SEMI transport truck pointers

Have you ever heard of someone toting a bucket full of flour along with them on a big polishing job?

Wait until you get to polishing the aluminum on these big rigs. The amount of black polishing residue can be astonishingly hard to remove on a lot of the metal surfaces. You'll wipe and wipe and wipe, you'll find that a lot of times you'll just be moving black from one spot to another.

When you encounter this, you'll want to break out your bucket full of flour, take a dry microfiber or cotton T-shirt type of towel, (have both with you) smash it down into the dry flour, flip it over and smash it down in the flour again, shake the excess flour off the towel and wipe the still wet black polishing residue off with this flour coated towel. It magically removes the black residue better than any amount wiping with a normal towel. I am not kidding at all on this. Even if you don't use it, grab a bucket with a lid, pour at least a small bag of flour into it and take it along with you. A $5 investment here can save you hundreds of dollars in time on one of these big jobs where there's a lot of aluminum and paint side by side especially. You'll want your bucket of flour with you when doing an aluminum polishing job of any sort or size. Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.
 
Be very careful with using any hot solvents on the paint on these rigs. A lot of the paints are different on these rigs, but most of it very quickly dissolves with the use of hot solvents such as lacquer thinner, naptha, acetone etc.

You'll be much better served by taking your time with some denatured alcohol or mineral spirits to remove light amounts of decal adhesives. Go slow with limonene adhesive removers too as these can quickly soften the paint on these trailers too. Someone always recommends 3M Adhesive Remove, It's Pure Evil on many of these types paints. Proceed with extreme caution if you take any of that with you. If you need to take a lesson on the use of 3M Adhesive Remover, do so under the trailer where it won't be seen if it melts right through the paint.

That's it for now...I'm subscribed, so I'll answer any questions if I can as you post them. TD
 
envious2014 said:
here are some pics of this semi . its needs a lot of love really bad. it is very dull all over and very very chalky!!!
Click to expand...

When looking at big white trailers in photos, often times the white washes out the detail the photo contains, so I may be wrong here but upon looking at the photos, it looks to me like the trailer has one piece gel coat sidewalls. These sidewalls are jig built then after the lower frame, front wall and front corners are put together, they crane these mammoth sidewalls into place and 2 piece button head bolts are used to secure them above the rub rails of the trailer.

If this is the case, and the gelcoat is really chalky with a rough textured feel to it, it's going to take a ton of work to bring those walls back to a glossy condition and just about everything I wrote above can be disregarded. The box on the rig, behind the cab however, does look like pre-painted aluminum panels so everything I wrote above should apply to bringing that back.

These big single unit sidewalls are sometimes painted, and some are gel coat very similar to what you'll find on a boat or on the front roof caps of the buses that I work on often.

If these are heavily oxidized gel coat walls, you'll want to do some testing to see how aggressive you'll have to go in removing the oxidation and to bring back a gloss.

If it's just lightly oxidized, you might get away with a wool pad on a rotary and a heavy duty compound but.... The kind of abuse a boat sees and what these trailers see is a bit different. Boats seem to be cared for much better, are in the water a lot, and are often times wrapped in the off season.

I rarely see these types of gel coat walls or roof caps just lightly oxidized, they're typically super rough in texture and show a thick layer of oxidation. I've tested all sorts of products, pads and machines on these "Hyper Oxidized" gel coats and nothing works. When they're in a totally "FUBAR'D" condition, I pay a couple of guys to work ahead of me, scuffing off the thick layer of oxidation with 3M Purple Scuff Pads There is no substitute for these. Norton Purple Scuff pads work but don't last near as long and dull out quicker requiring twice the effort and time in scrubbing. The extra cost of 3M Purple Scuff Pads pays for itself 100 fold in time savings. After my hired hands have scuffed off the outer layer of oxidation, I follow behind them with my rotary, a twisted wool pad and a bottle of 3M Super Duty Rubbing Compound bringing back the gloss. Sometimes I can get away with my Flex 3401 with 6.5" Lake Country Purple Foamed Wool pads.

If this is what you're dealing with, and it's in a super oxidized state, I could easily see it taking 100+ man hours to recon that entire trailer. Hopefully it's not that bad.
 
Thanks for chiming in Dave...

This thread started out as an e-mail to me and I told the OP the best thing to do would be to start a thread on our forum because we have so many talented and experienced forum members always willing to help others.


:dblthumb2:
 
Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
Thanks for chiming in Dave...

This thread started out as an e-mail to me and I told the OP the best thing to do would be to start a thread on our forum because we have so many talented and experienced forum members always willing to help others.


:dblthumb2:
Click to expand...

No doubt about it Mike, you're quite welcome.

I personally know how absolutely frustrating and expensive it is to work through the learning curve in working on commercial vehicles. I only wish I had someone guiding me along when I worked through my own learning curve with it.

If I had to do it all over again....I'd work at McDonald's to earn the money to put myself through college instead!!

There are a ton of pitfalls, and some extremely dangerous chemicals involved in making commercial vehicle cleanups and recons easier, a lot of different processes that just don't apply to car care.

Often times what works extremely well in the garage on the BMW or Mercedes Benz, either does nothing on these commercial vehicles or takes ten times longer or worse yet cuts the paint off in just a few passes.

It's my pleasure to help out.
 
first dont sell yourself cheap make sure it is light oxidation , check if its chakly or rough paint then smooth !!also see if it has atleast some shine, if it dont then youll be putting some good elbows n grease cause its not light oxidation!!!heres a before n after of something similar
 
might I suggest a foam gun or cannon and a montana wash broom? I have this for the family suvs and it is a killer combo.
 
captain detail said:
first dont sell yourself cheap make sure it is light oxidation , check if its chakly or rough paint then smooth !!also see if it has atleast some shine, if it dont then youll be putting some good elbows n grease cause its not light oxidation!!!heres a before n after of something similar
Click to expand...

Nice outcome!! How many hours did that take?
 
Washed it Monday finished one side ,Tuesday got other side finished all the paint, Wednesday just came back for the chrome n all the little details
 
wow , I am really impressed you really seem to know your stuff. The fact that this is so bad and neglected and how much there is to know, Im a little intimidated lol. I almost am fearful i will be biting off my than I can chew in this scenario.
 
I mean I am not one to walk away from a challenge as I love detailing and I love to work. And i really wanna learn to do these. Now you said this3D International Deep Blue Metal Polish is the way to go if its the traditional panel pieces with the thinner paint. But you did say in another post based on the photos that it looks gel coated, which of course can take a lot of cutting. What can a detailer like me can realistically ask for a job like this as I am sure this will take me close to 4-5 days to complete?
 
or is this3D International Deep Blue Metal Polish to be used only on the metal?
 
first check if the smoothedness of the paint is chalky or rough n if you see no reflection at all then its heavily oxidixe now you got to ask yourself is it worth are you gonna make money out of all this after all your expenses on this project
 
if you say no !! then go negociate with your client or forget it, if you say yes then youll need alot of chemicals if you have a polisher with a wool pad and different speeds thats good!! youll be doing everything the same as in a car only thing its alot more ass in that car!!DEPending how oxidize it is youll have to make the decision of cutting !!try doing it in a little spot if you see results then thats wats up!!i
 
envious2014 said:
wow , I am really impressed you really seem to know your stuff. The fact that this is so bad and neglected and how much there is to know, Im a little intimidated lol. I almost am fearful i will be biting off my than I can chew in this scenario.
Click to expand...

I've bitten off more than I could feasibly chew many times over until I figured out what to use and how to use it on totally neglected commercial vehicles. It's kind of like paying your dues to get good at it.

How well do you know this client? Tell him you need to do some testing with a few different products and processes before estimating the job, do some test spots and get back to him with an estimate. It really is a big job and if you struggle through the entire thing due to lack of experience, is it really fair to charge him for that lack of experience? You're best off being 100% honest with him up front that you need to find out exactly what you need to do to get the results he wants, and the only way to do that is to do some testing. Then do the math, figure out a ball park amount of time you think it will take you to finish the job, then add a little time to your estimated number to cover unexpected problems that take more time.

It's not easy to throw a number out on a job like this. If you think the bill should be $1500, throw out a number of around $2200 and let him negotiate you down a little if he needs to. Really it depends on what you need to make per day and what he needs to stay within budget wise. It's better to collect the required information in doing the testing, to put out a good accurate estimate and have him pass than it is to throw out a low ball number and get ripped on the job. If you do that you'll be pissed off for doing it and he'll expect to pay a low ball number moving forward.

envious2014 said:
I mean I am not one to walk away from a challenge as I love detailing and I love to work. And i really wanna learn to do these. Now you said this3D International Deep Blue Metal Polish is the way to go if its the traditional panel pieces with the thinner paint. But you did say in another post based on the photos that it looks gel coated, which of course can take a lot of cutting. What can a detailer like me can realistically ask for a job like this as I am sure this will take me close to 4-5 days to complete?
Click to expand...

What is a good days pay for you? What kind of overhead do you have to cover? What will you need to pay for in materials to get the job done? Add up your expected daily labor, add in for a helper if you'll have one with you, times that by the number of days you think it will take after doing your testing to see what you're actually dealing with, add in the estimated cost of pads and products + shipping. You're not in this to break even so make at least 30% on all your materials, add that in...what's your total?

If it cleans up fairly easy I could see having 25 to 30 hours in making it look real good if you're doing the trailer and the rig. If it's totally oxidized to hell and gel coat you could possibly triple that time.

One thing I know for sure is that you almost always take a whoopin until you get good at this stuff.

envious2014 said:
or is this3D International Deep Blue Metal Polish to be used only on the metal?
Click to expand...

Works exceedingly well in cleaning up the paint on these commercial vehicles, and of course it'll do a good job on the metal too.
 
captain detail said:
first check if the smoothedness of the paint is chalky or rough n if you see no reflection at all then its heavily oxidixe now you got to ask yourself is it worth are you gonna make money out of all this after all your expenses on this project, if you say no !! then go negociate with your client or forget it, if you say yes then youll need alot of chemicals if you have a polisher with a wool pad and different speeds thats good!! youll be doing everything the same as in a car only thing its alot more ass in that car!!DEPending how oxidize it is youll have to make the decision of cutting !!try doing it in a little spot if you see results then thats wats up!!i
Click to expand...

:iagree:
 
tuscarora dave said:
I've bitten off more than I could feasibly chew many times over until I figured out what to use and how to use it on totally neglected commercial vehicles. It's kind of like paying your dues to get good at it.

How well do you know this client? Tell him you need to do some testing with a few different products and processes before estimating the job, do some test spots and get back to him with an estimate. It really is a big job and if you struggle through the entire thing due to lack of experience, is it really fair to charge him for that lack of experience? You're best off being 100% honest with him up front that you need to find out exactly what you need to do to get the results he wants, and the only way to do that is to do some testing. Then do the math, figure out a ball park amount of time you think it will take you to finish the job, then add a little time to your estimated number to cover unexpected problems that take more time.

It's not easy to throw a number out on a job like this. If you think the bill should be $1500, throw out a number of around $2200 and let him negotiate you down a little if he needs to. Really it depends on what you need to make per day and what he needs to stay within budget wise. It's better to collect the required information in doing the testing, to put out a good accurate estimate and have him pass than it is to throw out a low ball number and get ripped on the job. If you do that you'll be pissed off for doing it and he'll expect to pay a low ball number moving forward.



What is a good days pay for you? What kind of overhead do you have to cover? What will you need to pay for in materials to get the job done? Add up your expected daily labor, add in for a helper if you'll have one with you, times that by the number of days you think it will take after doing your testing to see what you're actually dealing with, add in the estimated cost of pads and products + shipping. You're not in this to break even so make at least 30% on all your materials, add that in...what's your total?

If it cleans up fairly easy I could see having 25 to 30 hours in making it look real good if you're doing the trailer and the rig. If it's totally oxidized to hell and gel coat you could possibly triple that time.

One thing I know for sure is that you almost always take a whoopin until you get good at this stuff.



Works exceedingly well in cleaning up the paint on these commercial vehicles, and of course it'll do a good job on the metal too.
Click to expand...



tuscarora dave you summed it up real well , !!

PAYING YOUR DUES IS WHAT YOU ARE DOING !!
CAUSE ONCE's its done!!

THE KNOWLEDGE IS WORTH more!!!
 
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