I have been using Magic Erasers to clean all sorts of stuff around the home and they work really well. All you have to do is get it wet and put in a minimal amount of elbow grease and it cleans up anything. Amazing, right?
So I did some digging to find out how it works. Turns out it isn't really much different than a pumice stone like you might use to clean a grill grating. The magic eraser is made of melamine. Yeah, the same stuff they put in milk in China. It is a polymer(plastic) and is very hard.
But they are so squishy! Ok, so to be more accurate it is a micro-celluar open-cell foamed melamine. Imagine a Scotch-brite pad, but instead of the pad being made of a fiber coated with abrasive, the billions of sharp edges formed naturally in making the foam work like a billion little scrapers.
Why am I cautioning people in the title? Because this is NOT good for your paint. Not at all. The aforementioned billions of scrapers will really do a number on the paint.
I'm already planning to re-paint my truck, so I thought I would play around a little. From sitting in the garage a good long time a lot of junk has been found its way onto the paint. Also, the PO never waxed it, so of course it is a real mess.
I used plain Meguiar's cleaner wax in 1 small area and the magic eraser in another. The cleaner wax did a great job. Shiny, smooth, clean. The magic eraser also got the spot clean and smooth, but it was NOT shiny. You could see the scratches and the finish was dull and nearly matte. A quick hit with the cleaner wax did little to fix it. It definitely needs more to get it looking as nice as the cleaner wax alone.
Let this serve as a caution to anyone thinking about using a magic eraser to clean off stubborn bugs, tar or anything else. Stick with soft cloths and purpose made cleaners and waxes.
So I did some digging to find out how it works. Turns out it isn't really much different than a pumice stone like you might use to clean a grill grating. The magic eraser is made of melamine. Yeah, the same stuff they put in milk in China. It is a polymer(plastic) and is very hard.
But they are so squishy! Ok, so to be more accurate it is a micro-celluar open-cell foamed melamine. Imagine a Scotch-brite pad, but instead of the pad being made of a fiber coated with abrasive, the billions of sharp edges formed naturally in making the foam work like a billion little scrapers.
Why am I cautioning people in the title? Because this is NOT good for your paint. Not at all. The aforementioned billions of scrapers will really do a number on the paint.
I'm already planning to re-paint my truck, so I thought I would play around a little. From sitting in the garage a good long time a lot of junk has been found its way onto the paint. Also, the PO never waxed it, so of course it is a real mess.
I used plain Meguiar's cleaner wax in 1 small area and the magic eraser in another. The cleaner wax did a great job. Shiny, smooth, clean. The magic eraser also got the spot clean and smooth, but it was NOT shiny. You could see the scratches and the finish was dull and nearly matte. A quick hit with the cleaner wax did little to fix it. It definitely needs more to get it looking as nice as the cleaner wax alone.
Let this serve as a caution to anyone thinking about using a magic eraser to clean off stubborn bugs, tar or anything else. Stick with soft cloths and purpose made cleaners and waxes.
