LA's Totally Awesome Auto Degreaser, experience report

[Evaporator]

Found it at Dollar Tree. It comes in a 32oz spray bottle. Potent, Respirator, safety goggles and gloves recommended. It is a water based degreaser.


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Pros: Damn, this thing works like no other. No lingering residual odors like engine degreaser.`


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Cons:


The mist is unbearable and induces invountary coughing of the type you get when you`re using oven cleaner and slippery soapy feel is very hard to wash off from yor hands. I sprayed some on aluminum foil and let it stand for a few hours and it showed some discoloration on neat aluminum and corroded through the foil in areas in conctact with steel produced pitting on aluminum.` It is caustic based and it is corrosive to flesh, aluminum, zinc and magnesium. Think twice if you are going to use it on aluminum, especially if in contact with another metal such as aluminum oil pan with steel bolts in contact. It works way better than full strength Simple Green on tough stuff, but its also equally harmful to your health.` I couldn`t find the MSDS, but I think it is sodium hydroxide/butyl Cellosolv type deal.

[tom p.]

I sprayed some on aluminum foil and let it stand for a few hours and it showed some discoloration on neat aluminum and corroded through the foil in areas in conctact with steel produced pitting on aluminum.`


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It is caustic based and it is corrosive to flesh, aluminum, zinc and magnesium.

That`s` crazy.` How can they be recommending the use of that anywhere near a car ??

[Jesstzn]

I don`t know about the Engine Degreaser but I have and do use the LA Awesome All Purpose Cleaner - Degrease Spot Remover. Its one of the best tire cleaners I have ever used and I do use it on grease etc on door edges and some engine cleaning. As with any cleaner , wheel cleaner or not , I won`t use it on alloy wheels that aren`t cleared or painted. It will , as with the others, haze the wheel.


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I have been using it for 6 or so years and have 10 bottles in the shop.


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I have recommened it in these forums before but people won`t even try it because A) Is $1 a bottle and Its not Boutique and C) its not flavour of the week.


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MSDS link


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http://apps.wku.edu/sds/uploads/docs/8095.pdf


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[Bill D]

I use it all the time especially around the house. I buy a gallons worth every time I go to the dollar store.

[tom p.]

I`ve got the standard stuff, too.` Not sure my store has that toxic version mentioned above.

[Evaporator]

This one is differen`t. The amounts of irritation on your respiratory system from the mist don`t even compare. The one I posted about comes in a black spray bottle and named Auto Degreaser.


The one you linked MSDS for,` CAS 111-76-2 is Butyl Cellosolve, which has been taken out of a lot of consumer products, because it is toxic.


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I don`t know about the Engine Degreaser but I have and do use the LA Awesome All Purpose Cleaner - Degrease Spot Remover. Its one of the best tire cleaners I have ever used and I do use it on grease etc on door edges and some engine cleaning. As with any cleaner , wheel cleaner or not , I won`t use it on alloy wheels that aren`t cleared or painted. It will , as with the others, haze the wheel.


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I have been using it for 6 or so years and have 10 bottles in the shop.


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I have recommened it in these forums before but people won`t even try it because A) Is $1 a bottle and Its not Boutique and C) its not flavour of the week.


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MSDS link


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http://apps.wku.edu/sds/uploads/docs/8095.pdf


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[JohnZ3MC]

I`m in Canada and I buy the LA Totally Awesome cleaner at the local dollar store too.` I use it on my bus and it works well.` It`s the APC, not the super strong stuff I`m sure but I sure envy you USA guys.` A bottle of the stuff here is $2.50.` At the Dollar Store!` What`s up with that! (in my best Gerry Seinfeld voice)

[Evaporator]

They didn`t have that Auto Degreaser, but had this stuff called Wheel & Tire cleaner in black bottle. They`re part of the automotive corner in the store. Same smell, same color and same high alkalinity.`


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I`m curerntly doing a more objective corrosion testing on a piece of aluminum foil to see what it could do when the product is left standing on naked aluminum as in the case of inadequate washing or seepage under crevices. Caustics are rather harmless on steel, but ferociously corrosive on aluminum, zinc and magnesium in the order of increasing damage. I`ll leave it in there for maybe overnight and see if and how much aluminum is etched away.

[Evaporator]

Alright, the corrosion experiment is concluded. This stuff is a very effective degreaser. I`d call it industrial strength. It blows Simple Green out of the water, but not without serious disadvantage. It is ferociously corrosive to aluminum. Whenever any conduct of conductive fluid, including salt water comes in contact where two dissimilar metals are in contact, the more reactive one dissolves away, but as long as it waas not metal-to-metal contact, I thought it might discolor it a little bit and wouldn`t produce any measureble change in weight. I was way wrong.


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It`s just that it attacks grease way faster than it does aluminum. The idea is the same as acid wheel cleaner. It`s damaging to both, but it damages contaminants way faster, so the noticeable damage after single use is not obvious but repeated regular use or prolonged contacts will cause pitting.


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I think its a good value, but in my opinion, this is basically industrial product dispensed into smaller containers without disclosing harmful effects to our health and items being cleaned. LA`s Totaly Awesome is not great about making MSDS readily available. You have to request it as you can`t download it from their site. I find the lack of proper hazard disclosure an ethical violation.


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LA`s Totally Awesome Auto Degreaser


LA`s Totally Awesome Wheel & Tire cleaner


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They`re marked Street Appeal Professional, but on the back it says LA`s Awesome Products.


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The two appear to share the identical formulation. I used the latter for testing since that`s all I have available now. Use of Gloves, safety goggles with side shield and respirator to protect against skin burn and mist contact injuries is highly recommended if you will be using it on more than a small surface.` If you`re using it on the job, definitely obtain MSDS. This is not a casual general purpose cleaner to use absent mindedly.


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A piece of tin foil is just a thin piece of raw aluminum with very large surface area to weight.`


I put a piece of aluminum foil weighing 0.352g into a glass of Wheel & Tire cleaner. I put about 4 oz of the cleaner. A few hours later, the entire solution turned grey, frothing foam.


I washed the aluminum foil several times in distilled water and after I let it all dry it was reduced to 0.226g. Almost 40% of starting weigth has been eroded away.


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Before and after:


I took this picture on a light table. The white spots that look like salt specs are holes etched out by the cleaner.


DAMN!

[Jesstzn]

You say its "`Seriously Corrosive to aluminum"`` based on your test .. but if your test had the duration of normal application for cleaning .. eg. dwell time of a minute or two would that still apply? `There is a lot of wheel cleaners out there that will haze bare aluminum wheels in a very short period of time. Would you consider these seriously corrosive? Some wheel cleaners even say on the bottle not to use on bare aluminum wheels .


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`You can run your hand through a flame quickly without burning it but if you let it dwell long enough you will receive "serious" burns.

[Accumulator]

I can`t help but think how so many clearcoated/anodized/etc. wheels have areas where the clearcoat/whatever has been compromised....get something that`s corrosive-to-aluminum on those areas and you might have a problem.


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With regard to engine/etc. degreasing, I can`t help but wonder whether such toxic products are really necessary.` I mean...I`ve degreased stuff that was so bad I started out by scraping off handfuls with a putty knife, and I never had any trouble getting such things squeaky-clean without resorting to hazardous products.` Just thinking out loud here, not hating on anybody`s chosed approach.....

[Evaporator]

You say its "`Seriously Corrosive to aluminum"`` based on your test .. but if your test had the duration of normal application for cleaning .. eg. dwell time of a minute or two would that still apply? `There is a lot of wheel cleaners out there that will haze bare aluminum wheels in a very short period of time. Would you consider these seriously corrosive? Some wheel cleaners even say on the bottle not to use on bare aluminum wheels .


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`You can run your hand through a flame quickly without burning it but if you let it dwell long enough you will receive "serious" burns.

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The flame isn`t a good example as that`s pretty obvious. This product only says that it irritates eyes. If you put a piece of tin foil in it and its bubbling all over with grey foamy froth almost overflowing from the cup and its digested considerable amounts of the foil (as I explained earlier) in less than 3 hours, that`s pretty corrosive in my book. It would corrode in a few minutes. Just not as much of it. If you`re using it regularly like everytime you wash your car thinking its harmless, you`d be risking a rude surprise.