Fluid Film, Good rust inhibiter. What are negatives Options

[rstover]

On places that I can't or won't paint I use this. I used it in the rear section of the tunnel from the gear shift to back. On the front part I was able to clean and paint. I used it in the bottom of the floor pan. The wiper assembly was cleaned using it.

I was putting a little on the metal parts of the valve assembly for the fresh air and defrroster and was surprised to see how it seemed to blacken and clean the plastic. It seemed to work better than back to black and really made the parts look new. The label say it will not harm plastic and I have had it on the air valve for over a week and it seems to stay the same. As of now, unless I hear something else I plan to use it on the air box.. I would like to know if anyone has had experience with this product.

[rstover]

Floor Pan

[IronHillRestorations]

Looks like a good product to me. The only thing I'd ever be concerned about is wherever you might want to paint in the future

[burton73]

It looks like it makes the parts that you show slick. If masking tape will not stick to it, paint will not stay on well. Perry is right. Are you going to paint the underside of your car?

Bob B

[rstover]

I sorta let this question die and maybe it should, but I have used this in several places on the restoration -preservation and believe it to be effective.

I try not to use in places or parts that will be painted in the future. After thinking about what to do with the underside of the floor pan for a long time I started cleaning it with paint thinner. It had a coating of a oily type of material on it that came off quite easily There was some surface rust in some areas, but otherwise it was in very good shape. I have decided to leave it as it is with its bumps and warts for the forseeable future. The pan was treated with fluid film which I have read is used in some places as a undercoating.

I used this on the inside of the doors on the metal apparatus that raises and lowers the windows. This was done a couple of years ago and it appears to be effective.

As mentioned before I used it to clean the wiper unit.



I spray it on, let it sit for awhile and then wipe it off. This has been gone at least 3 times over the last couple of months.

When I used it on the tunnel from the shifter to the back firewall I would spray it in the various openings let it sit overnight and the swab it out with a swab made with a metal strap about 1/2 wide, 1/8 thick and maybe 28 in long. Cloth rags were taped to the end of the strap. This was done numerous times over a period of time.

One of my motivations for restarting this is how it seems to clean the plastic parts of the air box and would like to know if anyone has had any experence using this on plastic. It has worked better and easier than any other product that I have tried.

Another reason is that when the car is finished with paint I am thinking about using it in various cavitis where rust hides. for example the left front corner of fire wall and the cavitities in the rear fire wall.

Back to the plastic question I would like to know what others like for cleaning and preserving plastic.

[live free & drive]

Fluid Film is Lanolin based - which is what comes out of sheep's wool if you squeeze it real hard. I don' think that it will be detrimental to plastics.

Fluid Film never really dries so it will gather dust whereas something like Boeshield will dry and not actively gather dust (not wet).

[burton73]

I have been in the plastics biz for 43 years. Finishing and polishing plastic castings. What I have found to be the very best to clean and give the plastic a dust repellent is Novis 1, 2, 3

If you need to remove scratches start at 3 and go to 2 then 1. One looks like watered down milk. Dust really bounces off of a part that has been treated. Warning! If you use Novis the part will not want to be masking taped after treatment. This works great on plastic lenses. I am not a paid spokesperson for Novis. Just a customer that is very happy.

A story. I was bending acrylic sheet over forms after heating the sheet in my pizza oven and after forming the parts, I found little mark off from dust. Someone suggested that I use Novus to make sure that the dust would not be attracted to the plastic. It worked like magic.

Bob B

[bulitt]

I have used it on Bicycle parts and chains. Seems to wash off fairly easy in the rain.

[rstover]

Thanks for the response about Novus. I have not heard of it before, but will for sure try it. I went to town today to try and find some Boeshield. I didn't find any and really didn't expect to. Fluid film is carried at Lowes here and I was getting. a can and next to it is a product called Super Slick Slick Stuff. It is marketed as a rust cleaner/preventer productt so I had to buy a can. I will see how it works next week. I am guess I am going to try every cleaner and conditioner that is not a product of Mothers or Mequiars. Today I ran across a crome cleaner that was being promoted on the internet by Jay Leno called Quick Glow on the internet that I will have to also try.

I did not mention and I should have, that Fluid film does not react well with rubber. I guess it makes it swell or something so I will avoid getting it cose to rubber in the future.

Maybe this should be a different thread, but I am looking for rubber preservatives, lubricants and conditioners. I am interested in finding out about Red rubber Grease. It is my understanding that it is vegtable oil based and that vegetable oils work well on rubber. It would be nice if I could pick up some at one of the 10 local auto part stores and try it, but Mothers and Meguiars didn't leave shelf space so will have to order it.