How To Clean A Wire Brush

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Better method to clean wire from tough glue

Thread starter Grossel
Start date Nov 2, 2021
Tags

cleaning wire foam removal sticky glue

Hi folks.

I have (or had) an old car that I now take apart various parts for re-purposing, maybe just selling.

Some wires, especially those that are found behind panels - they often have a foam that sticks to it to prevent noise. The foam is relative easy to remove, but the glue underneath not so much.
The glue isn't hard, but it sticks, it's dirty and doesn't disolves much when soap are used.

Yesterday I taught I've found a good solution, using steel wool (the kind where soap are added). Well, the result was seemingly fine, but only until the wires was dry. Then I found that there was still glue to the wires. I was able to somehow remove most of the glue by just using dry toilet paper, but I think it takes much manual labor compared to the results.

This are the methods I've tried - but none are very efficient because the glue are water and soap resistant:

Old tooth brush and sope (removes the most amount of dirt, don't remove much sticky glue)
Steel wool (takes away much of the glue, but when the glue are wet, it doesn't feel that sticky and therefore lack of feedback on whether more glue are left until wire are dry)
Dry toilet paper (must use force to gain any effect and therefore labor intensive, and still tends to left a thin film of sticky glue on the surface)

This is just a hobby project, so not s big deal exept I have this feeling that there must be a clever way to get rid of this sticky glue on some wires. Strong/magic acid or base is not an option.

Depends what the glue is, but some things to try:

Isopropyl Alcohol/Wipes -- Solvent. Cheap from Amazon. Good for many sticky substances.
White spirit. -- solvent. Hardware store
Nail varnish remover -- solvent. Chemist.
Vinegar/lemon juice -- slightly acidic. Grocers.
Petrol. -- good for bitumen and similar.

Test on a small sample first to make sure it doesn't adversely affect the insulation.

For typical old adhesive tapes - Petrol.

Or the dedicated "label remover" / "Sticky stuff remover" type liquids that contain a blend of different solvents.

I guess I don't understand this. I've bought car parts from wrecking yards my whole life, and built or repaired cars using those parts. I can't ever remember buying and never would use old wiring out of a car.

For typical old adhesive tapes - Petrol.

Well, as I work near the house and kitchen I strongly believe my wife would be pretty unhappy about petrol smell

I can't ever remember buying and never would use old wiring out of a car.

Well, that's on me. I decided to also take care of the wires because this Nissan do have many specially contacts for its parts.

So If the sole purpose is spare part, I'd agree in your point. But for repurposing (thinking about set up a fan that can blow out dust out of my garage in no time) I also need the connectors, and preferable as long wire as possible without cutting.

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