Gear legs and Poly Tone

Having a little trouble with tapes pulling up on gear legs. At first I thought it was just a feature of the 160 hp Cub, but yesterday I tried to glue some tapes back down and shoot some color over the scars.
The paint curdled, just like it would if the surface had been coated with silicone.

Now I am suspecting the soap these guys are using - it is called "Spray Nine" and the label has all kinds of cautions. It is apparently designed for non-porous surfaces, and is a very strong alkaline product that kills mold, among other things.

I personally never use anything but Pledge or polishing compound on my airplanes, and do not have trouble with tapes pulling up.

Anybody familiar with strong alkaline cleaners on Poly Tone?

I always just wiped down stuff with mineral spirits then used pledge to bring back the shine.


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Me too, although WD-40 makes fast work of grimy bellies.

I posed the question to a model train buddy who happens to have a Ph.D in chemistry. His answer:

I'd avoid the use of anything alkaline (caustic). Urethane should be
non-porous, but at all the edges probably not.

Just a suggestion - stick with the catalyzed urethane paint, and plain soap
& water. "modern" cleaning stuff just lacks an established record of safety

I should add that most of the aircraft is catalyzed urethane, and I mentioned that to him. Hence his comment on the stuff sneaking under the edges. Polytone is definitely porous.
I have a couple test patches, one with Poly Tak, the other Poly Brush, and will test them this afternoon with the aforementioned alkaline stuff.

I did follow Steve Pierce's advice on generous use of Poly Brush under the tapes, and really haven't had much problem with tapes pulling up, prior to this soap making its appearance - but the jury is still out. Maybe if we absolutely must use soap, Dawn Dish Soap is as strong as we should go? Edit: Nope - the Greek says that you should not even use that on cars! And she is a Beemer freak - very picky!

Just water, then Pledge. No Silicones! No alkaline products. End of rant; I shall glue the new tapes on the inside of the legs today. I am getting too old for this . . .

bob turner said:

Dawn Dish Soap is as strong as we should go? Edit: Nope - the Greek says that you should not even use that on cars! And she is a Beemer freak - very picky!

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Perhaps because it removes any wax not because it hurts the paint?

https://www.mytidycorner.com/uses-for-pledge/ says it can contain a silicone-based product.

And yes it might for some products> https://www.whatsinsidescjohnson.com/us/en/brands/pledge/Pledge--Beautify-It-Orange-Enhancing-Polish

Products: https://www.pledge.com/en-us/products

Gary