UKC

Help, due to a cycling gear malfunction last night, I now have oil stains on my vapour rise lite pertex equilibrium jacket.
What's the safest way to get these off?

In reply to Fredt:

I'd just whack it in the washing machine on a low heat with some Tech Wash or Liquid Soap Flakes.

In reply to Fredt:

I've got couple of stains on Marmot Precip jacket. A wash didn't help, but I'm not bothered that much - going to bin it soon anyway as it's rubbish. Apart from poor performance, the seam tapes started to disintegrate after 2-3 washes.

In reply to Oujmik:


Does not work with Paramo in my experience. I got oil on a paramo jacket sleeve several years ago and unfortunately it's never come out with normal recommended washing - been repeated as often and still as obvious as it ever was! Even using normal detergent followed by tech wash.

I'll be interested in hearing if anyone has the answer. Maybe wet lube bike oil is somehow different - resists water after all !

In reply to Fredt:

What saved my trousers from oil and petrol in the end was Coke. I ran them through two regular washes and all I succeeded in doing was stinking the washing machine of fossil fuels.
I soaked the clothes overnight in two litres of coke and then poured another litre in the drum when washing. The trous were cotton though, not synthetic.

Job done in my case!

In reply to RoK:

That makes me want to drink Coke even less than I already did. So the answer seems to be a soak in an acid solution (Phosphoric acid in the case of Coke).

In reply to Fredt:
I sell oil and grease for a living, oil stains are an occupational hazard. Try a flash drying solvent aerosol cleaner such as carburettor cleaner or electrical circuit cleaner. Gets rid of oil and wont melt delicate fabrics. I keep a can handy to get egg and bacon butty juice.. I mean....lubricating oil.. off my ties.


I'll just caveat that with the usual, try on an inconspicuous bit first, just in case it doesn't like pertex.

In reply to DerwentDiluted:

Slight thread hijack but since you sell oils and greases, can you tell me if Waxoyle diluted down with lots of paraffin would make a good alternative to the rather expensive Finish Line dry lube that I use on my bike chain, which is, after all, just a wax in a solvent?

In reply to Rigid Raider:
First I'll say that I'm not a chemist so I cant comment on formulations and types of wax/solvent. But I'll happily wax lyrical with my thoughts. Waxoyle is primarily formulated to be a passive corrosion protection not a lubricant so may struggle with the sliding and shearing movements in gears, which is why purpose formulated dry waxy lubes often claim something extra like PTFE to bolster the lubricating and self replenishing properties of the residual film. Decreased lubrication equals increased wear, increased power consumption from your legs etc as any fule kno. Waxolye diluted with paraffin could also have a much longer drying time, and application could be messy. It might be worth considering diluting with gunwash or thinners rather than paraffin, application would still be messy but it would dry quicker.

Waxoyle could also retain grit more readily than specially formulated waxes and this would be a problem, it always is in chain lubrication. Polymer and PTFE types seem better at not retaining solids. However chains are notoriously difficult to lubricate due to the ambient and environmental considerations. An optimal lubricant may provide sub optimal lubrication because of this. In short, an MTB chain is going to get sandy no matter what, and a lubricant and the rider will just have to live with that.

All that said it has to be worth a go, the mark ups on well marketed and packaged tiny bottles of lubricant are significant and looking for alternatives would be well worth experimenting with. Key principles of lubrication are that anything is better than nothing, and frequency of application can make choice of lubricant less critical. If you want somthing to spray on and leave for 6 months it had better be pretty good stuff, if you fancy reapplying every 90 seconds then rub a banana on your chain, it'll be fine. Realistically if you clean your gears and chain every use then a diluted waxoyle will probably perform more than adequately.

I'd welcome any comments or clarification, as chain lubrication is a dark art, and solvent/wax combo's aren't really my speciality.

In reply to DerwentDiluted:

AFAIK most PTFE based lubricants are quite good at repelling dirt, but less than ideal at lowering the friction between the steel surfaces of the chain. I think I remember an article in a cycle magazine where they compared several chain lubes. Oil/graphite came out tops (but of course also extremely messy), followed by a chunk of butter (at least for the test duration), and only then some expensive, PTFE containing mixtures.

Bit of a trade off, depending on how dirty your chain will get before the next cleaning and treatment.

CB

In reply to cb294:

PTFE (and I'm fast waving goodbye to my comfort zone here!) provides a coating like a non stick frying pan so acts as a 'lubricant of last resort' when component to component contact occurs. Optimal lubrication is best achieved by hydrodynamic cushioning where no contact occurs and the liquid takes the load (think knee joints and arthritis). This is a sod to achieve in a chain, easier on a machine tool slideway, easy in an engines bore. Ease of providing optimal lubrication is inversely proportionate to how open a system is, and a chain is about as open as it gets. Graphite is an excellent, really excellent, lubricant as it behaves, at a molecular level, like a pack of plastic coated playing cards and slides about, providing a dry hydrodynamic lubricating layer preventing metal to metal contact. This is why it is popular in high temperature applications like powder coating and bakery conveyor chains, as it will still lubricate even when oil has been removed by pressure, temperature or gravity, and its a favourite additive in twisting/shearing applications like grease for an HGV 5th wheel. No suprise it does well on bike chains, shame its black and 'orrible.

The butter doing well supports my banana point, the relevant bit being 'for the test duration', lubrication is easy to achieve, it's longevity in adverse conditions that requires the thinking.

In reply to Jimbo C:


Do you often leave Coke in your mouth overnight? The first place it heads to post mouth has a pH of between 1.5 and 3.5 (cf coke @ 2.8 - lower is more acidic).....

In reply to Fredt:

If all else fails try one of the Oxy type bleach products. The active ingredient is Sodium Per Carbonate, which with water becomes Sodium Hydroxide (i.e. drain cleaner).

It can effect fabrics with membranes with repeated exposure, but 'should' be fine as a one off on a vapour rise jacket.

In reply to Fredt:

The main problem with cycle grease/oil stains is that they're not simply oil; there's all sorts of ground up grit and metal in there too; that's why it's black.

My suggestion would be neat washing up liquid, rubbed into the stain locally; you'll need some mechanical action to remove the ingrained dirt, and the detergent to remove the oil/grease. Then rinse the area thoroughly (trying to keep the rinse water from soaking the entire garment), and do a pure soap wash if you want to try to keep any DWR treatment going.

In reply to Fredt:

Get a couple of bottles of this and an old towel or several. Generously cover the stain with the lotion, wait a moment or 2 and wipe the oil stain onto the towel. Repeat until the oil stain is gone, then wash the jacket carefully.
http://m.boots.com/h5/cat_hub?unCountry=uk&path=/en/Boots-Essentials-Fr...

I know it seems odd but it works. It removes oily make up gunk from faces and I have used it to get rid of oil stains.

In reply to DerwentDiluted:

Thanks, in terms of longevity it is also interesting to compare bicycle chain lube and motorbike chain grease, which is much more resinous as you can afford a little bit of power loss if there is a engine to do the work (and because a motorbike chain will get warm during use).

CB

In reply to Fredt:

You could try taking it to a drycleaner's?

In reply to Fredt:

I know this is a bit obvious but why not just buy a product formulated for the job?

There are a range of dryclean fluids for different synthetic fabrics. I got bike oil and copper grease out of separate arms of my nice patagonia jacket that was hit with a double whammy using the right stuff.

I got mine form an asda where the stocked the full range from cotton and wool -polyester and poly aramid. I think it was about £2

In reply to Dan_S:


No but I don't drink my stomach acid either if I can avoid it

A good use for Coke is to boil ham, but ginger beer is even better.

In reply to Fredt:

This stuff:

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/20925/Grandmas-Secret-Spot-Remover - you might have to look a bit harder to find it though.

I use it on my cycling stuff - it shifts chain lube and road grime spots from the palest of lycra. Far better than it's awful branding would suggest - perhaps if it were 'Pedro's road grime slime' in a suitable punchy bottle. No matter - it works. I've got two jerseys that have been restored to acceptability after a bit of Grandma's attention.

In reply to Fredt:

Try De.Solv.it Universal Stain Remover spray, Tesco do it