Danielk
I too own the CMX cleaner car and YES I use acetone. I think people are not familiar with the car. For one, like you say it is a sealed brass tube body with a needle valve to regulate the DRIP that is used to drip into a brass block which holds the pad. 2 the pad is a piece of material that you cut and clip on. The PAD DOES NOT BECOME SATURATED to the point of acetone running everywhere. I have used this car for years and it is the ONLY one that I have found that actually cleans and can us acetone. The vapors of the acetone are NOT high enough to cause a BURST of flame as people think. You have a better chance of flame with KEROSENE! As for the material used I found some at Hobby Lobby that matched the sample they sent but is a different color. I am not familiar with Gargraves so can not answer as to rust reason. I use mainly Atlas 21st Century track with some MTH RealTrax.
Good luck with the cleaning car I rate it excellent and as far as I am concerned it is the BEST! Course that is MY opinion.
