Cal Club Autocross Forums

... concrete driveway?

What works? Any good specialty cleaners ...

A few I've used to clean concrete-
TSP
Gasoline
Muriatic acid

Pressure washer helps too. A strong one can blast away the concrete though.

Tide, water and a broom works pretty well.

Real TSP, not the substitute most places sell, should really do the trick. It's also very caustic. It'll burn your skin if you come in contact with it concentrated. In Europe it's called sugar soap. It's main purpose is to remove grease and oil. Be careful of the run-off. The stuff is like lye.

t

Tom Tanquary wrote:It's main purpose is to remove grease and oil. Be careful of the run-off. The stuff is like lye.

Halelujah, brother! Got some on my forearms once (got sloppy and got some above the coverage of my gloves) and it reeeeeeeeeeeally hurt!!

Real TSP ... where, Home Depot?

Using household detergents (not Tide) and a stiff nylon brush didn't work that well or easily. A steel brush with a lot of elbow de-greaser did work with a LOT of effort.

Landlord thinks the car port should be treated as a Patio.

Jason Rhoades wrote:A few I've used to clean concrete-
TSP
Gasoline
Muriatic acid

.

Don't let anyone see use the above as they are not legal.

Mako " Real" TSP can be bought at a Contractors paint store , but don't tell them that your going use it to clean a drive way,
Your using it to remove old wallpaper adhesive .

I also recommend eye protection when using
TSP.

Nobodys heard of oil dry? or kitty litter?

Yeah ... but these have been around for a while. Reminder ... buy small bag of Kitty Litter

What about one of the degreasers they sell at Autozone? BTW, Dawn dish washing liquid is reputed to be capable of cutting grease better than any other household soap. Good enough to strip wax off a car.

Mako Koiwai wrote:Real TSP ... where, Home Depot?

Most places sell substitute like this http://www.dap.com/product_details.aspx?product_id=317

Trisodium Phosphate.

I'd try a real paint store over a Home Despot.

The substitutes are Sodium Carbonate. Not even close.

Use kitty litter (the cheap stuff without weird granuals).
Let is sit for 10 minutes. Rub hard with a concrete brick. Broom off. It makes a huge difference when you use the brick.
Note; must be concrete not clay brick.
JP

Steve Ekstrand wrote:Trisodium Phosphate.

I'd try a real paint store over a Home Despot.
.

:ibrightdea: 5 posts above yours

Tom Denham wrote:

Jason Rhoades wrote:A few I've used to clean concrete-
TSP
Gasoline
Muriatic acid

.

Don't let anyone see use the above as they are not legal.

Mako " Real" TSP can be bought at a Contractors paint store , but don't tell them that your going use it to clean a drive way,
Your using it to remove old wallpaper adhesive .

I also recommend eye protection when using
TSP.

Mako If you can't find it locally
http://www.amazon.com/Savogran-TSP-Tris ... B0001IKY7A

I miss the old days when you could go to hardware store and get carbon tetrachloride. }:)

I realize this is for existing stains, but for new ones what I do is keep a bag of kitty litter & can of paint thinner handy.

As soon as I see a spill (or at the end of an oil chg etc.) I spread the litter over the stain & then soak it all with paint thinner.

I sucks the oil out of the concrete as it dries & I leave it for a day or more. It blows away or you can sweep it up & leaves zero residue.

For existing stains an acid wash & bristle brush seems the best, but watch the runoff as the runoff will leave streaks if you do it wrong.

Bob Beamesderfer wrote:I miss the old days when you could go to hardware store and get carbon tetrachloride. }:)

You can still get trichloroethylene - CRC Lectric Clean. Not quite the same, but close enough for most purposes. Both work great as drycleaning solvents.

I think it's important to separate the oil stains into two groups. Fresh ones and those that have sat there for a long time and soaked in. The fresh ones are easy.

The old ones are much harder to get even close to right, and tend to reappear after a while. I've gotten best results by letting liquid laundry detergent soak in for a while, followed by extensive rinsing. <shrug>

Trichloroethylene was what we used to use in the golf industry as grip solvent (for installing grips without an air compressor). The new "safe" stuff is just worthless in comparison.

My friends introduced me to Oil Eater - you can get this @ costco/sam's club/etc - in the large jug w/ a separate spray bottle.



I have quite a bit of oil leakage on my driveway that I should attend to soon & a large bottle of oil eater that has been sitting in my storage box. I'll post some pictures of results if I get to it this weekend.

amazon product description & reviews

Best of all... it's legal!

Mako check your local Lowes, mine had two boxes of TSP .

One big stain is on a slanting driveway.

I use OIl Eater here in the shop for cleaning my machines and oil spills. I found that OE can also remove aviation permatex from your hands, which there's not much else out there that even comes close. For driveways, use it 100%, for everything else I use 40%-50% solution, however you can dilute it down to 20% for some things.

JE...

aviation permatex

Tougher than SuperGlue to remove. Impervious to gasoline of any octane.