How many pads for a motorcoach?

[jcdata]

Hi!

This is my 2nd question I just signed on the form so bear with me. I've been watching some of your videos Mike and I can say they are truly informative.

Anyhow I'm planning to detail my vehicles and my motorcoach. And after watching your videos I just realized....I don't think I have enough pads especially for the motorcoach and possibly our SUV!

The bus is 42 by 13' tall and 102" wide...with the slides out it s nearly 13'. This vehicle has been well taken care of by the original owners and lived in a climate controlled garage. It primarily saw most of its life with Turtle Wax car wash and carnuba's mother's wax. I see slight swirls and the paint.


I have attached the photo of the coach in question

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[chilly]

Hi!

This is my 2nd question I just signed on the form so bear with me. I've been watching some of your videos Mike and I can say they are truly informative.

Anyhow I'm planning to detail my vehicles and my motorcoach. And after watching your videos I just realized....I don't think I have enough pads especially for the motorcoach and possibly our SUV!

The bus is 42 by 13' tall and 102" wide...with the slides out it s nearly 13'. This vehicle has been well taken care of by the original owners and lived in a climate controlled garage. It primarily saw most of its life with Turtle Wax car wash and carnuba's mother's wax. I see slight swirls and the paint.


I have attached the photo of the coach in question

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

I have been in the same situation and the first question is have you done a test spot or several test spots and know just what pad and product you will be using

I kept my coach up and did a yearly once around with an AIO and then waxed as needed

I used 6 pads and worked until those pads were all gunked up and stopped for the day, washed them, and then kept that up for a few days until I was done

Between the labor of moving ladders around and extension cords tugging on me that was all I could handle

But I’m also old and retired and had not much else to do

Try a test spot and go from there

What polisher and pads do you currently have, what products are you used to using, etc

The more info we get the better

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[noorth]

Thats a crazy detail man! I would prefer at least 20 medium pads for something like that - rupes yellow foam or wool comes to mind, they have a bigger face, the foam, so it will be more efficient then some pads - if you plan to just spend one day at it. But honestly it would take me a solid week to do something like that. And i really couldn't see me not using a waterless wash to prep the panels before polishing, after one good bucket wash on the whole unit. I'm a big fan of mckee's N914. Wolfgang makes a straight waterless too i think.

Good luck!

 

[chilly]

Thats a crazy detail man! I would prefer at least 20 medium pads for something like that - rupes yellow foam or wool comes to mind, they have a bigger face, the foam, so it will be more efficient then some pads - if you plan to just spend one day at it. But honestly it would take me a solid week to do something like that.

Good luck!

What I should have said is the FIRST thing the OP needs to do, even before a test spot, is to decide on his expectations

My first coach was only 32’ long and I quickly learned that swirls I would never allow on my car were perfectly fine on a coach

Actually it’s easier than it looks in one respect

It’s 90% flat surfaces and with a 6-7” pad you just start doing squares

No dips or valleys or swoopy fenders and stuff

But it’s also 99% vertical so you are supporting the weight of the machine and cord 100% of the time except for doing the roof

It’s a job, that’s for sure


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[Rsurfer]

I have been in the same situation and the first question is have you done a test spot or several test spots and know just what pad and product you will be using

I kept my coach up and did a yearly once around with an AIO and then waxed as needed

I used 6 pads and worked until those pads were all gunked up and stopped for the day, washed them, and then kept that up for a few days until I was done

Between the labor of moving ladders around and extension cords tugging on me that was all I could handle

But I’m also old and retired and had not much else to do

Try a test spot and go from there

What polisher and pads do you currently have, what products are you used to using, etc

The more info we get the better

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You didn't bring that land yacht to Molokai?

 

[chilly]

You didn't bring that land yacht to Molokai?

Nope, I’d get to the end of the highways and have to leave it

Nowhere big enough to turn it around



Plus filling a 150 gallon tank at the prices here would bankrupt me




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[chilly]

Thats a crazy detail man! I would prefer at least 20 medium pads for something like that - rupes yellow foam or wool comes to mind, they have a bigger face, the foam, so it will be more efficient then some pads - if you plan to just spend one day at it. But honestly it would take me a solid week to do something like that. And i really couldn't see me not using a waterless wash to prep the panels before polishing, after one good bucket wash on the whole unit. I'm a big fan of mckee's N914. Wolfgang makes a straight waterless too i think.

Good luck!

I actually did exactly what you are suggesting

Initial bucket wash and then when I was polishing I would clean top to bottom using ONR and wash a section about 4-5 feet wide by 2-3 feet and then do 2 polishing sections with 3D Speed and work my way down repeating the ONR for a section and Polish

When I got to the bottom I’d go back up and wax/sealant my way down

That was a day for me


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[noorth]

I actually did exactly what you are suggesting

Initial bucket wash and then when I was polishing I would clean top to bottom using ONR and wash a section about 4-5 feet wide by 2-3 feet and then do 2 polishing sections with 3D Speed and work my way down repeating the ONR for a section and Polish

When I got to the bottom I’d go back up and wax/sealant my way down

That was a day for me


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm curious, why don't you use periods? I picked up on it a few times now

 

[noorth]

I actually did exactly what you are suggesting

Initial bucket wash and then when I was polishing I would clean top to bottom using ONR and wash a section about 4-5 feet wide by 2-3 feet and then do 2 polishing sections with 3D Speed and work my way down repeating the ONR for a section and Polish

When I got to the bottom I’d go back up and wax/sealant my way down

That was a day for me


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Must of been a lot of work.

Personally i would of used 3D One probably if i was going to go over the surface with an LSP after using an AIO. Any medium polish.

 

[chilly]

I'm curious, why don't you use periods? I picked up on it a few times now

Well, the post you quoted contained one long sentence and subsequent sentences were broken out as separate one sentence paragraphs

It’s a habit left over from my years with the court system and the way they taught us to communicate with judges

Each separate thought or topic is broken out as a self standing sentence

Where it came from I can’t say but I did it long enough that it has stuck with me




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[chilly]

Must of been a lot of work.

Personally i would of used 3D One probably if i was going to go over the surface with an LSP after using an AIO. Any medium polish.

I did as much correction as I wanted/needed after I bought the coach so 3D One would have been overkill for my yearly AIO regimen

As for adding another layer of LSP on top of an AIO, I felt it was worth the effort

I did use 3D One or Hyper Polish on occasion when I brushed a tree or bush to knock down the scratches and then went over that with Speed as more of a final polish than anything else

I think the 2 compliment each other nicely

After I corrected my truck with 3D One I immediately went over it with 3D Speed and then a layer of 3D Poxy and OCW on top of that

I guess I am a layering kind of guy

 

[jcdata]

I have been in the same situation and the first question is have you done a test spot or several test spots and know just what pad and product you will be using

I kept my coach up and did a yearly once around with an AIO and then waxed as needed

I used 6 pads and worked until those pads were all gunked up and stopped for the day, washed them, and then kept that up for a few days until I was done

Between the labor of moving ladders around and extension cords tugging on me that was all I could handle

But I’m also old and retired and had not much else to do

Try a test spot and go from there

What polisher and pads do you currently have, what products are you used to using, etc

The more info we get the better

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sorry for the late response!

Here's what I have, Boos G21 which I found new in the box. I have already procured 4 sets of 6.5 pads, 2 sets of 5", 4 sets of 3" pads with the appropriate plates and the drill adapter for 3".

For compounds, I previously bought TW 1 and Done Compound. And also bought 3 of 4 of BOSS creams. I have just started testing on panels..namely my older vehicles. I just polished the minivan and did the hood on the Yukon.. that hood was real bad. The roof is real bad on it as the clear is going away.

Sorry for the lack of punctuation, I use voice to speech while on the phone. I don't like texting and PC is upstairs. I miss my blackberry because of the keyboard.

Here's a video of the coach when I did the first wash and wax using Aero Cosmetics product, 'Wash n Wax'.

Our 05 Allure Siskiyou Summit ..one of a kind - YouTube


Sorry for the length.

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[jcdata]

Thats a crazy detail man! I would prefer at least 20 medium pads for something like that - rupes yellow foam or wool comes to mind, they have a bigger face, the foam, so it will be more efficient then some pads - if you plan to just spend one day at it. But honestly it would take me a solid week to do something like that. And i really couldn't see me not using a waterless wash to prep the panels before polishing, after one good bucket wash on the whole unit. I'm a big fan of mckee's N914. Wolfgang makes a straight waterless too i think.

Good luck!

I actually used washnwax which is pretty much waterless.

I also just purchased ONR because after realizing and looking at my water softener I only use a total of 3 gallons washing this thing! So I figured it would bring several gallons of the stilled water and washed it at the campground if needed.

I was estimating my pad count will probably be 16 to 20. I guess it depends how big the sections will be. The guys that I've already done it and say they just do 2 X 10 sections.


The surface has very light to moderate swirls.. There are some scratches at the base which I'm gonna try to get some of those out. There looks to be some deep ones. The manual states that the thickness of the paint is up to 18 mm! The previous owner basically used Turtle Wax car wash and mother's carnuba wax. It has stayed in a climate controlled environment in its own garage Never driven in rain but it sat in rain in Florida. Also never driven in snow. So I'm following in that true tradition And where it will stay in a climate control facility.

What concerns me the most is falling off the ladder! Yeah! My wife thought about list just used 2 ladders and a scaffold and me stand on it and go from there. But then again she cites that our flagpole pulley needs to be repaired so she said let's just go ahead and rent a lift or a scissor Jack and while it's here polish the bus.

I also was thinking about putting fusso ( I bought 2 cans of the original formula) on it since it's so durable. But I've also looked at ceramics next such as Artdedesign, IGL et cetera.. I spoke to the owner of art design in great length on what I wanted to do and he was recommending me which protectant to go use. Boys are going to be costly! Lol compared To the amount of pads I just purchased!

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[chilly]

I just watched your video

That is an amazing coach and it is immaculate

I see why you are so passionate about keeping it up

Enjoy it!!!