Waxing decals

Most waxes do not have UV protection. And if it is carnuba based, it quickly melts away and would have to be applied every month or more in certain parts of the States. Some synthetic/polymer "waxes" do last longer and provide UV protection.

I use 303 Aerospace protectant on everything outside my TT. That's all it needs, although waxes do make it easier to clean.

12 years of waxing with MeQuires cleaner wax. Decals look like new. Good enough for me.

My Avery graphics owners sheet says not to use any product containing petroleum distillates. Many waxes do have them.

nomad.297 wrote:
Apply 303 Protectant to your decals.

Bruce

Bingo.

303 Protectant only slows down the deterioration. After paying $160 for one replacement decal, seemed like good idea to find out what the Pros use. Through a friend of a friend in the graphics business I found out that there is a coasting specifically made to protect decals, i.e., Marabu Clear Shield. The stuff costs $40 a quart, but a quart could cover a LOT of decals. However, the container says "for professional use only", so maybe you cannot buy directly, and need to find a buddy in the business to obtain. Dunno. The stuff is water clean up, and made my faded decals look much better, even made the color come back on my front decal which was severely sun-damaged. I shaved off all the curling bits, and went over each decal completely with the stuff, paying attention to the edges. After 24 hrs, I went over all the edges again. The trailer now looks almost new (its a 2007). The stuff forms a plastic-like clear shield. I guess that is why they named it "clear shield". Just thought I'd share. And, no, I don't work for Marabu, I don't work for anyone, am totally retired.

Maribu sounds really good! Which gloss did you use? How often should it be reapplied? Is your RV fiberglass exterior? Any issues with that? Thanks!

Marabu (sp) Clearshield Classic Gloss.

http://www.lexjet.com/ apparently will sell you a quart. Maybe other places. Amazon will sell you a 55 gallon barrel for $4500. They graphics guy sold me 1/2 of a quart for $25 which did 2 coats on all the decals on my 24 ft trailer with a bit left over.

My exterior is "filon" which is supposedly like fiberglass. It's a Kodiak by Skamper. I don't know how long it will last, but looking at the final product it seems the answer is a long, long time. I can't find any reviews of the product, I suspect because us non-pro mere-mortals aren't supposed to be using the stuff, only a shop. I'm just surprised that over the 8 years I've owned this trailer, and have worried all that time over the graphics slowly peeling away, that there was no information anywhere that this stuff even existed. The only advice being to use the Aerospace stuff, which I did, but my experience is that it only slowed down the deterioration. And I say "maybe". I think that what happens to decals is that they get hot from sitting in the sun, and the glue that holds them on gets soft, and they peel. I am hoping that the Clearshield will stop that (so far appears to) since the shield it forms is slightly bigger all around than the graphic, thus the graphic would have to pull the clearshield away from the filon exterior. I don't think it can. As far as appearance, other than the decals look much better, you can't really see the clearshield unless you lay your head on the side of the trailer and peer down the side. Then you can see it.

One last point, get yourself a small roller, small enough to paint the decal with maybe an inch overlap. If you decide to use a brush, like I did, start at one end of the decal and paint across to the other end. The stuff tends to set up faster than you might think, and you don't want to be going back over the areas you've already painted with the brush, as it tends to leave brush marks. However, that said, those places where I did that flattened out, and I can't tell those areas from areas where I was purposefully methodical.

Clean up is a breeze, as the stuff vanishes when you hit it with water. Hint hint! Make sure it doesn't rain for 2 hours following application!!

http://www.marabu-northamerica.com/products/product-overview/liquid-coatings.html