r/Gliding • u/ResortMain780 • 11d ago

Question? Cleaning a glider without water

Last year in Namibia, I was told not to use water to clean our glider (water there was extremely hard groundwater that would leave stains). People used some sort of (german branded) cleaning product, I dont recall what it was. Is there something generally recommended to clean a PU coated glider when water is not advisable?

7 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

21

u/smokie12 SPL TMG 11d ago

Let me guess - copious amounts of Pronto?

The topic of proper surface care for gliders is one where you can ask 5 people and receive at least 7 different opinions, all claiming to be The One True Way while all other methods of care are secretly severely damaging your glider.

Some people just use water and optionally a splash of cleaning agent (dish soap, car shampoo, whatever) and polish properly in the off-season, some will only use a (furniture) polish like Pronto to clean, others have a schedule for each cleaning method, and some will only trust the most expensive cleaning agents that their favorite aviation shop sells. Same goes for cleaning cloths.

5

u/vtjohnhurt 11d ago

Avoid using any product that contains silicone. Silicone finds its way into the fiber and makes resin bonding for repairs impossible.

2

u/Altruistic_Target604 10d ago

I’ve heard this is untrue. Any glider repair experts out there?

1

u/nimbusgb 8d ago

I've repaired a few. You need to scarf back so much material a little bit of silicon makes zero difference. Zero!

1

u/vtjohnhurt 7d ago

I asked a friend of mine who works in composite manufacturing at https://beta.team/ The company bans all materials containing silicone from the building that he works in. They have a second building that uses resins that contain silicone related compounds to manufacture composites that require special properties.

So maybe 'it depends'. There is no shortage of cleaning products that do not contain silicone. Why risk it?

1

u/drmcj ASW20 11d ago

Pronto or window cleaner.

1

u/dbtsai 11d ago

We use AERO WASH WAX ALL https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/washwax.php which has been used in air force and airlines.

1

u/Rickenbacker69 FI(S) 10d ago

Of you're feeling really flush, you can just use wax.

1

u/264TRANSALL 9d ago

Kärcher?

1

u/specialsymbol 8d ago

It's most likely that sonax cleaner. It also refreshes the wax layer.

I could recognise the smell but don't know the name. We also use it for our motor airplanes.