# "mineral spirits" safe for chain cleaner?



## r1Gel (Jan 14, 2004)

I've read somewhere before that mineral spirits are good chain degreasers. I have two questions:

1. Are mineral spirits the same as lacquer/paint thinner?

2. Are mineral spirits safe to use with on-bike chain cleaners like Finish Line's chain cleaning gizmo? [i.e., the solvent won't dissolve the plastic]

I'm on the lookout for a cheap alternative to the bike-specific degreasers which are either difficult to find here in the Philippines, or if they are available, are ridiculously expensive.


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## supercorsa (Jan 18, 2004)

i think mineral spirits are the same thing as paint thinner, not 100% sure though. it's a solvent, so it oughta work ok. fwiw, my degreaser of choice is kerosene. 

here's my procedure: pull the chain off & drop it in a plastic juice bottle. pour in a bit of kero, put the cap on & shake well, pour the kero off into another bottle leaving the chain in the 1st bottle. repeat as necessary until the chain (or chains, i usually do several at once) is clean. fish the now-clean chain out of the bottle & shake off. let it dry and then relube. if you're in a hurry you can blast it with a little brake cleaner to displace the kero right away. leave the bottle of used kero sitting undisturbed for a couple of weeks and all the gunk in it will settle out and form a layer on the bottom. carefully pour the now-clarified kero into another bottle, being carefull not to disturbe the sediment. you can reuse the same couple of quarts of kerosene pretty much indefinitely using this trick.

-eric

ps: not sure about the compatibility issue with your cleaning unit. i'd say test a couple of drops on a nonstructural part of the unit and see what happens.


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## r1Gel (Jan 14, 2004)

*Thanks...*

...for your tips. Unfortunately, I'm trying to avoid the hassle of having to remove the chain everytime I have to clean it. I am on the lookout for the SRAM PowerLink [haven't found a LBS that has it], so once I get that, I just might try out your procedure.



supercorsa said:


> i think mineral spirits are the same thing as paint thinner, not 100% sure though. it's a solvent, so it oughta work ok. fwiw, my degreaser of choice is kerosene.
> 
> here's my procedure: pull the chain off & drop it in a plastic juice bottle. pour in a bit of kero, put the cap on & shake well, pour the kero off into another bottle leaving the chain in the 1st bottle. repeat as necessary until the chain (or chains, i usually do several at once) is clean. fish the now-clean chain out of the bottle & shake off. let it dry and then relube. if you're in a hurry you can blast it with a little brake cleaner to displace the kero right away. leave the bottle of used kero sitting undisturbed for a couple of weeks and all the gunk in it will settle out and form a layer on the bottom. carefully pour the now-clarified kero into another bottle, being carefull not to disturbe the sediment. you can reuse the same couple of quarts of kerosene pretty much indefinitely using this trick.
> 
> ...


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## supercorsa (Jan 18, 2004)

Senor,

If you can't find the goods at your LBS here's links to the stateside outfit I get a lot of my stuff from.

8 speed: http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?...rand=&sku=3099&storetype=&estoreid=&pagename=

9 speed: http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?...rand=&sku=3100&storetype=&estoreid=&pagename=

Of course you'll have to order more stuff than just these in order to justify shipping, a conundrum I find myself in all the time 

FWIW, I only use powerlinks on my 9-speed bikes, for some reason the 8-speed ones are much more of a PITA to click loose, pretty much a general consensus among everyone I've talked too. If you're running 8-speed I'd still say get one and see for yourself, your mileage may well vary. Again, for what it's worth, on all my 8-speed bikes I just pop and reconnect the chain with a standard Park chain tool every time. No loss in strength as long as you are careful during reassembly.

-Eric


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## Ratt (Dec 22, 2003)

*Powerlinks are the shizznet*

Used Shimano chains from the beginning but the $2 pins were killing me so i tried out the Sram chains and its pretty much all i use. Sometimes i need pliers to get them apart and other times as I the gather the chain to set it up for the pliers the link will fall out.

As white gas gets old and absorbs moisture it becomes pretty useless at altitude. So i use what i have left to light charcoals and clean my chain. I prefer it over kerosene and regular gas because it dries quicker and cleaner and smells less. Brake or carb cleaner with a tooth brush work great if you are in a hurry


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## DaFireMedic (Jan 13, 2004)

*Missing Link*



rigel said:


> ...for your tips. Unfortunately, I'm trying to avoid the hassle of having to remove the chain everytime I have to clean it. I am on the lookout for the SRAM PowerLink [haven't found a LBS that has it], so once I get that, I just might try out your procedure.


Look for the "Missing Link" from KMC also, very similar to the SRAM Powerlink. My LBS carries them. You might also try ordering them through your LBS. They should be able to get them and that would save you shipping. I am using SRAM chains also now.


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## Speedub.Nate (Dec 31, 2003)

rigel said:


> I've read somewhere before that mineral spirits are good chain degreasers. I have two questions:
> 
> 1. Are mineral spirits the same as lacquer/paint thinner?
> 
> 2. Are mineral spirits safe to use with on-bike chain cleaners like Finish Line's chain cleaning gizmo? [i.e., the solvent won't dissolve the plastic]


2. Works for me. The blue translucent plastic the Park one is made out of crazed and got cloudy on me almost immediately after I began using it, and that was when I was using a 50% Simple Green mix. Now that I've been using the mineral spirits, it's holding up just fine, and the condition of the plastic hasn't worsened. I'm sure it'll be fine for your Pedro's cleaner, too.

1. Mineral Spirits and Paint Thinner can be the same thing, although it's probably useful to reviews the contents of the two containers. The rule of thumb I've been told is that Mineral Spirits will be petroleum distillate that will evaporate off without residue, whereas Paint Thinner is usually a synthetic. How they compare for chain cleaning, I don't know. I can tell you that my True Value store sells house brand Mineral Spirits and Paint Thinner side-by-side, so there has to be enough variation between the two products they're selling to justify stocking both and not one or the other.


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## sonquizzon (Jun 5, 2004)

I ride a dirtbike also and I use mineral spirits, simple green, or carb cleaner. And my db chain even has o-rings(rubber in between) and it doesn't even deteriorate the rubber. BTW a lot of dirtbikers use plain old WD-40 to lube a db chain. You can buy it by the bulk at Home Depot. Believe me, if it can handle a db chain, it can easily handle a mountainbikes. I use it on my mountainbike. No more expensive wax crap for me 

Read about it here in a dirtbike forum I posted the question on:

http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/sh...&Old=1year&Main=714469&Search=true#Post714823


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## archer (May 20, 2004)

I'm not a big fan of WD-40 as a lubricant. It is ok as a solvent or cleaner if you are going to remove it but over time it becomes hard and varnish like. It also seems to attract dirt. If you are removing it and replacing it periodically you probably won't notice the effect.


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## Speedub.Nate (Dec 31, 2003)

archer said:


> I'm not a big fan of WD-40 as a lubricant. It is ok as a solvent or cleaner if you are going to remove it but over time it becomes hard and varnish like. It also seems to attract dirt. If you are removing it and replacing it periodically you probably won't notice the effect.


I'm in agreement as to the poor quality of WD-40's suspended "3-in-1" type light lubricating oil suspended in a solvent. Even for around the home use on door hinges it gets stickey.

Not to mention it's an aerosol (or do they sell it in a drip applicator yet?). Aerosol cans as spray lubes get the the stuff everywhere you don't want it and nowhere you do. One or two well placed drips per link, followed by a few revolutions of the crank to work it in, and chased with a lightly moistened rag with mineral spirits on it ensures the lube is mostly where it's doing some good, not coating the outsides of the link plates and rollers.


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## sonquizzon (Jun 5, 2004)

Speedüb Nate said:


> I'm in agreement as to the poor quality of WD-40's suspended "3-in-1" type light lubricating oil suspended in a solvent. Even for around the home use on door hinges it gets stickey.
> 
> Not to mention it's an aerosol (or do they sell it in a drip applicator yet?). Aerosol cans as spray lubes get the the stuff everywhere you don't want it and nowhere you do. One or two well placed drips per link, followed by a few revolutions of the crank to work it in, and chased with a lightly moistened rag with mineral spirits on it ensures the lube is mostly where it's doing some good, not coating the outsides of the link plates and rollers.


>>If you are removing it and replacing it periodically you probably won't notice the effect. <<

Well I guess us dirtbike folk do remove and apply it a lot more than the average mountain biker- we have to keep our machines in tip top shape. After all our chains have to handle 8120 lbs. average tensile strength at 13,500 rpm and we can have any crap in there.

And yes, it's available in a 1 gallon can so you can just dump it in a spray bottle. In regards to your door hinges, maybe you shouldn't mix WD-40 and the grease and you wouldn't have sticky hinges. Start with a new hinge and you would start lubing with a new chain.


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## Speedub.Nate (Dec 31, 2003)

sonquizzon said:


> maybe you shouldn't mix WD-40 and the grease and you wouldn't have sticky hinges. Start with a new hinge and you would start lubing with a new chain.


...or on can just use the proper lube to begin with!

To each their own, though. I cant argue against your success with it.


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