# IPA dilution ratios



## Bmwjc (Apr 2, 2012)

Hi can anyone give me a good dilution ratio for an IPA wipe down after polishing. Or is it best just to use neat?
I've ran a search for it but it just throws up loads of thread for people asking how a dilution ratio works etc.

Cheers


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## hotwaxxx (Jul 12, 2007)

Bmwjc said:


> Hi can anyone give me a good dilution ratio for an IPA wipe down after polishing. Or is it best just to use neat?
> I've ran a search for it but it just throws up loads of thread for people asking how a dilution ratio works etc.
> 
> Cheers


I normally dilute 25% IPA to 75% water to remove polishing oils.


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## LostHighway (Sep 23, 2011)

It depends in part on the strength of the IPA solution you're starting with. I use 91% IPA diluted at one part IPA to four parts distilled water. You aren't likely to find 100% pure IPA outside of a lab supply company. 91% and 70% seem to be the most readily available IPA strengths in the U.S.A.
I definitely would not recommend using anything stronger than 25% solution and some authorities recommend closer to 15%.


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## Bmwjc (Apr 2, 2012)

The bottle on mine says 99.9% so I would imagine i should go for quite a weak mix


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## Sunburst (Jun 3, 2012)

I've read from TOGWT on another forum that you shouldn't go over a 30% solution. Closer to 20% is safer. To paraphrase his rather lengthy and informative post, paint is porous and too hot of a solution will swell the paint up and potentially do damage to it. 

There's a gent on yet another forum who says that Meg's D114 + IPA + distilled water is a rather affordable, but good panel wipe solution for softer paints. I can't testify to that, just thought I would throw it out there for you to maybe look into if you have really soft paint.

It is fairly important to not use tap water and go for DI or distilled as the mineral content of tap/well water will probably instill marring. IPA is not a slippery substance at all. One more thing, use good towels and lots of them. Otherwise, you're just redepositing the polishing oils elsewhere on the car and or causing micro-marring.

Hope that helps.


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## TOGWT (Oct 26, 2005)

"Wipe down (Scratch lie detector test) Process" - http://www.autopia.org/forum/autopi...pedown-scratch-lie-detector-test-process.html


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## tom-225 (Aug 30, 2009)

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=208081

all your questions will be answered by this thread Mike Phillips wrote


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## msb (Dec 20, 2009)

20 to 25% should be plenty imo!


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## DMH-01 (Mar 29, 2011)

I dilute to around 20%.


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## ribvanrey (May 5, 2012)

Switch to a water based polish? No need for IPA


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## Tips (Mar 27, 2011)

I usually dilute to 20% IPA strength, but recently tried 50% IPA strength with no adverse effects on my german paint.


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## tom-225 (Aug 30, 2009)

ribvanrey said:


> Switch to a water based polish? No need for IPA


youll be suprised, even a waterbased polish may have SOME filling effect.


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## MAUI (Feb 1, 2008)

Like P1!!


ribvanrey said:


> Switch to a water based polish? No need for IPA


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## Bmwjc (Apr 2, 2012)

Cheers everyone for your input, I think I will use a 25% mix, it seems like the average and something it was thinking along the lines of myself!


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