What is the best way to clean a frame?

[Neil Mc Ivor]

The Eagle Book of Hobbies recommended paraffin. This was in the 1970s the book was old even then.

[alib003]

I think T Cut is very much like Brasso. It has a cleaning agent and is ever-so-slightly abrasive. It removes grime and a tiny bit of the surface of the paint/enamel/lacquer. That's what you clean a car's paintwork with, it removes the surface grime and smooths out scratches. It works very well indeed. I think it has ammonia in it as a cleaning agent.

Turtle Wax is great as a polish and protective finish, and it lasts for ages.

The best thing to do is when you first get the bike wash it clean and cover it in transparant plastic sheets. The sheets will collect the dirt and you only have to worry about the rims. As one sheet gets dirty just go and replace them with new ones. Please feel free to correct me.

[Jonty]

GT85 cleans the frame nicely, dries it out and protects it. Nail varnish is good touch up as it comes in small quantities, a small brush is supplied and several coats give a hard, durable finish.
jonty

[AlanD]

I think the safest course of action would be to use the mildest agent possible, so I'd use whatever brand of car wash that is available. A word of warning about T Cut though and this came from my local mobile scratch repair man. If you are going to use T Cut, dont apply it with an otherwise dry cloth. ensure that the cloth is damp and also the surface that you are treating (he used one of thise atomised sprayers) Said it was something to do with preventing a heating of the surface through friction. But I do agree that a wiping over with car wax brings up a good finish.

[mrbarry]

Friction thru polishing is only an issue if machine polishing tbh, and t cut is pretend cutting compound, G3 and other such compounds really cut the surface finish! I would still advise a slightly damp rag but a dry panel is fine hand polishing. I have painted and finished more panels than most and never have problems

[niggle]

Friction thru polishing is only an issue if machine polishing tbh, and t cut is pretend cutting compound, G3 and other such compounds really cut the surface finish! I would still advise a slightly damp rag but a dry panel is fine hand polishing. I have painted and finished more panels than most and never have problems

I have only had trouble when trying to polish car panels that are hot due to being in direct sunshine, but then it warns about that on the label on the T-Cut bottle .

[RobMac]

Just to clear up a few points, T-Cut is a reviver not for regular use, and apply it with a damp cloth and used away from direct sunlight (in Britian thats easy).

Rob

[mrbarry]

lol, yeah very easy in this country. If you used T cut every week end on a car by the end of 1 year it would be down close to the primer in places, perhaps thru to the primer in fact. It is afterall a cutting compound. Thats why I clean my bike with thinners alone to degrease, but normaly just soapy water and elbow grease.

[Deckie]

I tried to clean the bike off on Friday after an outing on the Camel Trail to celebrate getting rid of 2009 (not a good year...) Couldn't work out why it was feeling sticky until I noticed the ice forming on the frame where I was wiping it down.

It was a bit cold here!