Grease stains on Spirit grill


 
Chris-SF

Chris-SF

New member
My sister just bought a condo with a small balcony, and she tasked me with finding a gas grill for her. I found a nice lightly used Spirit grill(roughly 3 years old), for $100 that was near me. Unfortunately the grill had been left outside uncovered here in SF for its whole life. Looks like the previous owners just used it when they had people over for a house party and never cleaned it. I cleaned the interior out pretty good with oven cleaner and steel wool, and got all of the rust/stains out of the stainless steel on the folding side tables and control panel with Bar Keepers Friend. All that's left is to clean the burner tubes, clean the staining on the sides of the grill, and probably replace the burner knobs. I tried warm soapy water on the grease stains, but that didn't work. I was tempted to use more oven cleaner, but I wasn't sure if that is too corrosive for the plastic siding on the lid and chassis of the grill... Any advice? It's a housewarming gift, so I'm trying to make it look as close to new as possible.

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I might go with a degreaser of some kind on the sides of the grill, oven cleaner might be too aggressive and take the paint right off although I don't know that for sure. I will say that the grill looks pretty clean overall, I certainly wouldn't be ashamed to have it on my patio.
 
I tried with little success. I ended up painting the lid and cookbox.

Here are some suggestions I was given

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Cleaning the outside of a gray Genesis 300 series

Is there an effective way to clean the outside of the gray cook box on a Genesis 300 series ? Not finding this in search, and not something I've bothered to do before. This one isn't too bad, but the one I'm likely to flip is a mess. I was considered repainting, however I cannot find...
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I'm not aware of a grey hi temp paint that matches, so I painted mine black.

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I've seen one, it was custom enamel red looked great. Wondering about black lid with black end caps and cook box. I cannot find gray VHT paint in stock anywhere. Does anyone have pics to share?
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Welcome to TVWBB Chris!

Looks like a nice answer to what your sister needs. I think DanHoo said it well. You probably either need to live with the grease stains or figure on repainting black, since there seems to be no available high heat gray that matches. Weber has been shifting back to black on their new grills, so you will be right in style! Black is also a little more forgiving.

I would try some degreaser or even Members Mark Grill Cleaner from Sam's Club first. If it strips or decolors the gray paint, then you can still paint.
 
If you repaint the whole lot of the castings why bother worrying about the match? If you want gray just buy a gray and paint it
 
LMichaels said:
If you repaint the whole lot of the castings why bother worrying about the match? If you want gray just buy a gray and paint it
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The challenge is finding a high temp paint that matches the rest of the frame, which is very close to Massey Ferguson Gray.
The thread below shows the different colors and the best match, however when I was trying to freshen up my E330 I could not find any VHT very high temp in cast iron grey. I placed several orders only to have them later cancelled. Maybe the paint is available again now.

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All, I wanted to consolidate in one post the forum’s info and my experience with gray paint for 3XX grills, especially the firebox/endcaps, which are now being in need of paint more often. While black is an option for black grills, I think most would prefer something closer to stock for most of...
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Try hydrogen peroxide. It should dissolve anything organic. Just test it on an inconspicuous part first but I don't believe it will harm the paint. You might have to wet a paper towel with the peroxide and lay it on the area you want to clean, and cover that with glad wrap to keep it from drying out too quickly.
 
Thanks for the input everybody. I'll try using different degreasers and see what that does. I definitely don't plan to be doing any painting on this grill. I'm saving all that work for my Silver C project, that will be a different post on here. :ROFLMAO:
 
Chris-SF said:
Thanks for the input everybody. I'll try using different degreasers and see what that does. I definitely don't plan to be doing any painting on this grill. I'm saving all that work for my Silver C project, that will be a different post on here. :ROFLMAO:
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Yeah, I wouldn't repaint that grill on principle alone. Like you said, it's only two or three years old and a Weber. It shouldn't need painting yet. Your Silver C on the other hand could probably use a paint job. Keep us in the loop on that project for sure!
 
Clorox Cleanup works great on the plastic parts. Great degreaser as well. Meguiar's back to black after cleaning will make the knobs & handle look like new.
 
As a last resort before painting you might try a mechanic's hand cleaner like GoJo, or spray brake cleaner. Test either on an inconspicuous area to be sure they won't harm the paint.
 
Larry D. said:
As a last resort before painting you might try a mechanic's hand cleaner like GoJo, or spray brake cleaner. Test either on an inconspicuous area to be sure they won't harm the paint.
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They will make grease stains worse. GoJo is basically lanolin (sheep lard) as it uses fat to dissolve the grease on your hands. Which is why you have to wash your hands with soap and water after using it.
No matter how hard he tries the "staining" or discoloration will NEVER come off. Been there done that. Once the grease changes the paint no amount of washing, degreasing or anything will make it look "fresh" again. You will just have a clean but discolored surface
 
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