My brother used steel wool on my airstream *eep

[deelind]

"Hey sis, want some help?" My reply, "Maybe, I'll let you know." ugh

I show up this morning and one side looks great and asked him what he did (even though I hadn't given him the go-ahead) ... Steel wool, from what I understand steel impregnates the aluminium, now what should be done to fix this?

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by deelind

"Hey sis, want some help?" My reply, "Maybe, I'll let you know." ugh

I show up this morning and one side looks great and asked him what he did (even though I hadn't given him the go-ahead) ... Steel wool, from what I understand steel impregnates the aluminium, now what should be done to fix this?

Exactly where was the steel wool used, and what was the intended purpose?

Andy

[tphan]

Impregnates? Maybe you'll get a Bambi in about 9 months.
If it "looks great", what is it you want to fix? I imagine a traditional polishing job using Nuvite (or similar) products, and a lot of your bro's elbow grease, would bring the trailer to a perfect shine if you now have visible scratch marks from the steel wool.

[deelind]

He used Nuvite C with the steel wool on the exterior (sorry I hadn't said that) and it does look great, but for how long if it is said that steel wool impregnates the aluminium.
From what I've gathered, steel wool is a non-no. I did start with the F grade, 2nd step with C but it was still looking cloudy which I had hope would be taken care of by the final polish. Being a newbie, I must say I'm a bit overwhelmed with the various methods for restoring the exterior finish.

[deelind]

hahhaha! " Impregnates? Maybe you'll get a Bambi in about 9 months." I wish that were true! On a side note, Airstream just opened up a dealership a few miles away, think I'll go have a look at a new one just to torture myself some more.

[kennethowens]

You may want to wash with a mild solution to
get any small metal residue off...steel wool
rusts very quickly.

[RickDavis]

I have used steel wool at times to start on something really bad, well actually Brillo pads.
Then went on to polish normally and no crisis resulted.
Actually have resorted to #80 sandpaper a couple times

[Tim A.]

Surely there will be plenty of answers from the no-no steel wool group. Despite that, I think you have little to worry about as long as there are no visible shreds of steel around rivets and such. Walbernizing or waxing the now-polished surface will help remove any remaining crumbs or shreds of the steel wool.

Several years ago I used lots of steel wool to polish the aluminum hull of a rowboat my father made in about 1950. Since then the bare aluminum of the hull has been upside down in rain and in the dry without one (yes, not one) spot of rust on it.

Tim

[remcolent]

I also use steel wool
On the roof I started with OO and the finish with OOOO
I used it together with gord polish

[Nuvite-F]

Originally Posted by deelind

Steel wool, from what I understand steel impregnates the aluminium, now what should be done to fix this?

The concern is that particles of the steel wool will embed in the soft aluminum and then rust. I used steel wool on some areas of our '60 Pacer to get the aftermarket clearcoat off and then followed by Nuvite F7 and finer grades.

Had the trailer for a few years after that and never saw any traces of rust from the steel wool. I wouldn't worry about it.