Originally Posted by
Sy Reene
Thanks for the complete rundown. The OMS + Denatured Alcohol thing is part of the somewhat well known Molten Speedwax prep instructions. Googling, "do Mineral Spirits leave behind a residue" -- it seems to be split on hits that say yes vs no. Those that say 'yes' refer to an oily residue -- ostensibly it's this residue that the alcohol is used to get rid of.
From the stand point of chain lubrication, the answer is a resounding no! Or at least a resounding “It doesn’t matter.” If you are going to paint a part, you might be able to make an argument that mineral spirits leaves a residue but when lubricating a chain…whether with wax or oil…it’s not going to change the way the lubricant works.
If you are using wax, the hot
liquid wax is a solvent too. Most of the hard waxes people are using for chain lubrication could benefit from a little oil/oily residue to soften it a little.
And, finally, every 97 step chain cleaning process has 96 too many steps. Even if you do all 97 steps, you aren’t going to see any gains that are more than marginal…if that. If it takes more than 20 minutes to clean a chain, you are wasting your time.