Edit the 'Notes' (b) for clarification
Notes –
Warning
Before using any chemicals or solvents, carefully read all of the cautions and medical information on the products container and / or MSDS. Always follow all of the manufacturer’s recommendations. Ensure that you wear eye protection and acid-proof gloves; this is mandatory. No matter how safe an acidic product is advertised, never run the risk of it splashing in your eye or permeating your skin.
Use a product that has a low acid concentration level (i.e. Sulfuric, Phosphoric and Nitric acid. 10%, or less) with as high a pH level (> 2.0) as you can find, this constitute a less aggressive product. Oxalic acid is relatively safer and yet still very effective to use on most wheels. A wheel cleaner containing Oxalic acid is far safer yet still very effective to use on most wheels. It will do a far better job than high alkaline cleaners, yet is nowhere near as harmful to the vehicle or yourself
a) Acid is highly corrosive; the skull and crossbones warning on an acid label is there for a reason; acids will etch or erode anything in its path, they are also very effective in dissolving metals and etching glass.
b) Even a pH 5.0 acid with a dilution rate of 4:1 (as recommended by Meguiar's for their Wheel Brightener (Ammonium hydrogen fluoride [NH4] [HF2]) results in a pH 4.5 solution. The dilution of an acid doesn't make it safer as the addition of a molecule of water to a chemical compound, without forming any other products is known as hydration (i.e. dilution causes the pH to decrease) But since pH is not a very good indicator of the strength of the acid in every system, this approach won't always produce the desired results.
c) A wheel cleaner formulated with Oxalic acid is a safer yet still very effective cleaning chemical. It will do a better job than alkaline cleaners, but is nowhere near as harmful to the vehicle or yourself. Oxalic acid is a relatively strong "weak acid" Oxalic acid exhibits many of the reactions characteristic of other carboxylic acids, its a relatively strong organic acid, being about 10,000 times stronger than acetic acid (Vinegar pH 2).
This acid still needs to be handled with care and diluted correctly, but it’s safer than Hydrofluoric acid yet a very effective alternative.
d) Do not confuse hydrochloric acid (HCL) with hydrofluoric (HF, has a pH of 3.14) acid because of the similarity of names. On the skin, hydrochloric acid burns from the outside in. Hydrofluoric acid solution readily penetrates the skin and burns both skin and deeper tissues. If enough acid is absorbed, it may lethally affect the heart and nervous system.
e) Ammonium hydrogen fluoride NH4HF2 (or Ammonium bifluoride SiO2) is miss-classified as the safe alternative to hydrogen fluoride, once mixed with water it becomes hydrogen fluoride one of the most common, and dangerous, acid wheel cleaners used in automatic car washes today. Its effectiveness removing brake dust and difficult contaminants from wheels is undisputed, but most chemists say Ammonium bifluoride presents an unjustifiable and potentially lethal risk.
f) Always check the products MSDS and its pH value before you use it. It is always preferable that you use a 100% acid-free product with a pH of 7.5 – 8.0
Last edited by togwt; 01-25-2008 at 09:27 AM.
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01-17-2008, 12:33 PM
oh and it's now a sticky 
I've got a bottle of the Menzerna version coming I'm really curious to see how well it will perform but yea the red version or UK verion of P21S sounds very interesting.
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