Washing vehicles.

"hls" wrote in news:GcydnZh5g4EUKSvXnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

Hardly - it's one third of granite. Only the quartz is harder. What you *may* be getting at is the particulate size being very small. Same idea as sandpaper, the smaller the particles, the less it removes per "stroke" however it still will erode the paint.

"hls" wrote in news:zPSdnex868vCEijXnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

Yes and it *only* disolves oil based paints. Not enamel or water based. As any painter will tell you.

It's still an abrasive where you need a solvent.

Sorry, but you don't.

You know, I have a '97 Subaru, and if I ever get the headgaskets done, I'm thinking of trying this on the worn-out headlight lenses.

Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@e86.GTS:

There's other better ways: Brasso, cheap kits you can get at any hardware store.

Try some Dupont # 7 Polishing Compound on a small area of the plastic headlight lenses.If you can find Dupont # 7 Polishing Compound? Last time I looked in an Autozone store, they didn't have it.What they had was made by Turtle Wax company.There is something called Micro Balloons, or something similar, I think it is available at Boat/Marine supply stores, for polishing plastic boat windshields.What do people use for polishing the plastic rear windows of convertible cars? cuhulin

If you have dead paint, no solvent will help.. You have to remove the outer layer of oxidized paint, and a mild abrasive is the way to do it. Rubbing compound, Bon Ami, or that sort of thing.

You are just farting in the breeze if you think solvent will shine up dead paint.

Yes, I should have made it clear that I was not comparing them on a Mohs scale hardness. Feldspar is not materially different from granite on the Mohs scale.

Bon Ami was a mixture of calcite (another spar) and feldspar. Feldspar is not nearly as soft as talc or fluorite, but in the form it is sold in this cleaner, the particles are quite small, and it is not a harsh, rapidly abrading compound.

Any rubbing compound, including clay bars, will remove layers of paint, although the layers can be so thin that it is not noticed for a long time. Dead, or oxidized, paint is damaged and softened and comes off relative easily with compounding. But you dont use a solvent to remove this.

You can even polish the haze off polymethacrylate lenses (Perspex) with these compounds, even though the difference in Mohs hardness is quite a lot.

"hls" wrote in news:rPydnep6TO36hVzXnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

Hardly. Try it sometime - on a dead paintbrush someone forgot to clean.

Two different things, Fred. If you want to take the paint down to bare metal, solvents and media blasting work fine. To remove a microscopic layer of oxidized paint, you dont want to use a strong solvent, and a weak one will do little or nothing.

"hls" wrote in news:5eGdnX0Dctef3kLXnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

Look this has gotten way off track due to time and injudicious sipping. The point was how to remove pine gum/sap from the hood of a car. I suggested turpentine as it is *made* from pine sap. Along with that is the fact that turpentine won't disolve enamel. Now if you have a suggestion that you *know* will remove pine residue and *never* paint you are free to make it. Otherwise, you're just blowing hot air. I'm frankly getting tired of criticisms without any substantial basis.

As long as you proliferate bullshit, you will get criticisms, and they ARE on a substantial basis.

As far as I am concerned, this conversation is closed.

Do what you like, and I would recommend that everyone else do what they like, and take the consequences.

"hls" wrote in news:CIWdnZCnm_QtLULXnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

Saying something is bullshit is hardly proving it.

It *was* for almost a month. I didn't reopen it. *you* did.

Well it *wasn't* my car for one thing.

Lighten up. Jeebus.

First, how many water based car paints do you know about?

Second, if you really want to clean up a paint brush fouled with oil based paint, do you go with kerosene or turpentine. If you go with kerosene, you will wait a long time. Turpentine is by FAR the stronger solvent for such a system,and the solvent you would least likely choose for application to a auto finish.