All polished now what?

[rebel beck]

Okay so you get the trailer all polished, (I have another 100 hours) and like some of us the trailer is outside. What are some monthly tips to keep it up, and how do you wash it, and with what? And what is the best way to take care when traveling.

[Streamin 65]

Well, the best thing would be to find an indoor spot for it. If you don't have one (like me) just do your best to keep it clean and waxed. You'll be polishing again in the future, however it'll go faster next time. If you have somewhat hard well water DO NOT use it to wash your trailer. It'll leave water spots that will bug you enough to want to polish it again just to remove them. I just let the rain wash the trailer and wax after it dries. Hope this helps some, and post some pics of the polishing progress! --dave

[Fyrzowt]

Wash it, wax it.

It's OK to use your water - even if it's hard, as long as you dry it immediately before it begins to dry. We do it all the time with the fire engines. If the weather is hot, we sometimes are forced to wash a smaller section at a time so it doesn't get ahead of us. Nobody has water much harder than ours.
Dave

[bjond]

The 54 Airstream Owners manual on the VAC website says to use
2 cups of kerosene and a cup of detergent (Tide) in hot water to clean the Airstream (not on a clearcoated trailer) and Glass Wax afterwards to protect the surface.

You can't get Glass Wax anymore thanks to the EPA. But, I have found that Nu Finish car polish in the orange bottle seems to protect the shine while not dulling the mirror finish. Also the Mr. Clean car wash system works well on my water in preventing spots if you don't dry the Airstream after washing it.

I repolish every year though the trailer still is very bright. I don't think it is possible to economically seal the bare aluminum from oxygen in air. If you look at a polished mirror aluminum surface with a microscope you will see oxidation spots after a few days even inside.

Also I should mention I'm probably in one of the worse areas for oxidation as I live witih a few miles of the Gulf in a very humid environment.

[rebel beck]

Thanks for the reply. Yes it is hard to find storage for 31 foot of trailer. If we built something I would have to have about 40 truck loads of dirt hauled in. I just keep watching for a large hay barn or something in our area to come open.

[Melody Ranch]

Bird poop.

[rebel beck]

Originally Posted by Melody Ranch

Bird poop.

Oh yes I had that happen today also, just think they sing for some folks

[Melody Ranch]

Here is one for you....in the polished herd.
Before my last trip I washed the truck with the polished 66 attached. I used Turtle Wax car wash/wax for the job. I did not wash the polished 66 but did get some water marks on the front panels and Worthingtons. I just left them there and went on the way....planned to wax them off later. That never happened.
Now I cant get the spots off. I tried wax. I tried Mothers aluminum polish. I tried Met-all. I tried Nuvite S with hand and Cyclo. NOTHING! I tried Nuvite F7 with the Cyclo. NOTHING.
I called Tom at Perfect Polish for guidance and we decided to go to basic compounding with F7. Being that I have the compounding kit for the Cyclo I am trying it first...then back to square one.
I did check ingrediants of the Turtle Wax to see if there was some corrosive in there hard on Aluminum...nada.
Be careful out there.