RV help???

donavin629

donavin629

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hey everyone just singed up on this site.
Im hoping I can get some help.
Im doing pretty well with the cars..
Here is my problem at the moment.. I just landed a Body shop account and they work on a lot of RVs and for some reason my chemicals are not working the same as they would on cars.

Below are the chemicals and my process for the exterior.

Wash and clay then polish
I am no longer using compound since I switched over to system one polish.
Its amazing on cars but for some reason its not taking deep water stains on these RVs.(ex: lines running down the sides and front)
Im hitting pretty hard to with my Makita using a wool pad
The owner of system one said the product should be able to remove those marks.. so not sure what I can do next.. any other products out there that will not take a long time to get these water marks off.
Also these rvs I am getting are heavily oxidized.

Thanks for any help you can give me.
Donavin
 
Late-model RV's have typically have an acrylic coating on the paint which comes from the factory. They apply this to help maintain the shine and protect the paint over the years. I know that Winnebago applies this acrylic on all of their RV's.

Other RV's use gel coats and fiberglass similar to boats. You need to get polishes that are specifically for marine and/or RV applications.
 
thanks for the info.. yeah i have been looking for some new products.. but tom from system one swears that his product is an all in one and will take care of gel coats as well.. do have any good products you can recomend.. im looking for something that is quick and does not make a big mess
 
Menzerna polishes work on gel coats and fiberglass. I don't know if they work on acrylic coats, though.

A lot of people here also like Duragloss #501 Marine RV Polish as it polishes and seals all in one step. You may want to contact Winnebago or some other major RV company directly and see if they recommend any products for polishing their RV's.
 
This may take a little time but see what some of the popular RVs are coming in or ask the owner about what the big name and popular ones are and give them a call and see what they say the coating is. Once you find the coating then you can see what kind of polishes and products can be used on it. I know Meguires has some gel coat polishes, but dont know how well they are.
 
Here is some pics of what im dealing with… I will try to call the company that makes them if I cant figure it out.
the grey on the bottom almost lookst like spray paint.. when i hit it with some polish id did shine up a little bit but my product was just geting stuck to it and smearing around.. looked ugly

Thanks for the info.
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i can tell you a little.i have a 08 holiday rambler that is fully painted brown and tan and i can use a all in one polish on it and it comes out flawless and very shiny..i used to have a 2007 gulfstream rv that was white with stickers on it for graphics .i could polish that one also and it would come out nice but stickers faded within a year and would not polish back to new .the 07 gulfstream had a finish on it they called super slick fiberglass.two weeks ago i tried my polish on a 2005 16 ft. scamp white gel coat and my polish did not do good on it.it did not take out the oxidation on the front of it at all but did shine up the the walls that werent exposed to to much sun.so im gonna try this on it Fiberglass And Gel Coat Polish For Boats And RVs

ill let you know how it comes out.
 
Ah, the old "black streak". I've got a motorhome and my own therories on black streak. Some say it's just dirt and build up running down the sides. My therory (and I've never heard this anywhere else so it's only a therory) is it has something to do with rubber residue. Most RV's have rubber roofs and seals around windows, etc. Your right that it is a bear to get off even with polish (at times I can still see a ghost image after polish). This is the only thing that has worked for me. I use it during a wash. Duragloss Marine RV Black Streak Eliminator #581 cleans black stains on gelcoat fiberglass boat and RV finishes.
 
thanks for the help Jimmie.. i will read up on Duragloss.
 
i read the duragloss listing.. what im a little confused on is how that product can just get the stain right out.. but hitting it with a rotary machine using a wool pad would not? are they just talking about the surface black stains? because i get that all off with a degreaser when do my original wash.
 
Surf City Grime Destroyer has worked for me to clean the black streaks. Meguiars line of Marine/RV has worked well, DG 501 is a great cleaner/sealant.
 
donavin629 said:
i read the duragloss listing.. what im a little confused on is how that product can just get the stain right out.. but hitting it with a rotary machine using a wool pad would not? are they just talking about the surface black stains? because i get that all off with a degreaser when do my original wash.
Click to expand...

Trust me I'm confused too. How does this product take off the streaks when a polish leaves an outline? Don't know but it works. Here's more food for thought. How does it do it without affecting the LSP when a polish leaves a hint of the streak? Don't know that either.
I've got so many hours tied up polishing mine that I can tell you exactly what you experience. The rotary, wool pad, compound almost seem to float over the streaks (like they are embedded). A couple of passes and some smearing later it looks a little better but you can still see the ghost of the streak. Your pads, wool or foam, gum up quickly. Pretty close to what you've encountered?
Here's what has worked best for me. Use the Black Streak Eliminator during wash (degreaser will remove wax but may be what you want). Use a yellow pad and compound on very slow speed with either a rotary or PC. Spur/brush the pad often. Keep making passes until there is no more trace of oxidation. Only then can you get down to normal correction and LSP. It's a frustrating tiring process but worth it if it's yours. If its a client I'd be candid and tell them what a costly process it is. However not bad on newer models without much oxidation.
 
yeah thats exactly whats happening to me... the rv shined up pretty good but those ghost streaks are still haunting me... the customer loved my work.. i explained to him that i would research the problem im having.. he did not really care.. he was so happy i got that thing to shine again... i will pick up some of that stuff and give it a whirl.. i will let you know the outcome... thanks again for the help.. these RVs are a pain in the butt.... being in texas though im getting a lot of work from them.. so i need to figure out how to cut my time down.
 
still having an issue getting this oxidation off these older RVs with Gel coat.. i washed.. clayed.. and still when i wipe my hand on it a white powder is left on my fingers... someone recommended using some comet and a scrub brush to get most of the oxi off.. then polish and wax.. the problem is.. when im hitting it with the rotary buffer.. its like grabbing dirt and just smearing it.. and its a pain to work around those stickers.. cause if i hit it with any product or machine.. it smears the color into the white.. so i have to wet the surface every time i do a section.. any ideas of how i can bang these bad boys out faster?
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RV update.

Well everyone.. still having a hard time with that one oxidized RV.. my steps on the right side worked out great.. now that im working on the left side.. totally different reaction.. I cant win with this gel coat crap lol… im not a fan of gel coat at all now.. but I need to figure this out since there are tons of boats here for me to work on.. plus the RV parks.

Using that Marine compound.. followed up by System1 polish… what was happening was the pattern from my machine were being left behind… so if you looked at the rv from the side.. you can see where my Makita or cyclo was going side to side and top to bottom.. so it was really blotchy and ugly.. it def shined up but I cant let that go this way.. my customer wont notice it in the sun.. but give my customer a cloudy day and he looks at it at the right angle.. hes gonna see how ugly of a job it is.

So this is what I did.. went back to Sail and Ski where I bout the marine compound.. explained to them what was going on.. they had their detailer come up from the shop to talk with me..he knew exactly what I was talking about .. he said he sees it all the time.. and the only next step is wet sanding.. I asked if there was any other way cause im not charging the customer enough for that work.

He said not really… I asked him why one side went better than the other.. he said .. all depends on where the sun is hitting.. he said the one side could be in the shade a lot more that the other.

Example.. he said.. sometimes boats come in and the sides come out fine.. but the back is a pain in the butt because the sun was setting on that boat everyday so the back of it had to be wet sanded.

Well I went back and used 1500 grit sand paper .. then tried to use the marine compound with wool pad.. was not taking the scratches out.. I had to go over it a couple of times.. so I said forget this.. there has to be an easier way.. I felt I was making more work for myself.

Can someone help me out please… as this wil be a large majority of my work here in Austin.

Im looking for a product that can cut through this oxidation and leave a clean finish.. I don’t mind going over it maybe once or twice.. but I don’t want to create more work for myself

The pics are kinda hard to see since its white.. but you can see a little of whats going on.

Thanks a bunch guys.

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How about a chemical cleaner like that that is in Duragloss 501? Use that with a polishing pad.
 
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