Stupid Question!
 

What are the rear trailing arms made of in my car. At the moment they look a sorry sight, covered in all sorts of crud. I'm wondering if they'll clean up very well.

I believe they're an "alumineeum" alloy as they say in Dingwell (SP?). Jim:D

They clean up great. Go to kragen or wherever and buy castrol super clean. It's in a spray bottle and works fantastic. I think it's much better then gunk products

That would be Dingwall! Jim

Excellent! This will be another step on the road to SC perfection!
Jim,
I think you should now be known as groundskeeper Willie!:D

My hair is a little red but I still have lots of it. Time to stop wasting time and go home and finish pulling the flywheel on my 2.7; had to stop last night as the 12mm triple square bit was twisting (Snap-On even) http://www.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/pray.gif and there was no more to grind off. Found a new one at local auto parts store - hard to believe!. Cheers, Jim:D

Bloody right. ALUMINIUM.

Toblu is on a winner - that Castrol super clean is strong boogie. It was the only thing that would cut the accumulated gunk in my empty engine bay, and works great for parts. Don't breathe it - in fact, dont use it indoors - nasty aromatics will rip your throat out.
Found it at that well known purveyor of fine chemistry - Trak Auto.

My personal favorite cleaner is good ol' brake cleaner. Just about any veriaty will do. Spray it on and it cuts through gunk like there is no tomorrow -- and it dries off residual free. For tough areas, use a little wire brush while it is still wet. Just be sure to put a pan or something under the work area since a lot of gunk will run off. Also -- and this is important -- have a well ventilated work area since the stuff evaporates real fast and most likely kills brain cells, future children and everything else except for the 3rd arm that you'll sprout after sniffing too much.

Hmm. I must be calling another part the trailing arm as the part I mean seems to be made of steel (after much scrubbing). There is an aluminium part attached (circled). The part I mean is the one with the arrow. Time to change from motorbike lingo!

That's the spring plate, and it is steel. The aluminum one is the semi-trailing arm.

That spring plate looks pretty rusty. Good luck with your project!

thanks Tyson.

That spring plate was originally cadmium(sp?) plated, sort of gold-colored. Someone must have "cleaned" off the coating, unless it was just the weather over there that did it. For anyone who still has the plating on theirs, you are pretty limited w/ cleaning solutions that won't strip plating and make it just a piece of rusty steel. :cool: