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RACER’S EDGE
FLUIDZ CLEAN-IT AND RENEW-IT

Here at BYT we like to say a dirty truck is a happy truck, however it is essential to clean the rig off once in awhile. Cleaning your truck keeps dirt from accelerating wear on pivot points, like hinge pins, suspension arms, bearings, pillow balls, etc. It should be part of the routine maintenance that you perform on your RC vehicle. Having a clean truck also makes locating a damaged component (like a cracked suspension arm etc) easier to find. That gives you the opportunity to get it fixed before it rears its ugly head the next time you go bashing. Besides, we have to admit that it is nice to stand back and admire your shiny, yet thoroughly beaten truck right? We think so. In fact every time we see our truck looking super shiny and clean, it just makes us want to go out and bash some more! Get it dirty!

Racer’s Edge offers several products from Fluidz to not only clean your truck but also make it shiny and “new” again.

Fluidz Clean-It
The Clean-It solution is nice as it works with both nitro and electric applications. So you can grab this to clean the oil and crud off your nitro monster truck and then use it to clean out the motor can on your electric ride. Nice! The can is small enough to easily fit into your toolbox and holds 5.5 oz of cleaner.

We have the perfect vehicle to try the Clean-It out on….our Savage SS. It is still dirty from our last run with it and it is heavy with dirt and oil residue. The Savage should make an excellent test vehicle as it is a difficult truck to clean. The TVP design has most of the vitals packed into the center of the vehicle. Even areas like the differentials and shock towers are a little tough to get at and therefore don’t get cleaned often. It’s time to do some blasting!

The SS was placed on our work stand and after placing a few rags underneath the front of the truck, we started applying the cleaner. We used the wand extension to get a little more velocity and it allowed us to get into some harder to reach areas around the front differential case. After a few 2-3 second blasts, we allowed the product to dry off so we could see the results. The front diff area was coated with 100% dirt before we blasted it and afterwards, it looked like the cleaner had removed about 85+% of that dirt. We then tried applying a small amount of the cleaner to a paper towel and gave a few thick areas some elbow grease. This worked very well in removing any remaining dirt. All in all on the dirt, it worked pretty well and much better with the help of a towel. Time to grease it up! Firing a couple of rounds of Clean-It on areas that are soaked with the oily residue from the exhaust really cleaned them up nicely. Clean-It is petroleum based (you can smell it…smells kind of like denatured alcohol) and it works great on ripping off layers of grease and oil.

By the time we were finished cleaning our exceptionally dirty SS, we had gone through about 1/3 to 1/2 a can. Not bad really with the amount of cleaning that was done. In certain areas, we did find it more efficient to apply the cleaner to a rag first, rather than blasting the truck and then wiping it down. This is a good move as it will save product and make your can last longer.

We also cleaned out our Trinity Chameleon II motor that we normally run on our XXX-T. Eeee gads! We had not cleaned that poor thing in a long time! Tons of crud, brush dust and you name it came pouring out of the motor. The Clean-It worked very well in this application. Remember, you want to make sure everything is dry before you apply power to a motor that has been cleaned. Electric motor cleaners are flammable and electric motors create lots of sparks! As a side note, it is also a good idea to re-oil your bearings/bushings after a motor cleaning. Chances are you washed away the lube from them and it needs to be reapplied.

Fluidz Renew-It
The Renew-It product is called a “parts treatment”. It claims to make your RC parts looking like new and protect them from rust. Hmm…sounds like a good idea to us. We chose to do this review along with the Clean-It review as it seemed like the logical thing to do. You are not going to apply this over dirt and grease so you need to start with a clean truck! We have everything nice and clean, now let’s give it a shine and hopefully make it easier to clean the next time around.

The Renew-It product comes out semi-thick (not really thick but not thin like the cleaner) so you want to use short, fast sprays for a non-drip covering. The heavier fluid does a very nice job of clinging to the parts, not just running off onto your work bench. We applied it to all the plastic on our SS and all the metal parts (remember the rust preventative). WOW! The truck looks awesome! It really made the plastic BLACK again and gave it a very nice shine. Don’t even think about trying to get this type of shine with Armor-All. Not a chance. Our guess is that it is petroleum based also as it does not seem to evaporate like water based product (like Armor-All) would. This is some really nice stuff.

This treatment should theoretically make it easier to clean the truck next time. Dirt, grease and dust will not be able to get the strangle hold on the plastic and it should wash off easier. Just by looking at how this product “absorbs” itself into the plastic, our first inclination would be that this will be true. However we are going to treat this as an extended project and see how much it aids in future cleanings. We’ll report back here later after we have had a chance to go through the dirty-clean-dirty-clean-dirty cycle a few times. After applying to our entire SS, we used maybe ¼ of the can? Not very much at all really! A little spray goes a long way. We should have more than enough to do our LST, T-Maxx’s and have some left over.

SUMMARY

Fluidz Clean-It
The fact that the cleaner is in a pressurized can is a big plus. It adds a little more power for busting off some of the big chunks. As with all cleaners, they do not remove 100% of the varying types of debris that is stuck on your truck. A petroleum based cleaner works best to clean petroleum based messes, like oil/exhaust residue. The Clean-It cleaner did an average to slightly above average job on the dirt. With a little help from a rag, it completely removed the caked on stuff. It did however do a great job on the oil mess. A quick wipe and these areas were shiny and new. A multi-purpose cleaner should be in everyone’s toolbox or workshop. Need to blast a bearing, clean a motor, shoot some sludge? You are covered! $4.99 gets you a can of this stuff and it is a 5 spot well spent.

Fluidz Renew-It
This is a nice product. Time will tell how it aids in future cleanings but the instant results are excellent. It took very little product to give a nice coat to our SS and it looks like there will be numerous whole truck applications in a single 6 oz. can. For $4.99, it is well worth the money and we look forward to shining up the rest of the BYT fleet!

Ok, we have to get busy. This truck is WAY too clean. It is begging to be bashed!

Click here to visit the Racer's Edge store and get your hands on some Fluidz!

RACER’S EDGE
FLUIDZ FILTER-CLEAN & FILTER-OIL

Maintenance! Some of us enjoy it. Others hate it. Regardless of your relationship with the “M” word, it has to be done to ensure your truck will run properly and last as long as possible.

Winter in Wisconsin (BYT Headquarters) offers many months of maintenance opportunities. It is just too dang cold to go outside and we all know really cold temps are not a good thing for nitro engines. Typically during the winter months we spend a great deal of time tearing down all our trucks, cleaning, inspecting and upgrading them so they are good to go when the warmer temperatures arrive.

When it comes to air filters, we like to keep a few spare foams for each truck on hand, clean, oiled and ready to go. That way if we need to make a filter change during a dusty day of bashing, we can simply swap them out, rather than trying to clean them on site. It works pretty slick! Well, we have a pile of filter foams in our “dirty bag” that need to be cleaned. This is the perfect opportunity to test out the foam filter cleaner and foam filter oil from Fluidz.

Filter-Clean: We removed the foam element from the filter housing and lightly brushed off the big chunks (don’t get too crazy with this as you can work more dirt into the foam, making it harder to clean). We gave the foam a few solid, 1 second blasts with the filter-cleaner, let sit for a few seconds (per the instructions) and then rinsed with plain water. It worked very well. 90+% of the dirt disappeared during the first cleaning. We repeated the process and happily achieved total cleanliness. According to the label, it is specifically formulated for RC air filter foams. By its performance, we would agree that it must be as it works quote well. After we patted it down with some paper towel, we let it sit for about an hour or so to make sure it was completely dry.

Filter-oil: After the filter had completely dried, we broke out the Fluidz Filter-Oil. The directions read to hold the can approximately 12” from the foam and spray the outer surfaces thoroughly. We did as we were told and because the oil comes out of an aerosol can, it made quite a mess. This was not good. Oil all over the place, mostly where we did not want it.

Time for plan B! We gave the inside of a small plastic bag a few blasts of the oil and placed the foams inside. After working the foam around inside the bag, we achieved total coverage and a lot less mess. The foams were then removed from the bag and a paper towel mopped up the extra oil from the foam.

PERFORMANCE: We happily took our Savage SS out to a local dirt/gravel parking lot and proceeded to kick up as much dirt and dust as possible. After a few tanks of fun, we removed the air filter and wiped down the carburetor throat with a Q-Tip to check for any dirt that may have passed by the filter. Nope! Nice and clean. A clean carburetor throat is good indication that the oil is working properly to trap small dirt particles as they enter the foam element. Hmmmm. Time to clean the filter again!

THE VERDICTS: The Filter-Cleaner works great. Very little product was required to clean a single filter and it looks like a 6 oz. can will easily last the average basher an entire season (or more). We liked that it was water soluble (rinse it off in the sink) and was free from any overpowering odors. At the low price of $5 for a 6 oz. can, it is a great bargain and has found a permanent spot on the BYT shop shelf.

The Filter-Oil also works very well. It has a light red color to it and that allows you to visually see that all areas of the foam have been covered. It is light weight oil, not too heavy to restrict airflow. It appeared to do a nice job of capturing dust and dirt entering the filter and not allowing it to pass into the engine. The only thing we did not like was the instructions. Follow our lead on using the baggie and you will stay clean, use less product and get the job done quickly and easily. $5 for a 5.5 oz. can is a bargain. Like the cleaner, this can will last you a long time and oil many, many filter foams!

Both products are well worth the money and when used properly, can add life to your engine! These products work very well and will be an excellent addition to your RC workshop.

Click here to visit the Racer's Edge store and get your hands on some Fluidz Filter Cleaner and Oil.