WD-40 Specialist - Industrial Strength Degreaser Review

Recently I was contacted by WD-40 to try out their latest WD-40 product. I thought, sure I’ll test it out – so they sent over a can of WD-40 Specialist to try out. This isn’t your typical WD-40 product as it’s not designed to lube up mechanical joints and instead is designed to clean up tough greasy messes. On the can it says it’s an “Industrial-Strength” degreaser and that it’s a “fast acting formula”. A neat feature built into the can is that the nozzle can spray and also shoot a thin stream with a built in straw to get into those nooks and crannies. The straw isn’t removable but it can be folded down so it’s out of the way and so you can use the spray function. When you want to use the straw, you flip it up into position and your ready to stream.

I went straight to work on my car’s engine as it’s pretty darn dirty, luckily this degreaser formula has a high flashpoint, so I don’t have to worry about it going up in flames when I run my vehicle. The engine’s full of dirt and several years ago I had a minor oil leak on the top of the engine that I fixed myself, but I never got around to clean the oil residue that was left over. By now the oil residue had dirt, grime, and sand caked on so I went to work with this degreaser. I gave it a quick spray and because it’s a fast acting formular, you don’t need to wait for it to work. Just a second or two is all you need. The time it took me to set the can down was all the time the degreaser needed to get to work. I wiped everything down with a shop towel and all the grease, dirt, and grime wiped off easily. I didn’t need to scrub at all – so right off the bat I was impressed.

There was quite a bit of dirt caked on so one spray didn’t remove it all, it did extremely well on the first spray but once the degreaser was rubbed off with the towel, the cleaning effects became null so another spray over the area was all that was needed to keep cleaning.

I also tested it out on my power steering fluid reservoir container which was pretty filthy. It wasn’t as greasy and full of grime as the top of the engine but it was caked on with dirt and some grease. A few sprays was all it needed to get it nice and clean.

So overall I had a very positive experience with this WD-40 degreaser product. It did an excellent job of cleaning with only a few sprays needed to finish the job cleaning and I appreciated that the spray didn’t stink and have any toxic fumes, you know the kind that force you coughing up a lung. It had a low odor and wasn’t obnoxious. The straw came in very useful for getting into those recessed areas and I also liked that the straw is built in and doesn’t come off as I’ve had problems with other cans with included straws. You had to use the included tape to hold the straw onto the can and eventually the tape would fail and lose its tackiness and you’d lose the straw. You don’t have to worry about all that as the straw’s built in. I also appreciated that the degreasing formula got to work right away in a couple of seconds. I didn’t need to spray, set a timer, and walk away and wait for the formula to get to work.

My only negative for this product is that this degreaser leaves the area a bit oily once you’re finished cleaning. This was my initial impression but I found out that after a while, the oily leftover residue does evaporate or dry off and the surface eventually becomes dry and oil free. So it does in fact leave no residue when it’s all done turning this negative into a positive, although it does take a while for the oily residue to evaporate. The oily residue doesn’t go away right away, I don’t know how long it takes to go away but I checked everything the next day and all the oily residue was gone overnight.

Another thing I wanted to mention, was that even though I used disposable gloves so I wouldn’t get the degreaser or mess on my hands, you don’t have to worry about the degreaser getting on your hands as WD-40 claims this is safe on contact with your skin. Either way I’d rather not have to clean it up after and is why I chose to use gloves.

I used it on my engine compartment but it doesn’t have to be used only on engines. It can be used on any sort of machinery, and also rims. According to WD-40 it’s ideal for: automotive and truck engines, tire rims, tractors, forklifts, gears and chains, industrial machinery, farm equipment, power equipment and other metal tools.