Obviously, there's a fair amount of folks here on the HHR Net who work on their own trucks...myself included. In fact, my job demands I work on cars and trucks all the time. Between my Wife and I we have a "fleet" of the HHR and six other vehicles.

I've worked on cars and trucks nearly all my adult life, first as a service technician and nowadays as a technical writer. Needless to say, i wash my hands a lot.

Last Spring one technical article I had to do was about servicing the constant velocity joints in the rear of a C5 Corvette. The CVs used in that application are very much like the CVs used in the front of our HHRs. It's just that the C5 versions are bigger. The problem with cleaning and repacking CVs is that it's a dirty, slimy job after which cleaning hands is a chore.

I've used many brands of hand cleaner, "Simple Green" and "Fast Orange" are two name brands I've tried. They work ok but not real well and they're solvent based so they take the oil out of your skin. There's been a bunch of off-brand stuff. Up to now the best were some hand cleaner products sold by vendors who deal directly with auto repair facilities and don't generally sell to consumers.

One day, while working on my CV joint article, I got frustrated with the hand cleaner I was using. I'd had enough that, after I washed and washed again, went in the office and Googled "best hand cleaner". Near the top of the list was http://www.handscrub.com/

Once I got past the audio on the homepage I started reading about it and decided to get some small samples.

Well...the stuff is really good! It's detergent- rather than solvent-based so it cleans your hands really well without taking the skin oil out of them. It tiny polymer scrubbing particles rather than pumice which clean your hands but are not so abrasive.

Bottom line...Super Tough Hand Scrub is really the best damn hand cleaner I've ever used. It's all I have in the shop any more for cleaning my hands and arms after dirty service jobs like working on CVs, other suspension parts or brakes.

 

Thanks for the tip Hib, I'll order a sample up.....

 

I found GOJO pumice hand scrub toweletts to be real handy..

 

I prefer the Gojo with pumice but keep a tub without it for when I have cuts and ripped knuckles and such.

 

Scrubs in the bucket works really well for cleaning hands and small parts.

 

I prefer to use nitrile gloves and keep the chemicals off my hands altogether...

 

X 2

 

i think ill send a sample to the store i work at

 

In 1994, I had to replace the camshaft (flat camshaft lobe) in our 1984 Chevy G10 Sportvan 305 V8. Tree and Jeff were the lead mechanics telling me what to do.

We decided to replace the camshaft in place without yanking out the motor.

At the end of the days, I ended up with grease and dirt up to my armpits. Cleaning up, I found that Tree's supply of GoJo required gobs and gobs of GoJo to clean up and I still was not clean!

I found that Johnson and Johnson Baby Oil cuts the grease and dirt. I would put J&J on my arms, rub, and then hose off. It also required using soap and water to get rid of the greasy, slippery feel of the baby oil.

Two step process:
J&J baby oil: rub, and rinse off
soap & water: to get rid of baby oil greasy, slippery feeling.

J&J Baby Oil beats GoJo for dirty cleanup!

 

Hand cleaner is for wussies. Nothing better than a good old shot of carb cleaner!!


Just kidding at times when I work with it I think it removed my finger prints LOL!

Go Jo work fine for me. I get pretty messed up and never really have any issues washing up. I just worked on the car yesterday and show no ill signes of the mess my hands were yesterday.

But then again my hands are not all that soft and the grease never gets that embeded. Years of car work will do that.