how to clean oil off paint and aluminum

[OneLapper]

Simple Green works great.  Will not damage paint.  We used it by the 55 gallon drum at a car wash I ran years and years ago.

[gus]

One caution with SG and many other oil cleaners, be sure to follow the dilution instructions.

Most uses don't require full strength.

[Iceni John]

Some undiluted degreasers can weaken aluminum.   Some years ago we had a few expensive bicycle components mysteriously breaking where one would least expect them to fail, and it turned out that they had been left in degreaser overnight to clean them.   From the outside the parts, such as derailleurs and hubs, looked fine except for a slight dulling of their anodizing, but when they broke the inside surface looked very coarse and granular, unlike a regular break that had a smoother appearance on its exposed surface.   Very strange.   I wonder if that's similar to when mercury comes into contact with aluminum?   (That's why we couldn't ship mercury-filled thermometers by helicopter when I worked offshore!)

John