How Something You Spray On Your Kids Can Melt Your Car’s Paint

Posted by $ nickursis 10 years, 11 months ago to Science
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This is interesting, and a problem. Want a cheap way to trash someones car? Spray bug repellent on it. No need to slash tires... nasty..

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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 10 years, 11 months ago
    You know the ole saying; If you can't eat it, don't put it on your skin...or your car!
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  • Posted by TheRealBill 10 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Fortunately we aren't made of paint.

    It isn't rational to assume that a chemical reaction with paint necessitates an unfavorable reaction with the human body. Raise an eyebrow, perhaps. But as we are rather different constructs I don't see paint as a reasonable analogue to the human body. The dose makes the poison. Salt water is quite corrosive, but fine to consume in small quantities - beneficial in others even. Oxygen itself is highly destructive even.

    It seems a bit to me like people freaking out when a French fry fried in oil to the point the water has left it and it is sealed in oil doesn't decay in a year or two. Handy for fear mongering and FUD against the ignorant and not much else.
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  • Posted by term2 10 years, 11 months ago
    Makes better terrorist tool than mosquito repellant that can't be good for your body !!
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  • Posted by dukem 10 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Ah, if I got started on the stupid silly things I did in my youthful navy days. . . . .but I won't.
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  • Posted by $ Susanne 10 years, 11 months ago
    What else is related to Kids and Ruined Paint? Eggs. We got (for some reason) our cars and house egged, and I remember my folks having to get the panels that were hit repainted and that got left to dry.

    What else? Acetone does quite the number on it too. Not sure the vehivle of delivery, a soaked rag thrown on a car or ??, but it will remove paint, as mom is asking "Have you seen my nail polish remover?"...
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  • Posted by $ nickursis 10 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Ha! Not so many eyeballs, just such small spaces the 4 sq feet of floor was easy to inspect during "zone inspection". I looked around and now boat people seem to love the stuff, some say to throw some in a bilge and let it slosh around on the way home and then rinse, some say to just spray and rinse. I never had any luck with it cleaning much and it seemed to smell funny, so I don't play with it.

    Thanks..
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 10 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    They could have changed it that's been over ten years. I know I sent in samples of the scraped away interior side of the fiberglass. Never received an answer and never used it again on my own boat.


    We used that stuff on the merchant ships including MSC ships. Now here's the kicker. It was said to be so expensive they watered it down to where id didn't work. Not a lot of brain power in MSC. But that was steel. I can imagine you had a lot more eyeballs watching everything on a sub.

    Cheers!
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  • Posted by $ nickursis 10 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Funny, I can't find anything on that in a search, other that cautions it will remove wax. Maybe you had something someone altered or something?
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 10 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I discovered the fiberglass problem using it on my fiberglass hull. Luckily it's a pre 1970 construction anything later would have sunk if left alone. I also tend to use something clean it off and not leave stuff in the bilge but i still consider myself lucky. With the S. Green gone some fiber glass repair mix and a heat lamp it i guess recured itself The next dry dock i did a small test hole not all the way through and all was well. Posted the info and never pursued it.
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  • Posted by $ nickursis 10 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I remember when simple green was introduced to submarines to replace cleanser. It did not remove floor wax, so we had illegal cases of cleanser hidden for field day. The argument was cleanser ate the ball valves for the sewage pumps, but we just said that was what the A gangers (auxiliary men (non nuke machinists mates) were there for. My contacts in A Gang said that theory was just to justify the simple green.
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 10 years, 11 months ago
    DEETs. "will not damage cotton, wool or nylon, do not apply on acetates, plastics and watch crystals Do not apply to varnish, painted surfaced including automobiles." In part good stuff I use it.

    The back side of the Dave's Instanity Sauce has directions for using it to clean garage floors. I believe that is the hottest of the hot sauces commercially available without a prescription.

    It works effectively in a left over spray bottle for protection purposes but will cause blisters and burn eyeballs. Amazingly it isn't banned in California - last I looked and they don't require licensing of home made protective sprays such as household ammonia.

    Simple Green will soften fiberglass - not something every boat owner wants to use.
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 10 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    "I saw Taco Bell Hot sauce eat the red paint off my"
    I don't like to think about this. Taco Bell does have risks known to science, but I still like it.
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  • Posted by $ nickursis 10 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I am not always warm and fuzzy onour institutions and their assertions about "safety". I just saw a blurb on TV where an ambulance chasing law firm is suing Johnsons saying baby Powder is a cause of ovarian cancer, and was asserting if used in a woman's private area, has some huge chance of raising their risks. That seems a bit off...But something that eats paint is disturbing, except I saw Taco Bell Hot sauce eat the red paint off my 1976 VW Rabbit after a drunken party one night, in my sailor youth days.
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 10 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I use it on my kids. The first time I did I looked into the American Academy of Pediatrics info on it. They had some good info on how it repels insets without being toxic. I came away understanding it as safe, as things in this life go. I agree it is disturbing that it reacts with or dissolves paint, but I'd need more info before I'd associate that with health risks.

    It's great for vandals because it's so common.
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  • Posted by $ nickursis 10 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Well, I think it is something to be aware of, if it can do that to paint, would you really want to use it on your kids? I think there was something else on DEET a couple years ago, I'll have to go looking.. But also, imagine what vandals can do with it as well.
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 10 years, 11 months ago
    "It’s very difficult to neutralize using normal household products"
    Neutralize implies an acid or base. What they mean, based on the context of mixing it with soap or ethanol, dissolve.

    It’s not surprising that an organic with a low dipole moment is not soluble in ethanol, but I would expect it to dissolve in soap. The author finds all this freaky, but I think it’s less scary if you know some chemistry.

    I do think it's cool. My car is almost old enough I could just try it, esp if I'm going to get it painted.
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