White spirit is a light ends solvent and thus penetrates bloody everything, once it gets in it can dissolve the grease within, leaving metal on metal.
That's one of the reasons I like brake cleaner. It penetrates and dissolves grease but it evaporates and leaves no solvent residue that can go on attacking fresh lubricant. Basically the same as specific chain cleaner but a fraction of the price.
Anyone used paraffin to clean the thick dirt that accumulates on the rear rim? Will it be ok to use or can it damage the paintwork?
That’s what I normally use as it’s layong around. But wondered if WS, which I also have laying around and is so much cheaper, would be useable. Sound not, so think I may get a pot of paraffin instead as brushing on is easier than spraying (less messy)
No, I also use it to clean the inside of the rim and under the seat for chain lube splash. Never encountered any issues. Its a good all round degreaser. Tip: paper coffee filters make good filters to clean used paraffin. Just dont tell the wife thats what shes buying them for.
Yes, but does it get past the O/X rings and dissolve the grease within ?? Paraffin molecules (Cn-H2 broadly speaking, being carbon and hydrogen) are a heavy end of a hydrocarbon and are oil based so the rings remain safe, but it clears the other heavier oil based grime away as it effectively thins it out, so it just drops off when brushed etc. Most brake cleaners are ethylene products and thus can damage rubber, penetrate in to the chain rollers and dissolve the grease. I would stick with paraffin if it were my chain.....
I use paraffin on my chain, good results. However it completely destroyed the wife's rubber gloves. Has anyone come across any gloves that survive paraffin? I have also used WD40 chain cleaner. Worked well but paraffin should probably work out cheaper. When I lube my chain I usually spray it on the inner side of the links rather that the outer side. i.e. On the length of the chain as it sags as opposed to spraying on the outer side on the rear sprocket. I figure centrifugal force will then pull it all over the chain before flinging over the back wheel. I presume most people do the same. I shove a larg-ish piece of cardboard between the chain and the wheel to catch any overspray. It also soaks into the cardboard and doesn't dribble everywhere. WD40 dissolves any hardened chain fling on the rear wheel.
We use these with all hydro carbon chemicals. They are designed just for that. The O and X rings are a chemical compound that includes neoprene and thus are fine with paraffin, cheap washing up gloves are not. The green chemical gloves work, I use them all the time to clean the chain.
Gave the chain a thorough clean today. Paraffin followed by paraffin and kitchen roll, followed by paraffin and kitchen roll followed by WD40 chain cleaner. Which worked really well. The WD40 was great at dispersing grime. All done in the green rubber gloves recommended by Wayne58, so thanks very much. Worked a treat.
What do most use to re-lube? I tend to filter my old engine oil through a coffee grinder filter back into the new oil empty container, then once a week with a paint brush, apply the oil to the chain. I do this because 1, it recycles a still useful lubricant and 2 it's far easier to clean off than many of these wax and sticky gunk types of lube.
