Originally Posted by JHZR2
I've done simple through advanced tasks as a DIY. I've always racked up the use of a lot of blue paper towels and disposable gloves; but my recent job of refurbishing calipers, and replacing brakes on a car where the whole bearing assembly has to be regreased has made me a bit more considerate of the shop supply use rates.
Usually, doing most any job it goes like this - start clean, out on nitrile gloves, use a bunch of paper, eventually gloves either rip or have to come off, hands are sweaty, don't/can't get new ones on due to soaking sweaty hands, hands get filthy, use a ton more paper, finish job, clean filth from hands and arms.
So it's almost like I might as well have not put on gloves at all. Oil changes this isn't the case (though I do use a bunch of towels), but bigger jobs it's just pretty typical.
Mechanix type gloves are ok for very big stuff like tire changes, but anything where real feel is necessary they're useless.
I don't think the economics are there for red rags. Dunno if folks wash and reuse them; I wouldn't.
So, what do you do to keep yourself and other stuff clean? How wasteful is it? Have you found good ways to keep more junk off your skin?
Just looking for ideas. Between rotor caliper refurbishments, bearings, etc, I used half a jumbo roll of blue rags and half a box of gloves. And still was absolutely filthy every step of the way. Wanting to do better.
I try to use flyers or newspaper to initially clean the dirty parts and then to the final finishing with the blue paper towels. Things like the caliper pins I let them sitting on the newspaper and I spray the brake cleaner that way the soaked newspaper helps dissolving the crud as well.