Your trailer looks great! I have stripped my 27 ft. International. I am now polishing with the Nuvite. Does the corrosion ever come all off? I have gone over each section three or four times and still have little gray corrision marks. Thank you for the help.
Thanks karolyn!
I found that it can take a lot of passes before all the little filliform marks disappear, but it will eventually all come off. There were some comments in the thread from someone that said it took them up to 12 passes in some areas. It probably depends on how bad the corrosion was initially. I also found that using the G6 really sped things along with removing the filliform, but it would take a few passes with lighter grades to polish out the swirls the G6 would leave behind.
Our trailer still has some filliform along the top side edges. I figure that I'll do a few passes each spring, and they'll all be gone in one or two year's time.
Good luck with your polishing! Got any pics?
__________________
1975 Safari 23'
2004 Ford Expedition Eddie Bauer 4x4
No pics. I will get back to the polishing this week. I am going to order some of that Nuvite G6. Everyone seems to really like it on the heavy duty corrosion. Any suggestions on how to get into the narrow spaces between windows and around the letters?
Where to start?????Hi ya'll! My husband and I purchased a 91 airstream late last summer and we don't know anything about travel trailer's, much less air streams.Our 91 Airstream Excella has some clear coat peeling on top. It also is pretty dull everywhere else. We don't want to strip it yet as the beginning of spring/summer. Can we get it pretty shiny without stripping off the clear coat?What should we do first and what products do you recommend?
Thank to your post.I got my husband wanting to see what ours will look like ,and hoping he will get interested in camping again.After out camper got broke into this passed summer.and everything but the wasn't tied down was stoled including his 4000.00 worth of fishing stuff.He brought the camper home and didnt care if it fell apart.So Thank you
what are you using to polish it with after u strip off the clear coat?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ferroequine
Well, since it is finally somewhat nice outside , I thought I'd try out a test section of stripping the trailer. Over the next few weeks & months, I'll be stripping and then polishing our 1975 Safari. I'll keep updating this thread also.
It is a continuation of this thread, where I struggled with what to do with the exterior. Many thanks to all those people who helped on that thread.
I bought 4 gallons of Napier Removeall 220. It is fairly thick (like paint), and you brush it on. We left it sitting on the door for about 1 1/2 hours, and then we just hosed the paint off with the garden spray nozzle. The nice thing is that it doesn't appear to hurt the grass, since there is no solvent involved, and there was no smell. The water deactivates the catalyst (which I believe is Peroxide based), and all the stripped clearcoat ends up dripping onto the ground with the water.
Another nice surprise was that we 'painted' the Removeall 220 right over the pinstriping, and it didn't affect it at all!
Ferroequine,
All I can say is..."Fantastic~"
I also had problems with the letters, smaller area, etc. Some of those were solved by hand. The results "blend" in with the overall results quite nicely.
Again, it's an awesome looking rig you have now~!!
ciao
53FC
I was really impressed with the pics of the stripping results but what about old fashioned polishing& buffing. My finish is in tact but I might enjyoy a more shiny finish. Peas&Carrots in Atlanta. 34ft. Excello of 88vintage.
After reading all these threads about polishing I decided to take the plunge. Over the last month I purchased all the tools and supplies including Hydrostrip 502 sold by ICI paints here in Portland Maine. It's made by Napier the makers of Removeall 220 and is supposed to be the same product produced for ICI. I started stripping today. The PO took this trailer to Port-O-Call in Florida every winter so the clear coat was burned above the windows. He had it painted "professionally" (with Wal Mart grey paint) in Melborne. Now the grey is flaking off because the flaking clearcoat was not removed first. Now I have to correct the problem. I discovered when washing the stripper off with a garden hose that the 6" wide beltline decal started disintegrating by peeling and flaking. Guess we will no longer have a beltline decal on this trailer. It was going to be a problem brushing stripper close to the decal but not on it. Also would have been a nightmare polishing without touching it. Reason, 1990's have only one aluminum trim strip with blue vinyl insert on top of decal. Anyone know how to remove balance of decal that garden hose didn't lift? By this weekend I hope to try out the polishing tips I've learned here and on Perfect Polish website. Hope my project ends up at least half as good as I have seen here. Charlie Eglise
I was really impressed with the pics of the stripping results but what about old fashioned polishing& buffing. My finish is in tact but I might enjyoy a more shiny finish. Peas&Carrots in Atlanta. 34ft. Excello of 88vintage.
You can wash and wax your trailer much like you would a car. Use Walbernize as a wax on your clear coated Airstream.
Weird thing about the belt-line decal. Our trailer has a pinstriping decal on it in two lines, and the Remove-All didn't touch it at all.
If you're wanting to remove the rest of the decal, maybe try brushing some more stripper to the sides of it to get it to creep underneath. I found when we stripped our trailer that a pressure washer was a great help also, it peeled things off way faster than just using a hose.
A polished up 34 footer will look very impressive -- good luck with your polishing, and post some pictures if you can!
Cheers!
__________________
1975 Safari 23'
2004 Ford Expedition Eddie Bauer 4x4
After reading all these threads about polishing I decided to take the plunge. Over the last month I purchased all the tools and supplies including Hydrostrip 502 sold by ICI paints here in Portland Maine. It's made by Napier the makers of Removeall 220 and is supposed to be the same product produced for ICI. I started stripping today. The PO took this trailer to Port-O-Call in Florida every winter so the clear coat was burned above the windows. He had it painted "professionally" (with Wal Mart grey paint) in Melborne. Now the grey is flaking off because the flaking clearcoat was not removed first. Now I have to correct the problem. I discovered when washing the stripper off with a garden hose that the 6" wide beltline decal started disintegrating by peeling and flaking. Guess we will no longer have a beltline decal on this trailer. It was going to be a problem brushing stripper close to the decal but not on it. Also would have been a nightmare polishing without touching it. Reason, 1990's have only one aluminum trim strip with blue vinyl insert on top of decal. Anyone know how to remove balance of decal that garden hose didn't lift? By this weekend I hope to try out the polishing tips I've learned here and on Perfect Polish website. Hope my project ends up at least half as good as I have seen here. Charlie Eglise
Greeting Charlie,
I see several things are going on with your project..
The beltline decal is, for all intent and purpose, no longer available. Unless you find a dealer source, the last time I checked with the factory, It just wasn't enough to be had for a decent looking job. U might try Aircraft stripper for the remaing decal. The blue vinyl insert is something that should be replaced once the job is done. Last I bought was abit over 1.50$ a running foot.
You know how to get intouch if you have any question or need help..
ciao
Vern
ok my 1990 classic is a peeling the clearcoatbut I don't want to polish it, I want to restore the finish to original. Seems that I could strip the old clearcoat, use a good metal cleaner, and the reapply a fresh clearcoat.
I know this can't be as simple as all that and I have no idea how to neutalize the surface prior to applying the clear coat or even what clearcoat product would work best
Say it ain't so about the beltline decal! We're polishing our 1976 Excella & the decal is peeling off in some places. I thought it was easy to find a replacement decal. Doesn't someone know a place with the 6 inch blue decal? I don't think I can take anymore bad things happening in this whole process! I already cut my awning while polishing the top rail & my son cracked the airconditioner cover while putting it back on after I repainted it.
Becky
More of my beltline has flown off as the garden hose stream just passed over it while washing off the stripper. We had a 79 polished at P&S in 1992 and they painted a new blue belt line and then added a single silver stripe about an inch from the top of the blue and a double silver stripe about an inch above the bottom of the stripe. The silver stripe was a decal they got somewhere. On a 1976 you have two belt line aluminum mouldings so when you paint you have a straight edge to mask on. My 1990 only has a moulding on top, tough to maintain a straight line applying masking tape. My stripping is going well except on the roof getting that Wal Mart paint off. I noticed that the PO's "Professional" painter used sandpaper to scuff off clear coat in some places under the grey paint. That left scratches. So even though I'm only started stripping I had to try the compounding polisher along with Nuvite G6 and the scratches come right out is two passes.
CharlieE
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Now I have to correct the problem. I discovered when washing the stripper off with a garden hose that the 6" wide beltline decal started disintegrating by peeling and flaking. Guess we will no longer have a beltline decal on this trailer. It was going to be a problem brushing stripper close to the decal but not on it. Also would have been a nightmare polishing without touching it. Reason, 1990's have only one aluminum trim strip with blue vinyl insert on top of decal. Anyone know how to remove balance of decal that garden hose didn't lift? By this weekend I hope to try out the polishing tips I've learned here and on Perfect Polish website. Hope my project ends up at least half as good as I have seen here. 
Charlie Eglise
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