I too like to use stuff like the P21S TAW or EFHI. You can use solvent-based stuff for tough spots. I dunno about the 303 cleaner for this application. Rust from leftover water shouldn't be much of a problem on your car.



Be careful with the GG Undercarriage Spray. It works well, but it's messy stuff.
 
Thanks for the tips!



I use GG Undercarriage Spray for the wheel wells, but I try to be as careful as possible with it!



I'll try the 303 and let you know what happens.
 
I've even used plain ol' Castrol Super Clean from WalMart. I'm a big advocate of Meg's Engine Kote for undercarriage and wells and I will be replacing it with a floor shine product once my EK is used up because it is now discontinued. Good luck with the cleaning
 
Bill D said:
I've even used plain ol' Castrol Super Clean from WalMart. I'm a big advocate of Meg's Engine Kote for undercarriage and wells and I will be replacing it with a floor shine product once my EK is used up because it is now discontinued. Good luck with the cleaning
Click to expand...



That's good to know -- sounds similar to what the 303 claims to do, but good to know there are other options in case!



I plan on doing this Saturday, well, first a PC polish, slight engine detailing, session, then the underbody!
 
Nice thing is you can buy the Castrol Super Clean for like $6 a gallon and its dilutable to other strengths :up
 
I use Simple Green non diluted myself. When I had a Jetta I did the same and the gray undercoating was gray again after the process. I have always used Simple Green with good results. Juston SUVs and trucks with painted chassis it tends to leave a white residue behind. In these cases I just hit it with Griots undercarriage spray and then the chassis is all shiney, and the trucks smell great after that too.
 
I stayed away from SG after all that talk it can discolor or otherwise damage aluminum. Better safe than sorry on that one.I think basically any degreaser esepcially used multiple times with a powr washer will give good results
 
Tire dressing, especially the foam kind, can really gunk up and attract a lot of dust. IIRC it even made the wells brown after real bad weather. I used to use it by the case load and I got so mad everytime. I had no idea what else I could do, I switched to water based stuff like Armor All but it really didnt last long and didnt really attract much less dust. I'm very thankful for Autopia and Mike Phillips, from whom I learned about Engine Kote. Now that EK is being discontinued, I learned from HRP about using Mop n Glo. I experimented for myself and found indeed it is extremely similar to EK so once my EK is gone, I'll buy a supermarket generic version of Mop N Glo just to reduce cost a bit. This stuff is the best yet I've found for wells, undercarriage



I've really been tooting my own horn about this EK/MnG usage lately :o I'm off my soapbox now ;)
 
be VERY careful when using undiluted APCs. Orange Blast will remove paint from shocks and the plastic wheelwell (if it's painted) or the protective wheelwell spray itself :eek: . Don't leave it on too long
 
hmm Interesting. You would think it would harden and leave a white film on it..



Thanks I'm glad to be aboard.. :cool:
 
Ok As I have done this to the SS many times, you will need to scrub it to get it really clean. I have used a pressure washer and it does a good job but some of that crap needs to have a brush run over it to get it all off...



10462.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top