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Removing bike grease from Gore-Tex?

2low2low Posts: 22
edited August 2011 in The bottom bracket
Ive gone and wiped my chain on a very expensive north face gore tex coat (by mistake I might add) and now have a many chain link-esq black oily/silicone marks all down one arm. I use White Lightning Epic Lube.

thanks

Posts

  • Curious YellowCurious Yellow Posts: 281
    What are the washing instructions on the garment? Have you tried following them to see if the stain comes off?

    Lube is usually just synthetic oil. It should come off if your jacket can be washed using normal detergent. No idea if this is any different for your brand of lube, but chain grease/lube that gets on my trouser legs come out with no problem in the wash for me. Even at 30 degrees!
  • nicensleazynicensleazy Posts: 2,310
    I once got chain lube on a pair of white assos bib-shorts. Anyhow, I used park tool citrus degreaser - worked a treat!
    http://www.ukbikestore.co.uk/wl.aspx?3&req=0-QKCB210
  • theknowledgetheknowledge Posts: 223
    washing up liquid and sugar.

    Sounds bizarre, but the washing up liquid will break down the grease, and the sugar adds a bit of friction to lift out the stain.

    It will strip the DWR coating off the jacket, so you'll need to get some nikwax or some granger's on it afterwards.

    Thats what I did with another expensive North Face jacket!
  • anto164anto164 Posts: 3,500
    I've done it before and just used swarfega. Seemed to work!
  • MichaelWMichaelW Posts: 2,164
    Rub some Swarfega on the DRY dirt. Swarfega doesnt work on wet dirt. It also strips the PWR beading treatment.
    Wash in soap flakes or Nikwash tech wash.
    Treat with Nikwax TX Direct

    Swarfega also saves the day when you tread oily dirt into the carpet.


    ps Does anyone know where to buy soapflakes, non of the supermarkets or ironmongeries in my city stock it any more.
  • morstarmorstar Posts: 6,190
    Right, here is the gubbins as best I can remember it from my days of selling the stuff.

    Gore-Tex (ptfe) is inert. You won't damage it by using normal cleaners, however, as stated above, detergents do strip away the dwr coating. It is not as straight forward as just re-treating with dwr though as detergents leave a residue on the garment which stop dwr's bonding as well as they should do.
    The official line is that you use a soap such as Grangers, Nikwax or Lux flakes.
    In reality, all the dwr does is help the garment to breathe by stopping the outer fabric soaking up water and forming a non-breathable barrier of water. If you use detergent in a focused manner on just the marked area and then re-treat with dwr, you will have a small patch of garment where the water repellancy and resultant breathability is slightly reduced. Probably not the end of the world.
    When you have got the area clean and rinsed out as much detergent as possible, wash the whole garment in a soap and re-treat with dwr. Bung it in the tumble dryer as dwr's are heat activated.
  • 2low2low Posts: 22
    Thanks for all the replies :)

    Ok, Ive used a toothbrush and a little bit of Nikwax cleaner on it, then bunged it in the washing machine with a cap of the stuff to reproof it. its not drip drying as i don't have a tumble dryer.. I hope it works!
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