looking for affordable polishing services

[rec]

I am looking to get our 29 foot 1989 Excella stripped and polished, but I don't have time to do it myself! I have also been told that we really need someone who can apply a new layer of clearcoat after stripping and polishing, because without it, our trailer will oxidize very quickly and need to be repolished in just a few years. We are prepared to go just about anywhere in the country for a good price, so I am really looking for both quality work and the best quote. At one point, I had found a place online that does polishing in TX, I think it was Corpus Christi, that had a GREAT price. And they would allow us to continue to live in our Airstream as they worked, because we are full timers. And of course, now I don't find them again! If you have any thoughts, suggestions, or have used a company that you love, I would be most grateful for the referral. Thanks!

[Melody Ranch]

Be careful Ramona. There are some bogus "companies" out there...here in Texas.
For what you describe look into this fellow. Has a GREAT reputation. A: Yes. The pure aluminum alclading ... Richard McIntyre in Oregon 888-912-9572 ...

[Protohyp]

Affordable and Airstream in the same post? Now you've done it. Someone posted a few days ago about truck polishing services pretty cheap. something like 1500.00 to 'get it presentable'. Most likely you will have to do finish work yourself clean the rivets etc but that saves a ton of the really dirty work

[Soyboy]

Affordable? Hmmmm. I can tell you after stripping and polishing my 1999 Safari that it is very labor intensive, so I wouldn't expect to find it too cheap, especially if you want it re-clear coated (which you don't have to do, if you are willing to give it a "touch up" every year or two). Anyway, if you want it done right, here is a place to starte P&S in Ohio...... They have been doing it for a long time, have a good rep and can do the whole job: strip, polish, recoat. Good luck.

[adonh]

Originally Posted by rec

I am looking to get our 29 foot 1989 Excella stripped and polished, but I don't have time to do it myself! I have also been told that we really need someone who can apply a new layer of clearcoat after stripping and polishing, because without it, our trailer will oxidize very quickly and need to be repolished in just a few years. We are prepared to go just about anywhere in the country for a good price, so I am really looking for both quality work and the best quote. At one point, I had found a place online that does polishing in TX, I think it was Corpus Christi, that had a GREAT price. And they would allow us to continue to live in our Airstream as they worked, because we are full timers. And of course, now I don't find them again! If you have any thoughts, suggestions, or have used a company that you love, I would be most grateful for the referral. Thanks!

There are a lot of options available for just strip and polish but very few to strip-polish and apply new clear coat. To go the full route you would have to define what you consider "affordable". I decided at the beginning of last year that I wanted to have my 1976 31' Sovereign stripped, polished and new clear coat applied and found only a couple of places that could or would actually do this. They are P&S in Ohio and Oasis RV in Tucson AZ. I am sure there are others but I could not locate them. I decided on Oasis RV to do the job and the thread below covers this project from beginning to completion. I have been very happy with the results.

Don
1976 31' Sovereign.

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f474...ing-87114.html

[rec]

Yes, I know that "affordable" is a relative term. I wouldn’t even begin to think that someone could do it for $15OO – but I thought I had found a place that did the whole shebang for around $4OOO, and now I cant even find them to see if they were legit. I guess that’s a sign that they weren’t! P&S quoted me about $77OO, which seemed quite high. I got another quote from MEL Trailers for $65OO, another from Airstreams4Rent in Phoenix for $66OO. I just want to make sure we consider all the otions and find the best one before committing. Thanks!

[Soyboy]

As I am sure you have noticed, clear coating after polishing it, really drives up the price. I wonder if it is worth it, as I would think it would just start to peel again in a few years. Might be less expensive to polish it, not clear coat, and then pay to have the polish job "popped out" every year or two (that job being less expensive that the original strip and full polish). If you don't mind/and are capable of a bit of work, you could do the maintenance polishing yourself using a Cyclo. It's not nearly as arduous as doing the initial polishing. Just a reminder that sometimes what seems to be a good deal, may not turn out that way. It's a LOT of work to strip and polish a trailer and I would think that clear coating it is very time consuming too, tantamount to painting it. Think of how much it would cost to have your car completely painted and then look at the size of your trailer in comparison.

BTW, just as a note to folks that might be reading this thread, I talked to P&S about clear coating my trailer after I stripped and polished it. They said that they would have to "re-polish" it before they clear coated it and would charge the normal "full" polish price, plus of course the cost of clear coating. I guess they don't want to clear coat a trailer that they didn't polish, as it could reflect (no pun intended) on their craftsmanship if they clear coated a trailer that had a mediocre polishing job on it. Anyway, I don't want to "dull" the finish with a clear coat anyway, I like mine nice and shiny ;-). To each their own though....

[rec]

Actually, in one of the quotes I got, the clear coating is only $5OO of the cost. The biggest amount is the actual polishing. I have been told that without the clear coat, I can expect things to oxidize a LOT faster...if anyone knows anything about how long the clear coat lasts before having to redo it all vs. how soon you have to re-polish without the clear coat, I would love to hear about your experiences! And honestly, we run two businesses on the road and I know how we are with big maintenance projects. I know we will not be doing any touch up polishing ourselves!

[AIRmason]

I just called P&S and was given a price of around $8,000 to strip and clear coat our '79 Sov. This seems very high, but if that's the going rate, what other options are there?

[Soyboy]

As for the un-clear coated finish oxidizing, I think a lot of that depends on where you live. If you are close to the ocean, it will happen more quickly, inland, generally less so. I started to strip and polish mine about 18 months ago. The earlier parts have not begun (at least not noticeably) to oxidize at this time. I figure it will need a going over every couple of years, more if I really want it to pop out (just like waxing a car, it may not need it, but even if you do it frequently, it's going to keep it looking it's best).

AIRmason, of course you can shop around, or you can DIY. It's not really tricky to do, tons of folks have done it, but it does take some grunt work (hefting the polishers etc) and a good bit of time (I think consensus is about 80 hours on the average size trailer....that's about what I have in mine....I am still "fine tuning" of of the swirl marks out, but all it all it looks great). Tons of threads on here about doing that, as you might imagine. Bear in mind that once you start, there is no going back....

Bear in mind that there are a number of truck body polishers around, some of those guys will do Airstreams, just make sure they are careful and understand what process they use etc. There is a firm around here that does trucks and Airstreams, but someone I know, that runs a AS renovation firm stopped using them as they put a dent in one of his trailers but denied doing it etc. Too bad, as they did nice polishing work at a very reasonable price. Airstreams are a lot more fragile than a dump truck body etc. However, some of them likely can do a perfectly fine job, perhaps at a lower cost than the AS specialists. But I doubt if many will do the clear coat.

[Sooners67]

Ric
What did u decide to do?
I am interested in getting shine and will pay. I live in Okc, ok
I have contacted a local airport to see if there are any seasoned in repair of aluminum skins.
Please respond
Thanks
Marshall

[barneysm]

wow Ric to bad you don't live in San Diego might be willing to help you out how much are you willing to pay,

[Woodhippie]

Originally Posted by Sooners67

Ric
What did u decide to do?
I am interested in getting shine and will pay. I live in Okc, ok
I have contacted a local airport to see if there are any seasoned in repair of aluminum skins.
Please respond
Thanks
Marshall

Hi Sooner67, did you find anything about a polish? We live in Joplin, MO and thought we had a guy in Tulsa who would do this for us, but he has since stopped this service.

[Skatiero]

Are you going for a mirror finish or are you just trying to get rid if your airstream-pattern baldness and get it back to what it looked like coming out of the factory? That's what we did to our 89 Excella 29, you can easily do it yourself if you are looking for a "straight from Jackson Center" look as opposed to a mirror shine.

[Roadrunner]

Ramona be very careful if you decide to have one of the truck polishing companies do your trailer. As Soyboy cautioned your Airstream could come out the worse. We took our vintage "60" Overlander to the polisher mentioned...really a mistake. If you have someone polish your trailer ask for references. On the other hand I have polished two on my own. Yes it is a lot of work and takes time...but for me it was worth it.

Bob
Indiana, PA

TAC PA-5
WBCCI 4871

[rec]

Pattern baldness, for sure! I don't need a mirror finish, but neither do I have the time to do it myself (I'm in the middle of about 5 writing projects -- just published 2 books and I aim to finish 3 more before the end of the year). But if you guys want to do it for us, we would be happy to pay you!

[Skatiero]

Well heck. That is MUCH easier than a mirror polish job. Come visit us upheld in Marietta and check out our finish. We did not clear coat after, we simply waxed. We had terrible airstream pattern baldness before that.

[Silverflames]

How does the process differ from mirror finish to "factory" grade? At some point I need to strip and polish mine, but I don't want to maintain a mirror finish.

[barneysm]

Hi Ramona, how are you doing with your search, hope all is going well I'll be honest with sense I'm rather new to some extent on polishing airstream my first question was how much do it cost how much can a person charge for polishing this type of trailer, I was told for a person that never done it they can charge no lest than $150. per sq. foot and for someone that has experience they can charge has much has $250. dollars a sq. foot so when you do the math this can be costly, so if you really want to get the job done right then you might have to wheel and deal my friend, God Bless and have a nice day contact me if you want.

[Yodaforce]

They were likely pricing per trailer foot. Not sq ft. I charge $175 per trailer foot. Ex: 17'=$2975 plus materials (which can be between $200-$500). That price is just for the actual polishing procedure, and notstripping or repairing anything.

Also depends on the overall condition of the surface. I have polished good condition trailer with great results, but also poor condition trailers with ok/shiny but scarred exterior results.

Each day you polish, you will finish up resembling a coal miner clocking out. It really is a very labor intensive, and grungy job, hence the price. No one REALLY wants to do it, but people have to make money and fill the demand, so alot of shops will price it accordingly depending on condition.

I just returned from an inspection/estimate for a Caravel and the estimate was about $4500 because of the condition, and the clear stripping.