Nuvite, Mothers, etc.. have been recommended, and is the proven polish to use. I have read a few recipes out there: jewelers rouge, mineral spirits, carnuba wax, and other variations.
Has anyone perfected a less expensive homemade polish? I am doing my first pass of Nuvite F7, and works well, but can get expensive. I have a cyclo polisher for the final stages.
I have two trailers to polish. The next trailer (see avatar) will be the Curtis Wright, and is heavily oxidized. I think it will take two passes for the first phase. I am guessing 3lbs of Nuvite F7. Hence my quest for a good homemade recipe, if recommended.
Most threads discourage any type of light acid washing. I am open to any prep suggestions to cut down the usage of expensive polishes. (see avatar).
Most will cringe even reading this, but I'll tell you what works for me (although I've yet to see JBond results).
My '53 is dark, dark grey. 54 years of oxidation. I use a small DeWalt finishing sander as my only polish tool. I bought the compounder and didn't like it -- put it away.
Step 1 (here's where they cringe) - Scotch brite pad on the finishing sander. Flood the area with water, soak the scotch brite pad. All I'm looking for at this stage is a color change. I'm looking to go from dark grey to silver, and not even bright silver, just a much lighter shade. When I've accomplished this the skin still shows all of the blemishes that you would remove with a compounder, the blotches, everything is still there, but I've removed a ton of aluminum oxide which can easily be seen when rinsing.
After that I use the sweatshirt material, the finishing sander, and Nuvite F9 to get through the blemishes. My '53 has a lot of pitting -- I'm not worried about it. It will either fill and smooth out over the long haul, or it will remain pitted. Doesn't bother me.
The next step is Nuvite A. When I'm all done with those two steps I'll pick up the Nuvite S and give it a whirl...
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Leo G
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And you won't believe this part either. I tried the Scotch brite on the over-the-door light to take off the first coat. Followed that with a little rubbing compound. Next step (that I haven't done yet) is to use flour--the same stuff you make bread with--to give it a final shine. Thru the first 2 steps, it looks pretty durn good.
Now, here's the qualifiers. That light is made of some type of heavy, thick, aluminum alloy, not same as the skin of the camper. I wouldn't even think of trying this on the skins. But it seems to be working on the lights fairly well so far.
Jim
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I think it will take two passes for the first phase. I am guessing 3lbs of Nuvite F7.
Sounds to me you are using WAY too much polish. Our '64 was very oxidized and we did several passes compounding and only went through 1 lb. Using a lot of much polish does not make it work better...it actually has th opposite effect - it lubricates the pad and it works worse.
We may be trying some other methods (tipoli & rouge) on or '56 when we get around to polishing, but we have a long way to go before we get to polishing.
Shari
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Try rubbing compound followed by polishing compound. I like 3M, available at some car parts stores. Still not homdmade, but comes in cans rather than tubes.
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