WD-40 Contact Cleaner = Anodization Cleaner?

So I had a dry cell leaked in my EagTac D25 and I cleaned it with toothpaste which is a bit alkali. There is still a bit of brown-ish leftover on the spring after the cleaning, so I went and bought the WD-40 contact cleaner. Once I sprayed into the tube where the spring resides, the black anodization on the light almost immediately wear off! Yet the brown spot still somewhat left intact there. So the WD-40 is bad for the flashlight anodized paint?


I had tried it on my Fenix E05 and the same thing happened, just less wear off on the Fenix.




Wear off of the anodized black paint can be seen around the spring area on the inner tube:

The insides of flashlight bodies are not anodized. Most have a coating designed to protect the surface, which usually appears as a golden hue.
WD40 Contact Cleaner is mainly isopropyl alcohol pressurized by two different flammable gases. Isopropyl alcohol is a solvent, which aids it in softening dirt, oil films, etc. that can accumulate on contact sufaces, which the propellant gases then force off of the surface. As a solvent, it can work to remove any coatings that may be applied to the interior of flashlight bodies, as you have apparently seen. While the removal of such coatings will not harm the light per se, the coating is there for a reason. Any of the deoxidizing cleaners/treatments will do a better job of cleaning contact surfaces, without the collateral damage of a solvent.

TL;DR You didn't hurt it, but there are better options out there.

Google Hosa Deoxit.

I recommend a spray bottle of 5% Deoxit D5 and the nail polish style bottle of 100% Deoxit Gold for next time👍.

"Servisol Super 10" is like the best spray contact cleaner, They have been making it for like 20 year+ and it`s quite cheap to buy, I used it on my Olight S10 that would not light after storage and it worked straight away after a couple of squirts.

John.