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Old 11-13-2016, 08:45 AM   #1
gearhead
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Repeat fiasco

After last years fiasco of hiring the jailbirds at the detail shop to clean and wax the 5th, and me having to re-do it, I had some more self inflicted wounds this year.
I decided to wait until the weather cooled a bit and tackle it myself. I attacked the roof first. Some dirt, but more mildew. A bucket of water with Dawn and a 1/4 cup of bleach. A long handled stand up medium scrub brush. Very little results. Add another 1/4 cup of bleach. No help. Tried Spic and Span, nothing. OK, I have some Mean Green mildew killer with bleach. That got it. All through the experiment with cleaners I told myself to keep the sidewalls wet so the white chalk wouldn't stick. Y'all know where this going don't you? Yeah the chalky stuff stuck. But just on one side. I think the fiberglass must have been hotter on that side. Oh well, I'll get to try out that new Porter-Cable polisher and the Meguiars Marine cleaner/wax. I put a white pad on and started at the front cap. Hmmm it doesn't want to come off too good. I did half the cap and had to use detailer to get it right. So I went back to my old stand by...Meguiars clean and wax in the dark red bottle. Finished the cap with it. Then went to the side with the chalk. The marine cleaner wax went on good but I couldn't get it buffed out with a 10" random orbit and microfiber on it. Back to the old red bottle wax. I did about 6 feet at a time in the late afternoons when it was in the shade and finished last night. But I'm not happy with it. I can still see the chalky water spots in a few places. The darling wife says "it looks fine, it's not going to look like your cars, no one can see it but you". Yeah right, likely true.
The strange part....a couple months ago I got some Deep Woods Off on the screen of a depth finder/GPS. Just about ruined it. I scraped it with a razor blade to the point where I can see most of it. I was telling that story to a friend at the hardware store and he mentioned that he used Off to clean things. So before I waxed one section on the 5th I tried it. There were places that were darker up and down the sides. Right where the framing would be...like both sides of the fridge vents. At first I thought it was like when you see morning condensation on the sides and the framing shows. So I rubbed some Off on a small spot. Immediately took the dark color off. So I did a little more and it looked good to me. I decided I wasn't going to spray the whole side of the trailer with Off but I might try it when I start getting black streaks again. Anyone heard of this or use Off to clean with?
So I guess I ended up with trailer wax grade of about "30". Looks OK from 30 feet away. I just waxed the cap and the one side, other side looks good. But I might get after that if I need something to do. What I need to do is hook up and go somewhere. But it's prime time fishing season here.
PS...I did a brake job on it. Self adjusters from eTrailer. Re-sealed and repacked the bearings. Went well, bearings and races looked good. Mobil1 synthetic grease again. O'Reilly house brand seals again. I got them about half burnished in. Need another 10-20 stops from 40-20mph. I might have over done it the first 10. I stopped to check them and smelled them when I got out of the truck. Drums were 300F. I can feel the brakes working with the controller set on 5.
Whew..long post. Need to fish this week. I pulled a 23inch trout out of Trinity Bay Wednesday. Has to be more in there.
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Old 11-13-2016, 09:15 AM   #2
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Re: Repeat fiasco

The white pads are more of a polishing pad and has very little cutting power. get some orange pads for removing stains/defects. The orange pads work good on an RV surface for removing oxidation as well. Don't use yellow pads, they are for heavy scratch removal and will leave a haze. The combination of white and orange is what I use. White for the majority of the area, step up to orange when you have tough spots.
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Old 11-13-2016, 09:57 AM   #3
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Re: Repeat fiasco

Thanks...after using the white pad I looked at Chemical Guys website and they said the black hex pad cuts a little more than white (from my memory). I think I have an orange pad...I'll look. I'll do more research before I start next time. The Mequairs Premium Marine Cleaner & Wax didn't say anything about machine application. I guess I'll use it on the boat.
What was that brand you use...Black ??????.
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Old 11-13-2016, 12:40 PM   #4
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Re: Repeat fiasco

I use Black Fire Total Polish and Seal. It's an All In One (AIO) product, meaning it has Diminishing Abrasive Technology (DAT). And it is a sealer so it'll last longer than a wax. Should be good for 6 months or so. Pretty much any AIO product is going to be a DAT product. Basically the abrasive breaks down and gets smaller as you work it. So it starts out like a scratch remover and ends up like a polish. If it's just a polish and not an AIO product, it's designed to have a scratch remover used first. For something as large as an RV, you definitely do not want to do multiple steps. I'm not sure what the Megs cleaner wax is, if it's designed for DA application, it's most likely a DAT product, if it's designed for hand application, probably not. You can't work it by hand enough to break down the abrasives.

As for pads, I like Lake Country CCS pads, but that's just a personal preference, waffle pads work well too. The black pads are actually a finishing pad. They don't have any cut ability. They're pretty much used to apply wax as a last step.
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Old 11-13-2016, 02:25 PM   #5
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Re: Repeat fiasco

I just looked at the pads on the website..yes, the black one does nothing. The white is described as for light-medium, the orange for medium-heavy, the yellow for heavy. I've had that Black Fire on my Amazon wish list since you mentioned it before. I need to pull the trigger on it.
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Old 11-20-2016, 05:11 AM   #6
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Re: Repeat fiasco

We had a can of "Off" in our bathroom drawer once in our old class A and that drawer didn't get latched and it slid open and fell out on the floor. Well that can of Off got damaged and not knowing the wife put everything back in the drawer and that can sloooowly leaked out and that Off stuff destroyed everything it touched! It ate the paint off its own can, messed up the finish on the wood drawer, ruined the vinyl flooring and even destroyed the toilet! That Off is some nasty stuff and we don't even put it on our skin after that.

Side note: use Meguiars "medium cut" cleaner and a wool pad on a variable speed buffer and a lot of elbow grease will have it shinning like new.
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Old 11-20-2016, 05:54 PM   #7
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Re: Repeat fiasco

Had a rear entertainment Cougar fiver several years and the grandaughters stood in front of the tv and applied "Off". It melted the plastic.
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Old 11-21-2016, 06:11 AM   #8
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Re: Repeat fiasco

On my Keystone factory tour this year they told me to never use Dawn to wash the roof or the camper. They said it would damage both. I had to bite my tongue because on my previous camper Dawn was all I used to wash it. It cracked all the decals and the whole trailer looked chalky. I was never able to bring it back to the original shine. I now use the yellow meguiars wax and wash and it looks new all the time.
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Old 11-21-2016, 04:49 PM   #9
gearhead
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Re: Repeat fiasco

That yellow Meguiars is pretty good stuff.
I've never washed the exterior walls of the 5th with Dawn. I think about anything you use to wash the roof will create the chalky residue run off. The EPDM membrane constantly sloughs off.
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Old 11-21-2016, 06:15 PM   #10
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Re: Repeat fiasco

dawn will remove wax as well, that's why you shouldn't use it on the exterior walls. The yellow megs wash and wax is a good maintenance product to use between waxes. the wax in it will bond to the wax on the exterior and prolong the life of it.
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Old 11-22-2016, 01:51 PM   #11
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Re: Repeat fiasco

re: Dawn the decal killer ... all my decals cracked, crazed and discolored and that was before I ever scrubbed the roof with Dawn ...
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