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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Madison, WI
Posts: 11,214
Bikes: 1961 Ideor, 1966 Perfekt 3 Speed AB Hub, 1994 Bridgestone MB-6, 2006 Airnimal Joey, 2009 Thorn Sherpa, 2013 Thorn Nomad MkII, 2015 VO Pass Hunter, 2017 Lynskey Backroad, 2017 Raleigh Gran Prix, 1980s Bianchi Mixte on a trainer. Others are now gone.
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I had a stain on a Goretex jacket, I used a little bit of soap to hand clean the stain on the outside of the jacket. It did not harm the waterproofness of that area but that area lost some of the hydrophobic coating.
My point is that rain jackets have a couple characteristics, one is a waterproof layer (that may or may not be breathable) but the better jackets usually also have a coating that will make the water bead up on the surface, a hydrophobic coating or treatment. In my case, that small spot that I cleaned no longer had the water bead up on it.
There are some cleaners like Nikwax Tech Wash that are theoretically do a good job but I have not used it so I can't say how well it works.