Easiest way to clean lead off your belly?

[jetdriven]

On 11/17/2019 at 8:01 PM, Dustin Kurath said:

Personally I have found the best belly cleaner to be premium (no ethanol) mogas and a microfiber cloth. The gas cuts right through the oil and grease and the microfiber cloth does a great job holding on to it. I can usually do the whole belly with just one cloth.

A friend of mine used gasoline to clean his belly. Somehow the creeper either sparked at The wheels or created static, either way it lit up and burned him and the airplane seriously. 
do not use gasoline to clean 

[TargetDriver]

Take it from a guy with too many Afghanistan deployments under his belt... if you're having to clean lead off the belly of your plane...you need to fly higher and at night so they cant see you to shoot at you !!! 

[Chris newton]

I use Tub O Towels . Works great and gets the bugs off the leading edge as well

[M20F]

On 11/7/2019 at 8:28 AM, LANCECASPER said:

mineral spirits still works the best.

The correct answer 

[jrwilson]

On 11/9/2019 at 8:43 AM, CaptRJM said:

Lemon Pledge!  I wipe it down every 25 hours or so.  3 cans for $10 at Sam's Club

That's what I use, works amazing.

[MARZ]

On 11/7/2019 at 4:10 AM, FloridaMan said:

What’s the easiest way to clean lead off the belly of a Mooney?

get your kids to do it??

[ArtVandelay]

What about blue avgas stains?


Tom

[Davidv]

On 11/16/2019 at 10:56 PM, Mooneymuscle56m said:

409 bathroom cleaner, but rinse after. By far the best I’ve used and it’s cheap

This or scrubbing bubbles is the only thing I’ve used that instantly removes exhaust stains, but like you said I instantly wash it down with water to make sure none of it is sticking around.

[mooneyflyfast]

16 hours ago, ArtVandelay said:

What about blue avgas stains?


Tom

lacquer thinner 

[ArtVandelay]

lacquer thinner 

That doesn’t sound safe for the paint?


Tom

[PT20J]

1 hour ago, ArtVandelay said:

That doesn’t sound safe for the paint?
 

It depends on the paint and it's condition. Catalyzed polyurethane is pretty tough after it's cured. But if it's oxidized badly, I don't know. I'd test an inconspicuous place. Might try polishing the stains off with polishing compound.

[MB65E]

The aircraft simplegreen extreme works well.

I’ve been using turtle wax bug and tar remover on other projects. I bet it would work great too.

-Matt

[PT20J]

All the museum planes fly, but we like them to look good on display in the hangar. We get a lot of volunteers to clean them up and it’s a lot of work (try scrubbing the exhaust stains off the side of a Bearcat sometime ). Someone tested a lot of cleaning products on scrap aluminum and it’s amazing how many react. Mostly we use Stoddard solvent and Aircraft Simple Green. So, if you use a product not approved for aircraft be sure to wash it all off and keep from seeping into joints.

Skip

[mooneyflyfast]

On 12/11/2019 at 10:35 AM, ArtVandelay said:

That doesn’t sound safe for the paint?


Tom

My paint is original from 1981 and it isnt hurt that I can tell. Just wipe on and wipe off.