I've given up on isopropyl alcohol for cleaning up TIM. With the wide array of TIM available on the market, not all of them are soluble in alcohol. Some are better cleaned up by mineral spirits, acetone, or other solvents.
The company that makes Arctic Silver 5 also makes a TIM cleanup chemical duo called Arctic Cleaner. The primary solvent is limonene, which is the same stuff that's in Goo Gone and one of the solvents in Goof Off, both good cleaners in their own right. The second bottle contains 95% isopropyl alcohol with a surfactant to clean off the limonene and dissolved TIM that remains. Since I started using the Arctic Cleaner, I haven't looked back. =) It smells good too, and it hasn't failed to clean up even the oldest and most crusty of TIM as well as the newer generation compounds.
Greg
The company that makes Arctic Silver 5 also makes a TIM cleanup chemical duo called Arctic Cleaner. The primary solvent is limonene, which is the same stuff that's in Goo Gone and one of the solvents in Goof Off, both good cleaners in their own right. The second bottle contains 95% isopropyl alcohol with a surfactant to clean off the limonene and dissolved TIM that remains. Since I started using the Arctic Cleaner, I haven't looked back. =) It smells good too, and it hasn't failed to clean up even the oldest and most crusty of TIM as well as the newer generation compounds.
Greg