Several
years ago I got caught up in the “Red Wax polish” phenomenon of
using this wax to polish my RV. The wax was then available at Lowe’s
as a liquid. A particular friend had used it to make his RV shine
prior to selling it. It really looked great!
After
some internet searching I too decided to use it to make my RV shine.
Bummer, “Red Wax polish” was no longer available but some folks
were using Zep Hi Gloss floor Finish with similar results instead.
So,
why not give it a try. The cleaning itself was brutal as all dirt had
to be removed by a multi-step process by first washing the RV, then
using a 3M white scrubby with Bar Keepers Friend on it to remove any
old wax. The RV was again washed with TSP followed by another water
rinse. I must say, the surface was now very smooth but dull.
The
Zep polish is a liquid so I used a white micro fiber cloth dipped in
the polish and an aluminum pie tin to hold a small amount of the wax
(a colored cloth will bleed into the wax). The idea was to coat the
surface of the RV in multiple coats not worrying about perfect
coverage as subsequent coats would cover any missed areas.
Only
a small area is covered at one time so that means many, many trips up
and down the 8 foot step ladder. In all I did 4 coats over a couple
of days. After the first coat the surface looks blotchy but by the
third coat the shine is something to see. Adding a 4th
coat really made it look show room new.
About
a year later I noticed that the top of the front and rear cap were
loosing their shine so I reapplied more wax to those areas. After
about 3 years the wax was beginning to peel as the suns UV rays got
to it (my RV sits outside) and it wasn’t looking so nice.
What
to do? More Google research and now folks are saying “Don’t use
Zep Hi Gloss floor finish” because of the UV ray damage to the wax.
Even Zep has issued a disclaimer about it.
So,
after much research I decided to use the Meguiar 3 step process to
remove and restore the gloss to the Gel coat finish.
Not
so fast! First I need to remove the old wax. I tried using the
old tried and true Bar Keepers Friend method and a white scrubby. I
worked sort of, but was really labor intensive, so I did what boating
users do and that is to use Xylene which is a slow evaporating heavy
duty cleaner.
Nada,
It didn’t work. Now what? Lets try Acetone in a small out of the
way place. It works but still is a slow process as it evaporates very
fast. I used old cut up t-shirts as rags. Putting a small amount on
the rag and wiping removes the wax but requires constantly turning
the rag to a clean spot and redoing each small area a few times to
remove all the wax. By looking at the surface from a side view any
missed areas are visible. Caution should be used on painted surfaces
as Acetone will remove the paint.
I
decided to do one side at a time starting with the door side as it
took the worst of the sun and was peeling badly in spots. All of this
process should be done in the shade so in my case I could work for a
few hours in the morning before the sun came around to that side. It
took me 3 days to remove just the one side. It took me 3 more days to
complete the Meguiar’s process on that one side. Do you have any
idea of how many trips up and down that ladder I made or how many old
t-shirts I cut into rages? Fortunately, because of the sun getting
to that surface I only worked a few hours some days. At other times I
got up at 6:30 in the morning and started right to work.
After
removing the wax I wiped the surface with the Xylene to remove any
remaining wax. Then I washed it with TSP using a long handled brush.
This was followed by a fresh water rinse and drying with a chamois.
The
first step in using Meguiar’s is the cleaning process. The second
is a polish, restorer, and the third is a pure Carnuba wax protector.
All are applied using a 6 inch buffer to a small area at a time and
immediately after in the case of the first 2 steps, remove the polish using cut up t-shirt rags while the final wax is polished with a
Terry Cloth pad.
Three
weeks later, I have now completed that one side, the back, and the
front and have removed some of the old wax on the remaining side. I
am not completely happy with the front and back so I will probably do
another layer of the Carnuba wax when I am at Visitadores in 2 weeks.
While I am there I can easily reach both of those ends. The remaining
side will get done later as it is in the shade more than the other
side was and has been somewhat protected from the UV rays.
The
final result is a shinny surface, much like it was when I bought the
RV in 2005.
Not a good view but the sun was shining on the other surfaces.
I
bought my wax and polishing pads on Amazon. So far I had to reorder
once but I think I may need another order of wax and pads before I am
done.
I don't know why the difference in text within the blog. It is all the same until I post it on-line. Something to do with Blogger i guess.
