Cleaning the underside techniques?
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 1999
Posts: 6,515
Likes: 1,302
From: Windermere FL
Cleaning the underside techniques?
Happy 4th!
Wanted to see what my fellow **** cleaning addicts do for cleaning the under side of their cars.
The past I have used a power washer with Simple Green but the results are not very good. I think the problem is mainly that I think don't have a lift and never will. No one rent bays anymore. Ramps don't let me get the nozzle in all the areas.
Googled some and saw sime really crazy ideas. The craziest was to use easyoff oven cleaner! No way!
Other than building a garage that I could actually house a lift in, what have you guys done and used to thoroughly and safely clean the belly?
Wanted to see what my fellow **** cleaning addicts do for cleaning the under side of their cars.
The past I have used a power washer with Simple Green but the results are not very good. I think the problem is mainly that I think don't have a lift and never will. No one rent bays anymore. Ramps don't let me get the nozzle in all the areas.
Googled some and saw sime really crazy ideas. The craziest was to use easyoff oven cleaner! No way!
Other than building a garage that I could actually house a lift in, what have you guys done and used to thoroughly and safely clean the belly?
Race Director
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 10,742
Likes: 629
From: Manheim Pennsylvania
Just use a wash mit in wheel wells. You can reach most of the floor pan from the side, wash MIT there as well. Lower engine/transmission local car wash soap and pressure wash. Have fun.
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Night Race Blue 427
Joined: Feb 1999
Posts: 19,794
Likes: 6
From: Muncie, Indiana ...... Can I buy an amplifier on time ... I ani't got no money now but I'll pay you before I die
I haven't thought about doing this in a longtime. I think if I were going to do it now I would go to do it yourself car wash and reach under with that foaming brush thing they have.
Safety Car
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 3,716
Likes: 15
From: Tri Cities TN
This is one way to do it. Of course you need the proper tools for the Rotisserie wash. This one seems to have fallen off the Rotisserie.
Here's an interesting way. No tools needed to flip it back over.
Here's an interesting way. No tools needed to flip it back over.
Last edited by J Vette; Jul 4, 2013 at 02:36 PM.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 2,223
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From: "No matter where you go... there you are"...."You cannot drive a dollar bill". ...and remember... "D
Drifting
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 1,305
Likes: 5
From: Schererville Indiana
I do the underside once a year as part of the winter clean-up. I raise the car up on jack stands at the hockey puck locations and take the wheels off. The wheel wells get scrubbed with a brush and I go over the aluminum suspension parts with scotch bright and soap. The trans/diff etc. get sprayed with a strong soap soultion and the rest of the bottom gets a going over with a soft brush and soapy water. The soap is just Dawn dish washing soap. Simple Green is too harsh on the aluminum parts. My sprayer is ancient but you can probably still find something similar at Harbor Freight. It connects to the air compressor and has a siphon tube that you put into a container with whatever liquid you want to us as a cleaner.
The whole under side gets a good rinse afterwards and I scrub the insides of the wheel barrels before the wheels go back on the car. It's a messy job and my wife thinks I'm nutz... she's right but it has nothing to do with detailing the underside of the car.
The whole under side gets a good rinse afterwards and I scrub the insides of the wheel barrels before the wheels go back on the car. It's a messy job and my wife thinks I'm nutz... she's right but it has nothing to do with detailing the underside of the car.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 5,526
Likes: 16
From: Mechanicsburg Pennsylvania
^ Which is EXACTLY why one should not take their car to the car wash and use that foaming brush to wash one's car
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 2,715
Likes: 1
From: Central Florida
I do the underside once a year as part of the winter clean-up. I raise the car up on jack stands at the hockey puck locations and take the wheels off. The wheel wells get scrubbed with a brush and I go over the aluminum suspension parts with scotch bright and soap. The trans/diff etc. get sprayed with a strong soap soultion and the rest of the bottom gets a going over with a soft brush and soapy water. The soap is just Dawn dish washing soap. Simple Green is too harsh on the aluminum parts. My sprayer is ancient but you can probably still find something similar at Harbor Freight. It connects to the air compressor and has a siphon tube that you put into a container with whatever liquid you want to us as a cleaner.
The whole under side gets a good rinse afterwards and I scrub the insides of the wheel barrels before the wheels go back on the car. It's a messy job and my wife thinks I'm nutz... she's right but it has nothing to do with detailing the underside of the car.
The whole under side gets a good rinse afterwards and I scrub the insides of the wheel barrels before the wheels go back on the car. It's a messy job and my wife thinks I'm nutz... she's right but it has nothing to do with detailing the underside of the car.