Caustic soda?

[David]

I was just having a look at some car cleaning products and seen some products such as:

on some valeters forums it seems that some like to use products such as the one above diluted or neat to clean alloy wheels, apparently you just spray it on and then rinse it off. Not on aluminium or delicate wheels though.

Would caustic soda diluted with water achieve the same thing?

[Andy Dingley]

No, it would f*ck everything.

If you look closely at the commercial products, they're potassium hydroxide, not sodium hydroxide.

Also, be careful with aluminium around any hydroxide. Particularly if you're washing mountain bikes, which are much higher stressed in places than car wheels are.

[David]

Thank you

[The Medway Handyman]

> Reading on some valeters forums it seems that some like to use

No. Traffic Film Remover is a complicated product that may contain caustic soda, but it has much more than that in it.

I despair of valeters and cleaners who use products at the wrong dilutions, for the wrong application or mix them.

[David]

I see.

At the moment I use a wheel cleaner which you dilute to suite the job in hand (Neat-1:10), it is very good but I was just curious about these other methods, not going to change my method after reading this. I use TFR on the lower panels and wheels just to get the bulk of the dirt off and always at the correct dilution to avoid staining chrome, discolouring plastic etc. In case your wondering, I don't use the above product as I have a different supplier.

Thanks anyway :)

[geoff]

I use these people (I buy the conc stuff 50l at a time)

are several different TFRs depending on the requirement

the cheaper ones use caustic soda

[Mr. Benn]

> Reading on some valeters forums it seems that some like to use

Caustic soda + aluminium = bad news. Corrosive.

[David in Normandy]

I discovered that by accident many years ago when I had a home chemistry lab. I was dissolving some sodium chlorate granules in water in an old aluminium saucepan. I couldn't understand why it was frantically bubbling. A hole quickly appeared in the saucepan and its sides became as thin as paper. A little research showed that they react together vigorously and give off hydrogen gas - which was easily subsequently verified :-)

Caustic soda attacks aluminium unbelievably fast and viciously.

[Dave]

It is used in the aerospace industry to etch aluminium into complex shapes by using a masking agent to prevent the shape from ending up as nothing.

Dave