How to get grease off jacket...

dawn

Mineral spirits, Oops, hand cleaner, degreaser.

There's only one proven method of getting chairlift grease off of Gore Tex - blood. Lots and lots of blood.

and wear it enough so that the sun fades it to a nice pastel color. Add duck tape as needed. Sew on new velcro every few years.

Probabably a solvent that will disolve the grease. But use sparingly and make d=sure to flush with water while you're doing it to be sure the fabric isn't damaged.

'Shout'


No, not at the dog

I use it all the time for grease stains on bike clothes. Make sure not to accidentally wash and dry the stain without it first - that will help it set...


D

Shout is good but the waterless handcleaners (GOOP) are great.

It might be easier to just stain the rest of the jacket.

baby oil followed by shout could do it

leave the grease on- it's a battle scar.

I'll second the motion for Shout! I'm on my third white coat and shout has always gotten the grease out completely. I've come home looking like a dalmation and gone back the next day spotless.
You might want to ask area management whether the grease they use is petroleum or vegetable based, it might make a difference.

I have had great luck with Nikwax Tech Wash. I had some light colored pants get covered with the mother of all grease balls and once through the wash with Tech wash and my pants came out looking like new.

Lestoil.
I got some serious grease on my white ski pants last year, when my grandma said, "I think I have some lestoil. I used to use it to get grease out of your grandpa's clothes".
I remember the smell of that stuff and didn't want to use it, but I had to because, GRANDMA SAID SO!!
I dabbed some on my ski pants and watched the grease dissolve!

I'll swear by it now.

Resurrecting an old thread to thank Trekchick for the Lestoil recommendation.  With all the rainy weather in JH last week, my wife accumulated quite a few grease stains on her brand new lime green jacket.  She was pretty bummed so once we got home I did a search, bought some Lestoil at the local hardware store, dabbed it on all of the spots, and after 5-10 minutes threw it in the wash.  Had to treat and wash twice, but it’s completely clean now.   Just like new.  Good stuff.

Here's what the pros use... as related to me by a Spyder rep. 

 

Use waterless hand cleaner (ex. Permatex Blue Label).... yes, that gel stuff in a can you get at the auto parts store (not the stuff with pumice).  I've used it myself many times when I've been hit with chairlift oil, and it takes the oil out 100%.  Once you've applied it and rubbed it into the oil stained area, throw the garment into the washing machine with the appropriate detergent/soap recommended for Goretex/Entrant et al (Nikwax Tech Wash, for example) and it will come out like new (the Nikwax won't do the job on its own).  This is also a good treatment for around the collar of your jacket if it gets soiled over time from oil and dirt on your neck.

Edited by exracer - 3/22/12 at 8:54am

The sports wash that you get at WalMart works wonders. It is in a white bottle with lots of orange on the label. It is designed for hunters to eliminate odor, etc., but it has cleaned my outerwear wonderfully and removed stains that I thought were never going to come out. Look for it in the camping and hunting section. It is really cheap, too. Much better and more affordable than NikWax, of which I used to be a fan.

Is that Permatex a citrus degreaser?  I wonder if any commercial citrus degreaser (e.g. bicycle chain cleaner) would be effective?  

 

No, it's not.  I wouldn't use a degreaser on water/windproof fabrics.  It might degrade the bond between the layers.  The waterless hand cleaner is different, and milder.

 

The reason I recommend it is because that's what I was told to use by the clothing rep (I was working in a ski shop at the time and called him directly), and who else to get better advice from?  Sport washes are fine for general cleaning and maintenance, but they aren't designed to remove something like grease from a chairlift.  The waterless hand cleaner is the right tool for the job.

 

Have had this happen often when skiing in the rain, as the rain washes the grease out of the chairlift rollers, and you can even see the snow turn brown/gray around the base of each lift stanchion. The first step if it happens in the rain is to not let it dry out before addressing it, and get the clothes right to the sink upon getting back to the ski house for spot cleaning. I have had good luck using the sink sprayer to float most of it off and then using Dawn dish detergent on a clean sponge to lightly scrub off what's left. If that's not enough, Dawn makes another product called Dawn Power Dissolver that comes in a spray bottle, and that usually works for heavier stains (it's made to clean baked on grease from pots/pans).

 

After your ski clothes dry and you're happy with the result, you can spray the spot cleaned area with TekWash Spray to return the water repellancy. If it turns out you're not happy with the result, just go back to the sink and try again...

 

Sometimes you can't get it all out, and you just have to settle for getting most of it out.

 

I would be cautious about using any harsh solvents as they may attack the sealing layer that's welded on the back of many of these fabrics to keep them from soaking through.

My wife's jacket is event.  No apparent issues with the laminate.

Unfortunately, I've never had much luck de-greasing...At best I can make it less obvious.

Just wear this one

 

 

I'd NEVER buy anything light colored to wear on a ski lift... unless it had black polka dots, that might actually be pretty cool!

 

 

I've used mineral spirits/paint thinner on fabrics and it does work wonders.  Use at your own risk.  Dawn is pretty good at cleaning bicycle chains and has far less of a chance of causing damage so this would be my first attempt.  I've found Nikwax works about as well as water on tough stains.

I saw on TV (so it has to be true) that the wildlife conservation folks use Dawn to clean off ducks that are still alive but coated with crude oil after getting caught up in an oil spill.