My suggestion would to use a nonabrasive cleaner (I use opti clean) lightly sprayed on micro fiber cloth to get the PF nice and clean. Then use caurnauba wax on it in the future.

The negative about millwax is new clearcoat has a hard time adhering to it. Most Capcoms had a very solid clearcoat to begin with. If you aren't going to re-clear it, don't worry about it. Just clean and wax it.

I do a lot of older EMs and millwax was and is a standard item for years. I still use it before the final wax because it cleans and shines like no other. But you don't need it on modern clear coated machines.

I have found Blitz to be my final wax of choice.

Naptha for cleaning - non abrasive, cleans *everything*, safe for clearcoat and paint. Blitz for wax.

What Capcom pin is it? Just curious...I own a PM...it is a great pin and was ahead of it's time!

Millwax = AWESOME
IMO of course.

Naphtha (lighter fluid) only "cleans" your playfield if it's a little dusty, I never understood the hype, it's only really supposed to remove old wax. Not clean. It does an awful job.

I have delicate EMs and I was scared by Pinside telling me how abrasive Novus is so I used Naphtha and had quite a few dirty playfields for a while and tried to act like it was an improvement. I shopped an EM for a friend who put it on location at his arcade and he paid me to fix the machine, clean it, and wax it - I cleaned it with Napatha and warned him about the "awful" Novus and it looked okay and then the next time I came in he politely told me he went over it with Novus 2 - and it really looked amazing, with no harm done. Night and day difference. Since then I use Novus 2 on my own machines and they turn out great. And I scrub HARD. It's safe. Especially on those new machines above anything, ultra safe, they're all coated.

I have determined that I guess the people who find results with Napatha are cleaning games that have been taken care of and probably deep cleaned already recently, perhaps before they bought it. Kind of like Grandma's dusting, hah, or maybe wiping down an already very clean machine for routine maintenance. When you actually go and try to bring a project machine (small project or big project) back to life it does nothing. It will clean off surface dirt but does nothing for ground-in dirt. I use it to get old wax off but that is it. Otherwise it seems useless.

For wax, I use Mothers' Pure Carnauba. (Make sure it does NOT say "Cleaner" on it, wrong kind and WAY too abrasive!) I have used it on old EMs all the way up to a Star Trek, Tron, and Metallica for a customer and I (and him, on the new games) were both shocked with the absolutely FANTASTIC results on both. Shines like crazy!

ive used both this, and Blitz. cant go wrong with either, but prefer the Blitz. it just seems to yield a better finish. But someone PLEASE tell me, is that screw lid hard to get on and off or IS JUST ME !... FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. : P

OMG... Novus on an EM?!

Lol. Yeah my lid gets harder to open each time I use it. Some users just scoop it all into a glass jar with a screw lid.

You can stick it in the microwave for about 3 seconds to loosen it, but yeah the glass jar is way easier to deal with

Hell yeah, you bet. Does a damn good job, too!

Of course you should always test from game to game on an inconspicuous area, you never know when the company might have switched something up with the paint.

Agree that naphtha is a very poor cleaner. Creates very dangerous fumes, too.

Try a bit of Mother's Mag Polish on your old fields....I think you will like the results.

A commercial grade Grease and Wax remover like PPG is far superior to Naptha. Its expensive and you have to go to the auto paint supplier to get it but its like night and day. Does the same work as Naptha but with very little fumes and no oily residue at all, just clean. I'll never use Naptha again.

Blitz is great stuff. I use the yellow round foam pads to apply and let it sit for a solid half hour. By then it'll be nice and hazy and then I buff it off by hand with a nice thick microfiber towel. Turn the towel enough as to not allow too much build up. I've done this on playfields as old as 74' to my JP and the results are amazing every time. I like to let that coat sit for four days (as noted on instructions) and apply a second coat.

I wasn't too impressed with the cleaning properties of naptha and man does it smell BAD. I use a light amount of Mean Green on a microfiber towel and avoid bare wood areas if possible. Never had any grain raising or such issues. I would only do this once and only if the playfield is really dirty otherwise I go straight to Novus 2.

Holy crap! I'd be so scared to do that! Lol

Naptha is best for getting wax and other gross residue off the PF - i should have specified you want to vacuum the hell out of the PF first, /9 there should be minimal 'cleaning' required. Naptha has no water in it and it's very gentle on paint and clearcoat, so it's the "safest" option in those respects (although not for your nose!) - I can't definitely say it's the "best", PPG sounds great but I would want to understand better if it had destructive chemical properties for the PF paint... but for me "no water" and "won't rip up paint" were the main criteria.

It's a paint brand:
http://www.ppgpaints.com/

Yes, PPG is a brand. "DX330 Wax and Grease remover" is the actual name of the product I was recommending above. This is made for professional automotive painters.

+1

So what's the verdict? If I have been using Milwax (I think it does a great job BTW), can I just clean and apply some Blitz wax without worrying about removing the silicone present in the Milwax? Thanks.

I was a bit nervous too but during my Sky Jump "light" restoration. The playfield was very dirty and I had that Novus on a rag all over it. Scrubbed damn hard. Didn't lose any paint. YMMV. That game was from 1974, results may different with older (or newer! who knows) games.

There is a hard following behind magic eraser and alcohol and THAT is the one I cannot get behind. Too far, IMO. Testing that, I went right through a color of paint with that on a playfield because that particular color's coat from the factory was very very light.