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Washer bottles

alpine_64

alpine_64

Donation Time
Does anyone have any good tips on how to clean up an old plastic washer bottle? I have one that is yellow and marked.. are there any good plastic cleaners, refinishers or general household cleaners that will not destroy it but bring it up a little? I was considering a fine sand paper to remove the top layer of platic, but not sure thats a good idea.
 
M

mikephillips

Donation Time
I've never found anything and I've tried to reduce the yellowing in a couple. all I ever ended up with was a bottle that was clean, and yellow....
 
64beam

64beam

Donation Time
Hi Michael,

You have asked a real tough one. I don't know of any cleaners that might bring it up like new. The problem is that when it was moulded, they did'nt have the additives like today's plastics (UV stabilising, etc). Mine own washer bottle actually looks like it's been heat effected. Mineral turpentine may clean it up, but not sure of the yellowing. I will make some enquiries for you.

Regards, Robin.
 
sunalp

sunalp

Diamond Level Sponsor
washer bottle

Hi Michael,
From what I understand, the yellowing is inherent with the aging of the plastic that it's made of. I was told by someone that understands the chemical make up of plastics way better than me that no matter what you do, even keeping a new one in a box out of the light and air, the bottle will yellow. Someting about how the plastic "gasses out" with age.
Hope this helps,
Cheers!
Steve
 
Alpineracer8

Alpineracer8

Donation Time
Yellow washer bottles

Yep...Sunalp is on the right track. I've just been through the "trying to bring a yellow washer bottle back to it's former glory" thing recently and I can you with a high degree of certainty that it can't be done.

I work with a fellow in my office who is not only a chemist, but a multiple Triumph TR3 owner. As I explained the problem to him and showed him my bottle, he just smiled and launched into a complex (for me...) explanation of what has really happened to the plastic. I can only paraphrase his answer but it was something along the lines of the chain of atoms that makes up the polymer that the bottles are made of gets separated over time, somehow causing carbon atoms to form which, in turn, damages the polymer at the molecular level and causes the discoloration. Now, I'm sure I've not explained it correctly and if he could read this, he'd probably slap me around for getting it wrong, but I'm sure you get the idea.

The bottom line is that there is no way to "de-yellow" a yellowed-out washer bottle. Our best option is to hope that someone like Rick with Sunbeam Specialties can somehow have them reproduced. I don't know what it would take to do that, but I'd be a buyer for several of the little rascals!

Take care,
 
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