Bring back the shine on our first new to us camper (gel coat)

solar07 said:
What is the coating you speak of? It is winter here now and everything is in the barn.


No update yet. I just received my needed products to start polishing in the coming weeks. Seeing the results of the spray and forget I am a little unsure as to how to proceed. In test spots it is doing something remarkable. Question is, how will it hold up or will it cause any harm?
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My advice? Use something that is actually designed for what you're working on. This includes not using a floor wax on an RV. I don't profess to know any of the chemistry involved. But I do tend to think the people who manufacture those products do and they design them to have the optimum results for the surface they're made for. Also, if the Spray and Forget is powerful enough to remove oxidation without any buffing on your part, I'm suspicious of what else it's doing to your paint. You can't get something for nothing, and I have yet to see a product that delivers results like buffing without any effort or any work. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

My opinion: you're received some great advice from a world-renowned detailer (Mike Phillips). Go with what he suggested.
 
solar07 said:
So are you reccomending the vert or poli? Trying to follow. Thanks!
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Wasn't recommending either although I have had tremendous success with them. Just saw one this week I did 3 years ago and am amazed. But I usually only use it on 90's style pre laid panel type walls. The ones that have some. Chop strand matt printing through. I have used it on a ton of non skid swim platforms. I laughed at people using it rather than doing things the correct way. The I realized it has its place. People live the results and it is higj profit for me in my area. I have an rv dealer that I do some for. Important about every other year to maintain it or it will fail. Then you have a mess if you let it go.

But I was simply telling him how to remove it. Before he tries to go the other route of compounding. You cant even wet sand the stuff off. You need the stripper. Simple.
 
LydiaGP said:
My advice? Use something that is actually designed for what you're working on. This includes not using a floor wax on an RV. I don't profess to know any of the chemistry involved. But I do tend to think the people who manufacture those products do and they design them to have the optimum results for the surface they're made for. Also, if the Spray and Forget is powerful enough to remove oxidation without any buffing on your part, I'm suspicious of what else it's doing to your paint. You can't get something for nothing, and I have yet to see a product that delivers results like buffing without any effort or any work. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

My opinion: you're received some great advice from a world-renowned detailer (Mike Phillips). Go with what he suggested.
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Who ever said vertglass and poliglow was not any work?? Where you come up with that? It is an all day job!. Nothing about an rv is easy. And the product is specifically designed for the application. When I get my hard drive back from data recovery I will show you results that look LIKE buffing. A lot of people thought I had painted thr bottom molded luggage area around perimeter. Just like some do on buff jobs. I buy compound in buckets for my marine work. Sometimes I go another route. My results speak for themselves.

And again my point was to explain what it was to he could remove it so he could do your method. The only one acceptable to those on these boards that have never used the methods they slam. No worries. I was one of them with my nose in the air for many years on this issue. Although I never claimed it wouldn't work or that it wasnt manufactured for the application. Because that simply is not true. I was simply selfish and didn't want it cutting into my rotary compounding work by diy'ers. I am over that. Few will apply themselves anyway. And many that do it fails.
 
Hello all, so I finally found time to do this. Camper is all washed and in the garage with my marine 31 heavy cur cleaner wax, lake country yellow foam pad, and Meg's MT300. I'm running into a few issues. Right out of the gate one of my lake country pads melted to the center of the Meg's 5" plate. Only 3 sections into the job. I chucked that back plate and switched to the yellow one I see Mike always using. So far ok. Still on the front and I'm getting some very shiney results in some areas combined with some dull lines, trails, etc, like you can see where I was with the DA. Any tips? See where light is shining there is like what looks to be foot prints on a window.
 
I think iay have figured it out. I was doing 4-5 passes of left to right up to down and they may be tppany for gel coat. I think it was rubbing the gunk back on. Moved to 2-3 passes of same technique may have solved 70% of it.
 
Scratch that. It helped some but still getting a bunch of weird inconsistent dull marks ��
 
DaveT435 said:
It's hard to tell. Looks like dried on product. You're using a cleaner wax??
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Yea it is marine 31 heavy cut gel coat cleaner wax. I did one whole side and the front and got mixed results. I tested meguires ultra cut then a polish and it looks better so I'm thinking this may not have enough cut. Might try another one step like captains. Do I need to use a wool pad?

My Meg's mt300 is dying to melt these back plates after only a couple 4800-5800 runs each time.
 
Just to chime in...



Thanks for the PM letting me know about this discussion, sorry for the delay in getting to it.




solar07 said:
Hello all, so I finally found time to do this. Camper is all washed and in the garage with my marine 31 heavy cur cleaner wax, lake country yellow foam pad, and Meg's MT300. I'm running into a few issues.

Right out of the gate one of my lake country pads melted to the center of the Meg's 5" plate. Only 3 sections into the job. I chucked that back plate and switched to the yellow one I see Mike always using. So far ok.
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That doesn't sound right?

I'm guessing the yellow foam pad is this one?

Yellow Lake Country 5 1/2 Inch Flat Foam Pad


Foam pads will deform and I've seen a few melt in my life but it really only happens when you press against them hard and make a lot of passes. It's the pressure and violent oscillating action at high speed that creates a lot of heat that causes this to happen.



solar07 said:
Still on the front and I'm getting some very shiney results in some areas combined with some dull lines, trails, etc, like you can see where I was with the DA. Any tips?

See where light is shining there is like what looks to be foot prints on a window.
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splotchygelcoat.jpg


It looks like you're getting the surface shiny but not getting off all the wax?

Are you buffing to a dry buff? If so - don't do this. Always have a wet film of product as you're buffing. Anytime you buff till the product is gone, (bad technique), you risk micro-marring and dulling the surface.




solar07 said:
Link to my album will have to do for now. It won't let me upload photo from mobile device.
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This picture is in your free gallery here on AGO

solar07 Gallery - AutogeekOnline Gallery


The only way to add a photo to a thread from a phone or tablet, (that I know of), is to use the TapaTalk App. I use it all the time and I share thousands of pictures each year.




solar07 said:
Yea it is marine 31 heavy cut gel coat cleaner wax. I did one whole side and the front and got mixed results. I tested meguires ultra cut then a polish and it looks better so I'm thinking this may not have enough cut.
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The Marine 31 Heavy Cut Cleaner/Wax is fairly aggressive it could be you need to use more product or go over the area twice?



solar07 said:
Might try another one step like captains. Do I need to use a wool pad?
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Just to avoid confusion, there are one-step cleaner/waxes and one-step compound/polishes. The difference is the cleaner/wax will leave behind some protection while a compound/polish will NOT leave behind any protection.

Traditional wool pads don't work on free spinning orbital polishers, that is the kind you would use on a rotary buffer.

There are "different" types of wool pads on the market now that are more like microfiber pads in that they are THIN and have short fiber lengths. These will work on free spinning orbital polishers buy my experience is the fibers, because they are a type of abrasive may cut well but they tend to micro-mar the surface. Not a problem if you follow with foam to clean it up.


I'd get a quart of the BLACKFIRE One-Step and some fresh foam cutting pads and I'm pretty confident this will work perfect.


:)
 
Thanks Mike. Yea I've tried it a few ways (more product, less product), Meg's cutting pad vs the lake country pad. I seem to get the same effect. I spot tested an area using Meg's cutting product, then a Meg's polish and it turned out great. Hoping not to have to three step this however.

What pad do you recommend with the black fire?

I'm not sure what the issue is with my Meg's DA. It seems to get very hot on anything past setting 4. Even if I one hand it and use no pressure with my left hand it still seems to start getting hot. I eased way up and after awhile, and continuously changing pads, I managed to partially melt the yellow back plate as well. I'm wondering what's up with that. The mt300 does seem to like the 5" Meg's pads better than the 5.5" lakes. Maybe they are too much pad for the mt300? Hoping to figure out some things before moving to the cars :)

On a side note I have test spotted some areas doing 2-3 runs with the Marine heavy cut and I get the same smudgy results each time. How much product should be left on the camper/on the pad prior to buffing?

Thanks again.
 
P.s. the pads I have been using are the lake country 5.5*7/8 beveled edge cutting yellow pad. I tried a Meg's maroon 5" cutting pad which the mt300 seems like like a bit more due to the less overhang.
 
solar07 said:
Thanks Mike. Yea I've tried it a few ways (more product, less product), Meg's cutting pad vs the lake country pad. I seem to get the same effect. I spot tested an area using Meg's cutting product, then a Meg's polish and it turned out great. Hoping not to have to three step this however.

What pad do you recommend with the black fire?
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For white gel-coat you can probably get away with something like the orange Lake Country foam cutting pads.

Orange Lake Country 5 1/2 Inch Flat Foam Pad


The thing with using a foam CUTTING pad with a one step cleaner/wax is any foam cutting pad can leave micro-marring. It may not show up on light colors so if a person only wants to go around a camper one time then you have to do some testing and then decide how much time you want to put into this project.

To do it right it might come down to doing a two-step process.


solar07 said:
I'm not sure what the issue is with my Meg's DA. It seems to get very hot on anything past setting 4. Even if I one hand it and use no pressure with my left hand it still seems to start getting hot. I eased way up and after awhile, and continuously changing pads, I managed to partially melt the yellow back plate as well. I'm wondering what's up with that.
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I've never experienced a heat issue with this model.

Maybe call Meguiar's Customer Care and let them know what you're experiencing. They keep a very good data base with feedback and issues with all their products so if there has been an issue with this model in the past they would have info on it.



solar07 said:
On a side note I have test spotted some areas doing 2-3 runs with the Marine heavy cut and I get the same smudgy results each time.

How much product should be left on the camper/on the pad prior to buffing?

Thanks again.
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Just to be specific, you're using the heavy cut CLEANER/WAX

Marine 31 Gel Coat Heavy-Cut Cleaner Wax, best boat cleaner wax, gel coat cleaner wax



NOT the heavy-cut oxidation remover

Marine 31 Gel Coat Heavy-Cut Oxidation Cleaner, fiberglass compound, gel coat compound, marine oxidation remover


There's a huge difference in abrasive technology between these two products.


:)
 
solar07 said:
How much product should be left on the camper/on the pad prior to buffing?
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One step cleaner/waxes, (same exact thing as any product called an AIO), when used on neglected surfaces are used like a compound or polish when removing swirls.

This means they are used heavy or wet. You want ample product on the surface both for the abrasives, chemical cleaners, solvents and lubricating oils. I've NEVER been one of those "pea sized drops" guys. That's ridiculous.


I have some articles on using one-step cleaner/waxes, I use Google to find my articles. Type in a few key words and my first and last name.


:)
 
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