Two questions regarding isopropyl alcohol

**DougNew** · 08-31-2002, 04:44 PM

1) Is isopropyl another name for non-denatured (or is it denatured) alcohol, and if not what are the differences between the two?

2) Is isopropyl alcohol completely safe to use on my paint as a sap remover?

**ScoobyDude** · 08-31-2002, 05:53 PM

1) Denatured alcohol is unpure ethanol (the alcohol in say, beer) plus a few other alcohols that make is unsuitable to drink. Usually they add methanol and a bit of isopropyl (and I think some methyl isobutyl ketone) . The advantage of denatured alcohol is that you don`t pay the liquor tax (it`d be a bad idea to drink it, you`d go blind (and die if you drank a lot)). A typical mix would be say 85% ethanol with 10% methanol and 5% other crap.

Isopropyl alcohol is an alcohol by itself. It is different from ethanol (the main part of denatured alcohol).

I have no idea if it`s safe to use on your paint - I would guess that isopropyl alcohol would have a similar effect to methanol or ethanol.

**dlw** · 08-31-2002, 06:02 PM

I`m not an alcohol expert, but since I`m a Zaino user, I`ve used quite a bit of it to remove Zaino. To my understanding, denatured alcohol is more pure alcohol and will leave less residue than isopropyl alcohol, so I use denatured alcohol for most cleaning purposes. Isopropyl alcohol is commonly referred to as rubbing alcohol and is available in most drug stores. Denatured alcohol is commonly found in hardware stores, etc, like Menards or Lowes.

As far as using it for sap removal, there are two drawbacks I can see. First, alcohol evaporates too quickly, so it`s tough to let it sit and soak on any surface for a period of time to work on the sap or whatever you want to remove. Secondly, alcohol is very flammable, so be very cautious where and how you use it. I`ve used alcohol on many different paint finishes without any harm in the past, but I would advise a test on an area not so visible before use on any highly visible panels.

The bottom line is, I would get a product that was intended to remove tar, sap, etc. I use a product named Gon that is sold by body shop supply stores. I`m sure others will have some other ideas, like I said, I`m no expert, just passing on some of the info I`ve gotten along the way.

**fabinho** · 08-31-2002, 09:35 PM

Isopropyl alcohol is a major ingredient in rubbing alcohol. If you look at rubbing alcohol it is 70% iso and 30% water. If you want something that is all alcohol make sure that you are buying 100% isopropyl alcohol.

**DougNew** · 09-01-2002, 11:23 AM

Originally posted by ejant

Try a search.

This subject was brouhjt up about six weeks ago and a couple of Autopians went into a lot depth on the subject.

Also there were some interesting links.

I did and it yielded only one semi-decent thread that had some good info on isopropyl alcohol but next to nothing on denatured. The remaining threads were useless.

I always use the search function.

**Taxlady** · 09-01-2002, 01:15 PM

Originally posted by StoneColdCrazy

Isopropyl alcohol is a major ingredient in rubbing alcohol. If you look at rubbing alcohol it is 70% iso and 30% water. If you want something that is all alcohol make sure that you are buying 100% isopropyl alcohol.

When I used to work in hospitals, we used rubbing alcohol that had isopropyl alcohol and glycerin. There may have been some water too. Make sure not to get that for the car. The glycerin would probably be a real pain to get off, though I doubt it would damage paint.