EASY GREASE REMOVER FROM WHEELS

us56456712 · Oct 12, 2016

Has anyone else tried spray oven cleaner on greasy bike wheels? I have a set of old wheels with New Departure hubs that had sat around for 60 years collecting dust on top of caked dried up grease. I sprayed oven cleaner, waited 5 minutes, ran a brass brush over the foam and hosed it off. Came out good. I was surprised it worked so fast as it is only 42F out.

Indyjps · Nov 13, 2016

Be careful with it, Work fast, oven cleaner is pretty harsh and will etch aluminum, strip anodizing.

The engine degreaser spray from the auto store works pretty good too.

Phil Fink · Nov 14, 2016

I get the oven cleaner at the 99-Cents-Only stores (Dollar Stores).
Apparently, it is not the old stuff that used to clean ovens.
In my area, have to wait for a cool cloudy day, or else the foam dries-up quickly.

Rat Rod · Nov 14, 2016

Simple Green

Bicycle808 · Nov 14, 2016

Oven cleaner, depending on the brand/formula, is harsh enough that i'd avoid spraying it on most bike parts. A lot of it is lye-based. If the rims were chrome, you might get the grease off, but the rust is gonna follow....

us56456712 · Nov 25, 2016

Bicycle808 said:
Oven cleaner, depending on the brand/formula, is harsh enough that i'd avoid spraying it on most bike parts. A lot of it is lye-based. If the rims were chrome, you might get the grease off, but the rust is gonna follow....

I sprayed a bunch of rims, seat parts and crank/chain wheels. Works like a charm for the grease and oil that has been drying and collecting dust in a garage attic for 60 years. I suggest you try it on some old stuff and see. It only takes about 5 minutes and everything washes off with the cold hose water. These parts had some rust and paint. A lot of the paint hosed off but not the rust. They use lye to clean engine parts, but like you said you have to be careful what you apply it to. If the parts are too big to put in a solvent bath and they are steel then I think it is OK. The parts need to be rinsed and then coated with something like navel jelly to remove the rust. It would be a disaster on alloy. It turned all the old caked on grease on a spoked wheel and hub into soap. Most of the paint also rinsed off. Before I used oven cleaner I couldn't even touch the parts without getting an oil like mud mixture on my hands. Now they are stored and pretty clean, at least you can handle them without getting filthy. I had many old dirty parts from a old bike shop and I just sprayed everything.