What (little) I know about this subject and painting, I have learned here. And yes, I have read Chris's post several times. It is trully an indispensable resourse.
If you want to do it right you need to properly clean it. It may not be easy but it needs to be done, there are no shortcuts.
I agree, which is why I want to make sure I am doing it correctly. My questions are born of the knowledge that I am unaware of what I don't know. I know that improper cleaning will lead to bad outcomes but after reading many posts on this site, I am unsure of what is acceptable vs what is best practice.
Use good non linting prep wipes, wear disposable gloves like nitrile gloves, do a section at a time. Use a spray bottle...
I am using:
- "One Tuff Cloth" towels that were recommended here
- Nitrile gloves, a long sleeve shirt, and long pants to prevent skin contact with the metal
- An electric leaf blower as well as properly cleaned/treated compressed air
- A 32 Oz. ZEP trigger bottle
spray it on and wipe off. Fine if you go if any direction.
Does it matter if I wipe back and forth in tight areas? There are spots where wiping in only one direction will be nearly impossible or ineffective
If you have areas where it's very hard to reach, then flood the area with 700.
To clarify: Are you saying to flood the area and let it run off, wiping what I can? Or are you saying to flood it and wipe it all off?
Might not be easy but you have to do it.
Understood and agreed
- A Dawn solution was mentioned above. I have both ZEP Purple and Dawn. Should I use one or the other, or both in succession?
- How many treatments of the above solution should I apply? I do not have a pressure washer so it will be rinsed with only a garden hose attachment and an engine cleaning wand in hard-to-rinse areas.
- Is one gallon of 700 enough to properly clean a small car after pre-washing with Dawn/ZEP? If not, how much more should I get?
- Do I need to follow the 700 with 710 if I am pretreating with detergent?
- One last question out of curiosity; why is cleaning bare metal with acetone frowned upon/not recommended? Evaporates too quickly to be effective?
I realize I am asking a lot of questions and I thank the forum for all its help so far. I hope to one day know enough to be able to give back.
Cheers,
Emil