Degreaser, Engine Detailing & Wheel Cleaning

[Mazdan]

I have been reading the stickies learning lots from old threads. Still, questions come up.... My local auto parts has some Purple Power and "Super Clean" wheel cleaner and cleaner and degreaser on sale. Would this be alright for cleaning under the hood and washing away the brake dust and grime from the wheels? Also what of the plastic hub caps? I`m actually planning on painting them, but I`m wondering what would be best to clean them, so I don`t wipe the paint off them next time.

[Accumulator]

Mazdan- I`d sure find out from somebody who`s actually used the products in question before you go that route. While I`m tempted to say how automotive stuff is pretty tough, and that most anything is really OK most of the time, you sure wouldn`t want to use the wrong thing for your particular application and then regret it.



I can`t help but think how sooo many people think Simple Green is perfectly OK, but now and then somebody posts how they used it and it [messed] something up in a horrible way. Wouldn`t want anything like that to happen to you!



So FWIW I recently paid the bucks for a bottle of Optimum Power Clean and it worked *great*. Ditto for my old bottle of potent wheel cleaner (my guess is that it`s similar to Meg`s Wheel Brightener only less potent), which I hardly ever use but do like on the rare occasions when I need it. My point being that buying the good/expensive stuff for those rare tough jobs can be a good way to go if you can swing the expense. Since you only have to do such jobs once in a blue moon (for me, it`s once when I buy something) and then you`re just maintaining, the amount of expensive/potent product that you`ll need shouldn`t be all that much.