Deep Cleaning Records With Steam?

Is it worth steam-cleaning NEW LPs?

How hard does one press down with the RCM brush? I have a VPI 16.5 and the bristles feel rather stiff to me and I'm afraid of damagine the vinyl.

Stltrains mentions in his video that he also moves it back and forth... is this in the direction of outside to label or always going with the grooves?

Thanks, picked up my steam cleaner today from Walgreens ($13 !!!) and am about to dishwash the attachment that you (Stltrains) used in the video... and basically mimic the procedure best I can.

Looking forward to trying this - I'll report in.... :-)

So I tried 3 LPs and unfortunately did not get rid of surface noise (I guess in this case they are not dirt, but true wear & tear).

I didn't hear much sonic benefit, but my VPI rig sounds awful and nothing sounds good, so that statement has zero value.

I did warp the LPs. Every revolution the needle jumps a 1/2 inch. Not sure what I did wrong; I'll have to rewatch the YouTube video and see if I held the steamer too close or too long.

I haven't tried steaming again yet, but I think my problem was I simply too close to the vinyl (maybe 2").

What I couldn't tell from the YouTube video was how Stltrains covered the entire record surface. Do you start with the inside for one revolution, then move slightly adjacent for another revolution etc? I know you only cleaned for about 7 seconds, but curious what your 'coverage' technique was...