How to remove stain from Simonis 860

[CaptiveBred]

Brake cleaner will not hurt rubber. That is why it is used on brake parts like the above poster said. Carb cleaner, on the other hand, will deteriorate rubber. It smells the same but it has a light weight oil in it.

I still would not spray down my rails with Brake Cleaner but if you did and got a little on the cushions, you'd be fine...

 

[Rangercap]

You might want to look into the car care center and ggrab a can of TUFF STUFF or BLUE CORAL fine auto Dry cleaner and test it on a spot first. I would think that even though Brake cleaner might work it may also damage the fibers in Simonis and make them very weak or even rot them out. I have used carpet spot cleaner before and it isn't quite as strong as BRAKE CLEANER, and it dry rotted the fibers.

For regular maintenance, I use Blue Coral to clean my table, and the linen wrap on my cues. It is way cheaper than quick-clean.

For stains, I have used Wool-lite, about 1 capful to a gallon of water, and I lightly scrub in circular motions with an old wash cloth. I also sometimes wipe the entire surface with the same solution. I have a coal stove, and in the winter, it can get kinda dusty, even with a cover.

I have used similar items to Brake Cleaner - also known as trichloroethane. This stuff will cut through ANYTHING. I used to work at an asphalt plant... it works.

Brian
www.nittanyleather.com

 

[Alabama8Ball]

If brake cleaner could kill you i would have died in my 20's. Made it to 58 and still going strong. I was in the race engine business for many years and it was used for almost all the parts cleaning.

 

[9andout]

When I went to bed last night the table was fine. I knew I'd be playing this am so I din't cover it. At 11 this morning I turned on the light and there was a big stain along one rail.

It's about 3 diamonds long and 1 diamond wide... oval shaped, dark outline where something was spilled... or something. My wife was the only person around and she would tell me if she had spilled something. Maybe the cat or the neighbors cat could have got in but there's no cat smell and it was dry to the touch at 11 am this morning.

Bottom line I have no idea what happended or what the stain is from and I won't be finding out.

Question is what to do about it. What do I clean the Siminois with. Is there a safe stain remover? Maybe something used for dry cleaning?

UPDATE: Stain is gone. It took about10 scrubbings with a micro fibre towel soaked with brake fluid followed by a rinseing with a towel and hot water but it worked.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I was pretty freaked. Still no clue as to what happened.

Thanks for any help you can give.

Please edit! We don't want anyone using the wrong stuff. Brake cleaner spray is the right stuff.

 

[Nyquil]

> Question is what to do about it. What do I clean the Siminois with. Is there a safe stain remover? Maybe something used for dry cleaning? <

Dampen stain with warm water and vacuum lightly. Then poor *table salt* over entire stain. Allow salt to wick all moisture out of cloth by leaving until dry.

I have heard woolite.

 

[Bob Jewett]

Please edit! We don't want anyone using the wrong stuff. Brake cleaner spray is the right stuff.

The original post is from 2007. The poster has not logged in for six months.

I think anyone who uses brake fluid will learn a fairly harmless, important lesson about solvents.

As for brake cleaner, this is from Wikipedia:

Danger​

Brake cleaners contain toxic compounds and should only be used in well-ventilated areas or outdoors. Some are highly flammable and harmful for environment, which also has to be considered during storage. Skin exposure to the solvent mixture may cause irritation and defatting injury.​

​

Chlorinated brake cleaner containing tetrachloroethylene will, on exposure to high temperatures (above 500 °F (260 °C)) or strong UV light, decompose into phosgene and hydrogen chloride, both of which are dangerous when inhaled.[9][10]​

​

Rubber and some types of plastics are decomposed by brake cleaners by removing binding components. This has the consequence that the rubber will appear unchanged at first; however, it will become brittle, and after a few weeks to months cracks and fractures appear.​

 

[jimmyco]

A good gauge as to how harmful your particular brand of brake, carb or contact cleaner is or is not to rubber is how fast your rubber gloves fall apart when using it.

 

[Fatboy]

We used to take cans of break cleaner and other flammable things and shoot them with incendiary ammo in the desert with a 50 BMG and blow things up. Great fun!

Once we burned down a fiber glass fishing boat. We were 20 miles out of Vegas and the smoke from the boat was visible. Who knew???. I saw the helicopters and fire trucks going out to the fire. I calmly drove back into Vegas and hid my truck for a week in my friends garage.

There was zero danger as there wasn’t anything flammable around, but man would we have been in trouble. Was over 20 years back-statute of limitations expiring is the only reason I’m telling this story. Lol we blew up lots of stuff out there, but the boat-wow what a fire.

Happily reformed
Fatboy

 

[SlateMan]

The original post is from 2007. The poster has not logged in for six months.

I think anyone who uses brake fluid will learn a fairly harmless, important lesson about solvents.

As for brake cleaner, this is from Wikipedia:

Danger​

Brake cleaners contain toxic compounds and should only be used in well-ventilated areas or outdoors. Some are highly flammable and harmful for environment, which also has to be considered during storage. Skin exposure to the solvent mixture may cause irritation and defatting injury.​

​

Chlorinated brake cleaner containing tetrachloroethylene will, on exposure to high temperatures (above 500 °F (260 °C)) or strong UV light, decompose into phosgene and hydrogen chloride, both of which are dangerous when inhaled.[9][10]​

​

Rubber and some types of plastics are decomposed by brake cleaners by removing binding components. This has the consequence that the rubber will appear unchanged at first; however, it will become brittle, and after a few weeks to months cracks and fractures appear.​

For a minute, I was excited to see the word "Defatting". I thought, oh boy, I have got to try this stuff. Unfortunately, it doesn't mean what I hoped it meant.

 

[JC]

Owning a Euro auto repair shop I also have used brakeleen on automotive stains for decades but it's only effective for oil based stuff. Plus by the time they formulated it so the state of California didn't think it causes cancer it's pretty worthless now days. Could probably safely use it for eye wash.

I get lines along my rails where the balls deposit grime and other miscellaneous stains on my cloth and the only thing I have ever found that removes them is the woolite spray foaming stuff in aerosol. Spray it on and let it do it's thing for a few minutes then wipe it down with a well wrung out damp warm cloth.

 

[JC]

We used to take cans of break cleaner and other flammable things and shoot them with incendiary ammo in the desert with a 50 BMG and blow things up. Great fun!

Once we burned down a fiber glass fishing boat. We were 20 miles out of Vegas and the smoke from the boat was visible. Who knew???. I saw the helicopters and fire trucks going out to the fire. I calmly drove back into Vegas and hid my truck for a week in my friends garage.

There was zero danger as there wasn’t anything flammable around, but man would we have been in trouble. Was over 20 years back-statute of limitations expiring is the only reason I’m telling this story. Lol we blew up lots of stuff out there, but the boat-wow what a fire.

Happily reformed
Fatboy

Back in my dealership days when men were men and brakeleen worked you could shoot a yellowjacket or wasp with a tiny burst and they would fall to the floor immediately still and lifeless to never twitch again.

I always thought that shit probably wasn't good to get on your skin.

As for carb cleaner I have no idea what happened to it's formulation. It will barely dissolve grease now days. I don't even bother with any of it at the shop.

 

[Fatboy]

Back in my dealership days when men were men and brakeleen worked you could shoot a yellowjacket or wasp with a tiny burst and they would fall to the floor immediately still and lifeless to never twitch again.

I always thought that shit probably wasn't good to get on your skin.

As for carb cleaner I have no idea what happened to it's formulation. It will barely dissolve grease now days. I don't even bother with any of it at the shop.

Carb cleaner was the most flammable of them all. We’d put a fan of it in front of a couple gallon's of white gas as a primer for that and get 40’ tall mushroom clouds. Took us lots of trips to the desert to figure out how to get the biggest explosions and reactive targets possible. We never hurt anything or did any real damage was completely safe/ fun times. I miss doing things like that, I’m tired of computers, screens and watching not doing/

best
Fatboy

 

[fastone371]

Owning a Euro auto repair shop I also have used brakeleen on automotive stains for decades but it's only effective for oil based stuff. Plus by the time they formulated it so the state of California didn't think it causes cancer it's pretty worthless now days. Could probably safely use it for eye wash.

I get lines along my rails where the balls deposit grime and other miscellaneous stains on my cloth and the only thing I have ever found that removes them is the woolite spray foaming stuff in aerosol. Spray it on and let it do it's thing for a few minutes then wipe it down with a well wrung out damp warm cloth.

The crappy brake clean is "NON-CHLORINATED" which by the I also believe means "non cleaning". If you can get brake clean that does not say non-chlorinated you are good to go, its the good stuff that burns your eyes, but only when you open them. I get brake clean in my eyes frequently, if you keep your eye shut it doesn't really hurt, its when you open them that it feels like a dragon is trying to blow them out.

If anyone gets to burn cardboard/garbage at home you can save your empty brake clean, carb spray, spray paint cans, etc. and throw them in the burn barrel the next time you have a fire going, (make sure to stand well clear) they can make cool noises and when conditions are just right even a mini mushroom cloud.

 

[JC]

The crappy brake clean is "NON-CHLORINATED" which by the I also believe means "non cleaning". If you can get brake clean that does not say non-chlorinated you are good to go, its the good stuff that burns your eyes, but only when you open them. I get brake clean in my eyes frequently, if you keep your eye shut it doesn't really hurt, its when you open them that it feels like a dragon is trying to blow them out.

If anyone gets to burn cardboard/garbage at home you can save your empty brake clean, carb spray, spray paint cans, etc. and throw them in the burn barrel the next time you have a fire going, (make sure to stand well clear) they can make cool noises and when conditions are just right even a mini mushroom cloud.

30 years ago or so when I worked at a Mercedes Dealer this saleman came in to pitch some line of cleaner sprays. His main claim for the carb cleaner is that it would spray with the can upside down. The Hungarian tech who worked next to me asked if we could spray little in the saleman's eye and if he thought there was any possibility he would ever see again then it's no good. I still remember him referring to that guy with his heavy eastern European accent as "the Italian soap saleman".

Those were the glory days of Carb cleaner.

 

[8cree]

Back in my dealership days when men were men and brakeleen worked you could shoot a yellowjacket or wasp with a tiny burst and they would fall to the floor immediately still and lifeless to never twitch again.

I always thought that shit probably wasn't good to get on your skin.

As for carb cleaner I have no idea what happened to it's formulation. It will barely dissolve grease now days. I don't even bother with any of it at the shop.

Energized electrical cleaner does the same thing to those pests!

I'll never be using any of these auto products on my table though lol

 

[Fatboy]

The crappy brake clean is "NON-CHLORINATED" which by the I also believe means "non cleaning". If you can get brake clean that does not say non-chlorinated you are good to go, its the good stuff that burns your eyes, but only when you open them. I get brake clean in my eyes frequently, if you keep your eye shut it doesn't really hurt, its when you open them that it feels like a dragon is trying to blow them out.

If anyone gets to burn cardboard/garbage at home you can save your empty brake clean, carb spray, spray paint cans, etc. and throw them in the burn barrel the next time you have a fire going, (make sure to stand well clear) they can make cool noises and when conditions are just right even a mini mushroom cloud.

I love a good mushroom cloud! Makes me feel happy inside.

I remember the burn barrels in the very early 70’s when I was a kid in California. Can you imagine taking a barrel and doing that now in any populated area in Ca? You would be on CNN within 30 minutes, arrested and hog tied, hauled off to jail (no bond) and within 30 days have every alphabet soup agency suing you for public safety violations, health hazards, destruction of nature and 246 other charges, half of which would be felonies. Not to mention the private sector civil class action suits for health, cancer, and things I can’t think of yet. Then the environmentalists would file their actions against you.

It’s probably a lesser criminal act to go knock down a few armed robberies than run a burn barrel in Ca for the family trash these days.

The old City provided burn barrels are behind 30% of the houses in the alleys in Beverly Hills from the 20’s-30’s still. Of course been illegal to use forever. They never hauled them off.

my have things changed

I miss the days of burning the garbage. All these Amazon boxes would be good fun!

best
Fatboy

 

[fastone371]

I love a good mushroom cloud! Makes me feel happy inside.

I remember the burn barrels in the very early 70’s when I was a kid in California. Can you imagine taking a barrel and doing that now in any populated area in Ca? You would be on CNN within 30 minutes, arrested and hog tied, hauled off to jail (no bond) and within 30 days have every alphabet soup agency suing you for public safety violations, health hazards, destruction of nature and 246 other charges, half of which would be felonies. Not to mention the private sector civil class action suits for health, cancer, and things I can’t think of yet. Then the environmentalists would file their actions against you.

It’s probably a lesser criminal act to go knock down a few armed robberies than run a burn barrel in Ca for the family trash these days.

The old City provided burn barrels are behind 30% of the houses in the alleys in Beverly Hills from the 20’s-30’s still. Of course been illegal to use forever. They never hauled them off.

my have things changed

I miss the days of burning the garbage. All these Amazon boxes would be good fun!

best
Fatboy

Glad I live in the country across from a corn field and between 2 farms. All of the gun shots I hear are comforting, I know its target practice for rifle/shot gun hunting season and the folks know how to use them for non nefarious purposes.

 

[L.S. Dennis]

i think brake cleaner will clean just about anything, BUT, i also think it will do more harm a than good. i cant imagine it wouldnt weaken the cloth. i use it on my dirt bikes for cleaning and i know from experience that i have to keep it away from rubber seals as it breaks them down. i would try the method in the above post, or just try water on a rag, or just live with it.

Is there a difference between brake cleaner and brake fluid?

 

[3kushn]

The original post is from 2007. The poster has not logged in for six months.

I think anyone who uses brake fluid will learn a fairly harmless, important lesson about solvents.

As for brake cleaner, this is from Wikipedia:

Danger​

Brake cleaners contain toxic compounds and should only be used in well-ventilated areas or outdoors. Some are highly flammable and harmful for environment, which also has to be considered during storage. Skin exposure to the solvent mixture may cause irritation and defatting injury.​

​

Chlorinated brake cleaner containing tetrachloroethylene will, on exposure to high temperatures (above 500 °F (260 °C)) or strong UV light, decompose into phosgene and hydrogen chloride, both of which are dangerous when inhaled.[9][10]​

​

Rubber and some types of plastics are decomposed by brake cleaners by removing binding components. This has the consequence that the rubber will appear unchanged at first; however, it will become brittle, and after a few weeks to months cracks and fractures appear​

Focus on "Natural Rubber" in this Chemical Resistance Chart
https://www.minorrubber.com/compatibility-chart.html

You might want to read the rest of the can label and note the stated hazards.
Or just go for it once satisfied of your cleaning agent.

Also might want to check on chemical resistance of wool and nylon.

 

[fastone371]

A good gauge as to how harmful your particular brand of brake, carb or contact cleaner is or is not to rubber is how fast your rubber gloves fall apart when using it.

When you say "rubber gloves" are you actually talking about "latex" gloves? Latex gloves wouldn't be a good indicator because just about any chemical will render them useless in minutes, even Safety-Kleen parts cleaner which is not very strong. I have sprayed brake clean on tires, inner tubes, rubber seals, o-rings, spark plug wires, (which ironically will swell up to 2-3 times their normal size if soaked in Safety-Kleen etc. all with no appreciable ill effects.