Deoxidizing fiberglass

tuscarora dave

tuscarora dave

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I have been cleaning up buses for a local company. These are the type of buses that you would see at nursing homes and airport shuttle services. Most are white fiberglass and have been severely neglected until I get to them. I have tried a boatload of different car care polishes, cleaner waxes, compounds etc. etc. on the chalky fiberglass. Mothers Machine Glaze has worked the best but I suspect is still not the right product. I now have my eye on Megs # 67 One Step Compound from their Marine/RV line.

I would assume that these fiberglass bus bodies are very similar to the fiberglass hulls on boats. Does anyone here (Mike or others) have experience with Megs # 67 or any other products that make deoxidizing an easier task?

Does #67 leave any protection behind or should it be followed with a wax of sorts?

If there is an affordable magic 1 step product for this I surely would like to know about it.

Thanks in advance for any shared experience, TD
 
Usually fiberglass cleans up pretty easy. If what your using is working, stick with it. Especially if the company is happy with the results. I would put a sealant on, there's no telling when those buses will get any care again.
 
M67 did a great job and leaves a nice wax as it is 'all in one' on my white motor home except there is still a haze which I have tried several polish/wax swirl removers to get out and nothing seems to take it out. Wish I could figure this one out.
 
Don't know the longevity yet but 303's site for rv fiberglass restoration. What I did on the 5th wheel was to spray 303 on the fiberglass and buff it in with a wool pad. It has been on for a month so far and looks like the day I applied it with no signs of the previous oxidation or any new.

Dave
 
tuscarora dave said:
I have been cleaning up buses for a local company. These are the type of buses that you would see at nursing homes and airport shuttle services. Most are white fiberglass and have been severely neglected until I get to them.

If there is an affordable magic 1 step product for this I surely would like to know about it.
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30 years ago I used to spend my non-flying time cleaning up commuter aircraft at night. These things never got washed other than perhaps the windows. While the maintenance guys were doing their thing we used to clean 'em up with gallons of Collinite Sapphire Cleaner/Wax using a rotary and Schlegel 8" wool pads. 1-step clean, polish and wax. Like all Collinite products the protection was pretty good. The planes didn't even get washed first! It took of years off contamination and even removed the exhaust stains under the wings.

On something hard like Imron or fiberglass, gel coat etc I'd think this would be the ticket. :xyxthumbs:

The stuff is a bit stout with wool. I tried it on my car with wool and an old electric Wen polisher back in the day and put more swirls into it than I removed. :D Those guys used to pitch all the wool pads every night after 1 use and I'd dig 'em out and throw 'em in the washer. Still have a few of 'em.

Collinite Liquid Sapphire Auto Wax #SS126, Liquid Car Wax, Collinite sapphire wax

If this works out for you gallons are available direct from Collinite.

TL
 
TLMitchell said:
30 years ago I used to spend my non-flying time cleaning up commuter aircraft at night. These things never got washed other than perhaps the windows. While the maintenance guys were doing their thing we used to clean 'em up with gallons of Collinite Sapphire Cleaner/Wax using a rotary and Schlegel 8" wool pads. 1-step clean, polish and wax. Like all Collinite products the protection was pretty good. The planes didn't even get washed first! It took of years off contamination and even removed the exhaust stains under the wings.

On something hard like Imron or fiberglass, gel coat etc I'd think this would be the ticket. :xyxthumbs:

The stuff is a bit stout with wool. I tried it on my car with wool and an old electric Wen polisher back in the day and put more swirls into it than I removed. :D Those guys used to pitch all the wool pads every night after 1 use and I'd dig 'em out and throw 'em in the washer. Still have a few of 'em.

Collinite Liquid Sapphire Auto Wax #SS126, Liquid Car Wax, Collinite sapphire wax

If this works out for you gallons are available direct from Collinite.

TL
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This is exactly what I am looking for. I want to do a quick wipe of the heavy dust then just go after it cutting out the wash and everything. Swirls are not an issue, right or wrong is not an issue, white, shiny and fast are the only issues with these buses. Thanks I will give it a shot because it is probably one of my cheaper options.:dblthumb2:
 
What did you end up settling on Dave? I really like M67, myself.
 
I actually ended up hitting the fiberglass with a purple 3M scuff pad and then a quick few passes with some cheap rocks in a bottle compound with rotary/wool using good technique and they clean up pretty good and quick.
 
Dave;

if youre still open to suggestions, a good one stepper is scholl concepts M20, or the rest of their marine line is great too.

something i used to use with great success on boats was aquabuff 1000 and 2000.
 
The problem I was initially having was trying to cut through the severe oxidation with a compound and a wool pad with a rotary. As you experienced with your Trailblazer this is no easy task, in fact it seems much harder to do on gel coat.

Now keep in mind that these are just commercial vehicles that generally get no care and once they're sold off of the lot, I'll likely never see them again, nor do I care if they're easy to wash from there on out. My only concern is to get them white and somewhat shiny again so they are presentable to sell. I don't care about buffer trails or holograms or even wax. They are all white.

Time and money is the issue for me. I tried different sanding discs starting with 500 grit and tried 800 grit too but those discs aren't cheap so I needed a cost effective way to get these roof caps looking good.

Enter the purple scotch brite pads. These scuff pads get the oxidation off rather quickly and leave a smooth surface or "clean pallet" in which to start the buffing cycle.

Going back to the time and money thing, there's no way I would even consider wanting to use a $30 a quart compound on these things. I'm thinking more like $30 dollars a gallon for a cheap rocks in a bottle compound, which I have available locally. While I did try all of the compounds that I've had on hand and some of the AIOs from the likes of Meg's, Mothers, Optimum, Poorboy's etc. They just weren't something I was willing to pay for for working on these commercial vehicles.

So it's purple 3M Scotch Brite pads to quickly abrade off the severe oxidation then rotary and wool pads with "I can't believe it's compound" lol which is a heavy rocks in a bottle compound that contains a lot of mineral spirits. The stuff smells like "Kiwi" shoe polish and is $29 a gallon from a local dealership detailing products supply business.
 
I'm talking about these roof caps which are constantly bombarded with freeway fallout, bugs, harsh detergents and are coated with a very heavy and thick layer of oxidation. They're much different than dealing with a boat.

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tuscarora dave said:
So it's purple 3M Scotch Brite pads to quickly abrade off the severe oxidation then rotary and wool pads with "I can't believe it's compound" lol which is a heavy rocks in a bottle compound that contains a lot of mineral spirits. The stuff smells like "Kiwi" shoe polish and is $29 a gallon from a local dealership detailing products supply business.
Click to expand...

Out of curiosity who's the detailing supply business? CAS in Mechanicsburg?

I'll be up that way in a few weekends visiting friends back home.
 
Vegas Transplant said:
^^^
anybody heard from Steve lately?
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*yawn* /stretch.. what did I miss?

:)

I've been in hibernation mode for the past 5 months, mostly due to traveling for work and family :)

sporadically lurking, but haven't had much to contribute. I appreciate the thought VT :xyxthumbs:

When I get the time for my vehicles, i'll have a few nice write-ups, along with some performance testing of new Son1cWax prototypes.. oooooooo :) The weather is finally breaking down here and the time to come out of the proverbial detailing cave is almost upon me.

But for now, lurking mostly.
 
Becciasm said:
Out of curiosity who's the detailing supply business? CAS in Mechanicsburg?

I'll be up that way in a few weekends visiting friends back home.
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I'd say my reply is quite late on this but...yes CAS on Sporting Hill and the Pike. They're in the stone age with their supplies and products but sometimes you need the old stone aged compounds. They have some decent towels and applicators etc. though.

Nice to see you're still lurking.
 
Becciasm said:
*yawn* /stretch.. what did I miss?

:)

I've been in hibernation mode for the past 5 months, mostly due to traveling for work and family :)

sporadically lurking, but haven't had much to contribute. I appreciate the thought VT :xyxthumbs:

When I get the time for my vehicles, i'll have a few nice write-ups, along with some performance testing of new Son1cWax prototypes.. oooooooo :) The weather is finally breaking down here and the time to come out of the proverbial detailing cave is almost upon me.

But for now, lurking mostly.
Click to expand...

Good to see your alive and well Steve!

Don't be a stranger......
 
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