Hey everyone. I would like to know what kinds of tips, tricks, and secrets you have for cleaning your quad. I have a few questions for you all.

1. Does anyone have something that will clean the motor?
2. What is good for cleaning the caked-on mud on the headers?
3. What will clean and shine the plastic well?

Any other helpful cleaning tips are greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot everyone.

 

I haven't found anything that will remove the caked on mud. I even tried the foaming car engine cleaner. NO luck.
I ususally just wash it after each ride with car wash and then spray it with Son-of-a-Gun.Which leaves a nice shine and the mud doesn't stick as easy.
One word of caution! Avoid high pressure hoses. I heard the pressure can blast your seals and remove grease from places the should be greased.

 

Simple Green works wonders!!

 

after washing try lemon pledge on your engine...looks like new after.

 

I use a acid found at automotive shops it's for semi trailers its works good on the engine & pipes but beware it will turn a polished engine a dark color.
It's the only thing I have found that will clean that baked on yellow mud from the engine.

 

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]I use the Son of a Gun stuff and I find that to work the best!!!

 

wcy2k400ex,
there's this stuff called "spray power" that I bought back home (small town in south eastern Kentucky) that works well. I bought it at WalMart. It's the best stuff I've ever used. It cleans everything from plastic to metal. It's made in Kentucky so it might only be available in that region. Where you at in Kentucky? Armour All or Son of A Gun works good on plastic.

Ranch0rider
00 Rancher 4x4 ES

 

i use dish detergent to wash my quad and mop&glow to shine it up.

 

A few things I've found that really work to clean up some of the hard to get off filmy like stuff are greased lightning, purple power, mean green, and "blechce white" white wall cleaner. It all smells the same, probably a couple different things to them, but I would bet they have the same cleaning agent in them. They all work excelent on tires, and will clean out those boot scrathes behind the foot pegs with a good scrubbing. They are also good to use when you get a lot of mildew, coal dust like crud on the seat but I don't recommend using it there, and if you do not often. If you do use it on the seat you have to put armol all or something with a good oil in it because it cleans all the oils out of your seat.

To get a good shine my personal favorite thing is tire foam. Haven't found any brand better than the other, just whatever is your favorite. Spray it all over the quad, leave it about ten to fifteen minutes go back and wipe the excess off. Plus you can buff it a little by hand and get an even better shine.

Caked on mud? Just soak it with a water hose for a few minutes, let the water soak in and get the mud all heavy then spray it off. It still takes a while but its better than trying all at once.

On the engine I use Eagle One aluminum wash, and a paint brush. You can't do it with the engine hot, or let it dry or it will leave places on the type of metal around the cylinder. Just spray the motor with water and make sure its good and cool. Then use the paint brush to get the hard spots, and clean it back of really good. Works good on other aluminum parts of the quad too.

About once every three months of muddy riding I will put the quad up on blocks, take the tires off and clean it all out really good. Then if I find any rust spots on the frame I clean them is a steel wire brush and sand paper and paint it.

The best thing to do to get it its cleanest is take your time. I think I covered all I wanted to say.

 

For the heavy greese build up I use a small paint brush and some kerosene, brush it on, let it sit for a minute or so and wipe it off (make sure your quad isnt hot and do not ride it until its rinsed). For light greese I use superclean (be careful though, it can etch aluminum). For the plastic I use 2001 or armorall, put a nice coating on, let it sit for a minute or two and lightly buff it w/soft towel. For the pipe WD40, for the tires armorall tire wet (nonfoam kind) I think that stuff would work wonders on really scratched up plastic?