Petrol has detergents in it so yea I would expect it to work better but definitely not something I would consider for home use. Not worth the risk
Figured I’d bump this thread. I just cleaned a chain in mineral spirits, then followed up with Denatured alcohol. On drying, there’s a white residue on parts of the chain that weren’t wiped dry. Not clean enough? Something in the Denatured Alcohol? (I used the Klean Strip Above - it’s supposed to be Ethyl Alcohol and Methanol)
Ok, for what it’s worth: Repeated mineral spirts and denatured alcohol, still had residue. So threw the chain in my cheap Harbor Freight ultrasonic cleaner with simple green for a while. Came out perfect, and there was even a little bit of oil / grease floating on the surface so very obviously the mineral spirits and denatured alcohol didn’t get it 100% clean.
Guess the ultrasonic needs to be part of my cleaning regimen going forward.
How aggressive were you when shaking the chain in mineral spirits before? I usually go to town to the point you get a little bit of foaming
Yeah, I pretty much went to town on it multiple times. It was either something with the mineral spirits which was a little dirty, but it did get two successive baths in denatured alcohol after that. The only other thing, brand new chain that had been installed on a new bike I just picked up. Not sure if the lube they had on it was just being stubborn.
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