with engine degreaser.

I know, who cleans a skid plate anyway? Go ahead and laugh, I deserve it.

I was sick of looking at the accumulated filth from the past six years and thought I would wash it off, scuff it and hit it with some black spray paint. If you don't know, Georgia red clay has a wonderful staining capability. After a bit of Simple Green and elbow grease I realized it was not coming off. Since I had a can of engine cleaner handy, I thought I would give it a try.

Little did I know that the plate is coated with some thick rubbery undercoating. I just thought it was more of a textured paint.

The degreaser dissolved this stuff into a nasty black slurry and created a mini Superfund site on my driveway. Since I couldn't just leave it like that, I spent another hour cleaning the damn thing off, preping it for paint and disposing of the runoff before the EPA showed up.

So much for spending 10 minutes on a simple washing.

Anyone else have this problem or am I the only idiot on here?