Waxing

Always had the feeling the RMP or Zep reps were on here hocking their products

My 2001 Allegro Bus is looking as good today as when I bought it but I can assure you it covers a lot of hard labor. She sleeps outside under the pine trees but at least once every two weeks or more often if needed I will wash this 40" with RainX Car Wash. Leaves no water marks and makes it super easier to wax. Now the hard labor begins which takes about 3-4 days. I use Mothers Wax, applied by hand on every square inch and come back with a soft bathing towel to remove.
The reason for 3-4 days is I do one side in the morning shade and the other late in the afternoon shade to complete and the other reason it takes that long is my age of 70+ ??? I also wax my Bus every 2-3 months to make sure the shine is there. You would not believe how good this coach looks for its age.
Just thought I would throw my two cents in and brag a little on how hard I work but really like to have clean wheels when I pull out for a journey even though I live in South La with all the wet sunshine.

Has anyone tried this.

Shine On-Wipe On Clear Coat!: https://youtu.be/Pt6UIZhv-bA

We bought a used pop-up and the roof is not shiny at all. Except for the very back end. I park it next to the garage every winter and the run off from the roof stains the roof of the pop up. I end up pressure washing the dirt off. It gets most of the black stain off. This last time I took a bristle brush to it to get some of the tough stains off. I still can't get all of the orange leaf stains off. I have yet to try and put a shine back on it. I've read through all the posts on this thread. I want to try something to bring back my shine. I also am afraid because if I can't get all the stain off it will look bad when I put some sort of "polish" back on.

Nobody has mentioned "Shine On". I came across it while looking for ideas on YouTube. Has anyone tried it?

I am not sure why some folks are such digital thinkers, the real world is not all 1 and 0's. I have used both methods, Zeps and machine buffing with compound. Both processes are a lot of work. It took several days to do a 19 ft FG boat with Mequires ultracut compound and a machine buffer. Some areas I had to use 800 and even 400 then 800 grit paper again to remove all the oxidation, stains and scratches. It was a lot of work but look nice afterwards. Boat was a 2002 that sat in the Fla sun 12 years. My MH is 18 years old and was always from Mass. and Ct. with little sun. Was able to hand polish up until 4 years ago. As an interim step I used the bar keepers friend 4 years ago to remove the oxidation then hand polished. 2 years ago I tried the Zeps process based on many positive reports on this forum. I was pleased with the results. My conclusion is this: I would not use the Zeps process except on an older highly oxidized surface. I think people put this on 5-8 year old MH's and it peels off because the surface is too smooth. I would not even think about it unless I could no longer get the surface to shine by using the Bar Keepers Friend first then a good cleaner wax. Both processes are a lot of work but I am older and have 4 Ti pins in each shoulder due to rotator cuff repairs. My son had to finish the buffing for me. So for older guys with bad shoulders like myself I would use the Zeps, if I was 50 or younger with good shoulders I would opt for the machine buffing, just remember that a good gel coat surface is only about .020 thk and you can burn through the gel coat into the FG if you are not careful. Also on non gel coated side panels(Filon) where you can see the fibers there is even less resin. Good luck and let us know how you may out.

Terryallan wrote:

brirene wrote:

Terryallan wrote:

rgatijnet1 wrote:

hershey wrote:
Meguires is an excellent wax and all I would ever use on my '57 Ford. But for a 14 year old dull MH, the Red Max (now Zep) process is the only thing left to give showroom results. Mine is on now for 3 years and I've had to redo the front cap twice (I;m pretty agressive on the bugs) and the entry door once (poor preparation on first attempt).
Suggest you do a search for Red Max Pro on this forum and decide. The only people who poo poo it is the people who haven't tried it.
I would not use it on a full bodied RV. Common sense should prevail.

What a load of BS.
Here we have a fiberglass repair tech posting the right way to bring the shine back to a new finish and still the floor wax people think that their coating is better than the "real thing."
You talk about how you have had to redo some areas and about poor prep and here is an expert telling you how it should be done, and you still say he has no common sense because you have used an interior floor product instead of doing the job right.
The facts are that common sense does keep SOME people from making a mistake. In your case, common sense failed, and you went with what you thought was the easy way out and you had to redo it twice in the last three years. Do it right....do it once.

Me, I don't care. there is a reason I wax my vehicles, and take care of the GelCoat and paint.

However. For $100.00 per hour. I'll make the OPs look like new. It really blows my mind that people pay all this money for a nice RV, and then never take to the time to care for it, Or want to do it the "EASY" way. Got more money than sense I guess. But then. That's why the repair guy has a nice house, and his stuff always looks like new. Last summer I sold a 10 year old TT. And it looked as good as it did the day it was built. First people I told about it bought it. Their friends accused them of buying a brand NEW TT. Taking care of things ain't all that tough. Fixing them is way tougher.

Lol...you guys be careful not to fall off those well maintained pedestals you've got yourselves on. Wouldn't want you to have to come in contact with all us silly, lazy fools down here. :R Happy trails!

Pedestal? Nope. Just normal care, and maintenance. See. I can't afford to pay someone like me to fixup the TT. I cost too much. Its the same reason I replace the TT tires every 4 years. I don't like changing tires on the side of the road.

On the other hand. IF you don't maintain yours. You WILL come into contact with someone like me. And you might end up sending his kids to college.

I really don't understand paying tens / hundreds, of thousands for RVs, and letting them go. That is the reason some CGs have the 10 year rule. But then. Neglect your RV, and it will look like******in 2. And I guess you will be putting "spic, and span" or hard wood flooring polish on the paint

You know I am reading these posts quite late as I am looking for a way to remove oxidation...HOWEVER...I have the oxidation despite putting on Nu Finish two to three times a year and having had it hand washed and waxed by professionals every other year in addition to the Nu finish application.

Another PM

Grandpere wrote:
I am new to RV.net and was hoping to gt some useful information from this thread. But her is what I have learned:

1. Everyone has an opinion
2. Some people get really testy when their opinions are questioned
3. Some people are so opinionated that they are not accepting of other peoples experiences
4. There is no true short cuts to getting heavily oxidized fiberglass clean and shiny

My question is what is the stripper used to remove ZEP so I can start there on our new-to-us 87 Southwind?

If ZEP does not work then I will pay the $4500 to have it cleaned and waxed by a fiberglass professional.

Sent you a pm.

I am new to RV.net and was hoping to gt some useful information from this thread. But her is what I have learned:

1. Everyone has an opinion
2. Some people get really testy when their opinions are questioned
3. Some people are so opinionated that they are not accepting of other peoples experiences
4. There is no true short cuts to getting heavily oxidized fiberglass clean and shiny

My question is what is the stripper used to remove ZEP so I can start there on our new-to-us 87 Southwind?

If ZEP does not work then I will pay the $4500 to have it cleaned and waxed by a fiberglass professional.

2bzy2c wrote:
X's 2 ^

Maybe its time to close this thread.

X2. To the OP, hope you got some useable information. Sorry it went off the rails a bit. Good luck with whatever you decide, and happy trails! I see you don't post often, and this one probably doesn't encourage it, but hope you post more often. Lots of good folks here.

X's 2 ^

Maybe its time to close this thread.