What's the siding? Fiberglass? How to fix?

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Old Girl

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1986 Shasta. Owned it since 1999. Always working on it and it looked great. My aunt has Alzheimer's and I've totally neglected it. Sold it a few years ago to a 79 year old guy. Early spring I washed and waxed the cab and tried to restore the oxidized junk it's become. I don't know if the siding is fiberglass ( I think so) or gel coat. Didn't know much about this or car care until a few years ago when I found this great site! :applause:I've looked at the forum for rv's etc., and online to find pics of fiberglass or gel coat rv's with not much luck.

To get to this stage I used marine 31 heavy oxidation remover, gel coat heavy cut cleaner, high gloss polish and pure wax. I used the griots 3" with an orange pad, thinking I could get "better" coverage or more even. I've got the flex which now, in hindsight, should have been the better choice.

Even though I no longer own it, it sits off the driveway and I can't help but want to bring it back. Any thoughts? I could even start over. You can see the chalkiness closer to the Shast logo far left. Thank you. Teri

View attachment 58974
 
Ok. I see the pic didn't show up. I'll try again.
Still not working. Just have an iPad, no computer.

Point is that it's dull, chalky and unappealing.
 
Hi Old Girl,

I merged your other post into this thread so everything is in one place.


Here's your picture


58980d1500599103-what-s-siding-fiberglass-how-fix-img0466.jpg



I don't know for sure what the coating is but my guess is an electrically deposited paint. This means it's going to be VERY THIN.


Get some 3D HD Speed, this is a one-step cleaner/wax and buzz over it with a foam cutting pad on an orbital polisher. Stick a fork in it and call it done.



Prod_Detail_000.JPG




Get you some here

3D HD Speed - 32 ounce bottle



See the pictures in this thread...


Making money doing production detailing by Mike Phillips




:)
 
Thanks, Mike, once again for coming to my aid! I've read yours and others posts about posting pics in a message, but my laptop is toast and so I just have an ipad��.

I also appreciate your recommendations on this rv. I have a lot of stuff going on so I will give it one more shot and "stick a fork in it"... lol. Teri
 
Looking and lookin' more and considering the age...I leaning that the siding is aluminum.

As Mike as stated, the 'paint' is gonna be super thin.

Do have any 'cleaner/wax' on hand? Take LITTLE on your finger tip and massage into the finish and see what the results are. Oh, and do this in an inconspicuous spot.

Keep us posted please.

Bill
 
Thanks BillE! No cleaner/wax. I hadn't clayed it so I just went out and tried it but...nothing. I'm LMAO on your suggestion to do it in an inconspicuous spot! Heck, the whole thing is very conspicuous! Ha ha. I've had three orders in the past couple of weeks; one to arrive Tuesday so I'll have to wait a bit before I can order anything else.
Really appreciate you taking the time to look at it and then make recommendations! Thanks a lot! Teri
 
Anyone on pads? B&S or Boss? The Uro-Tec's look good.
 
Mike Phillips said:
I don't know for sure what the coating is but my guess is an electrically deposited paint. This means it's going to be VERY THIN.
Click to expand...



Agree I think you will burn through the lines or ridges.

Very thin anything aggressive will just accelerate deterioration.


:)
 
Thanks GSKR. I'm going to go with the uro-etc pads, yellow and white. We'll see what happens.
 
Ok I got my stuff ordered. Shouldn't have spent more money, but couldn't pass up a sale! :xyxthumbs:

103* yesterday and expected 102* today so I might wait until Wednesday when it'll only be 97* :surrender::surrender:
 
Don't expect much shine with foam pads. Your goal is just to make it better than what it is.
 
Thanks. It'll be hard to take if I can't get some shine back. It used to look pretty good even though it was old when I bought it. I'll try what I've ordered first, but do you think another type of pad would be better? It's hard to let go of it as I had many great trips in it. Shouldn't get so attached to something, I guess.
 
Were you able to determine what the siding actually was! AL, fiberglass or whatever?

Be safe in THAT heat!

Bill
 
Old Girl said:
Thanks. It'll be hard to take if I can't get some shine back. It used to look pretty good even though it was old when I bought it.
Click to expand...



Soon as you get a break in the weather simply go out and do a Test Spot.

I'm actually confident that the shine will come back easily.


Old Girl said:
I'll try what I've ordered first, but do you think another type of pad would be better?
Click to expand...


You can't really use more aggressive pads. As already noted,

A: The paint is going to be thin from the factory. A more aggressive pad and anything more aggressive than a cleaner/wax is going to chew right through the paint.

B: Foam pads and a cleaner/wax will likely burn or abrade all the paint off all the hard edges, that's just how things work. Using MORE aggressive pads would just make the problem worse.


I've buffed things like this out before and it's not that bad. The paint is thin but it's single stage paint and single stage paint oxidizes easily BUT IT BUFFS OUT EASY.

So do yourself a favor and just do a quickie little test spot and I'm confident you'll see the shine come back and this will give you the confidence to tackle the entire project.



:)
 
Thanks, Mike. I should be receiving the products on Thursday so, depending on the heat, I'll start early am or late eve that day. I'm really excited to see what happens! I'll take pics and this time with my phone turned sideways! Lol
 
BillE said:
Were you able to determine what the siding actually was! AL, fiberglass or whatever?

Be safe in THAT heat!

Bill
Click to expand...

Yeah, the heat has been brutal the last couple of weeks! Whew. I'll see if I can get a close-up of the siding.
 
Ok. Well at least I got the pics in! The left pic was where I used the Marine 31 products. The right pic was washed only. Hope the close-up shows more detail.

It was 105 here yesterday and the power went out for over three hours starting around 5pm!

Thanks! Teri
 
Welllll, that answers 'that' question---tis fiberglass.

Thanx for posting the pics.

Bill
 
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