What Does Airstream Recomend To Clean And Polish Their Trailers?

Then shiny!

When we decided to sell our business firm and live full time in an RV we thought one of the perks would be an end to the incessant amount of around-the-firm projects and repairs. Ha! How wrong we were.

Since we started full-time RVing almost four years ago nosotros take taken on a long list of projects, both out of necessity (repairs) and too out of our never ending desire to renovate and improve (new kitchen backsplash, new bedroom curtains, refrigerator front re-confront…and more). I call back part of the problem is that nosotros're DIY-aholics. Which means that as much every bit we might grumble about this project or that project, the truth is that we both enjoy around-the-business firm projects.

So in the spirit of getting our DIY fix this winter nosotros we took on the well-nigh ambitious project withal — Airstream polishing. This is a big job. We knew information technology would be a large job, and we knew it would be a difficult job. In fact, we even (gasp) considered hiring someone to do it for u.s.a.. In that location are a number of reputable businesses around the state that specialize in polishing Airstreams, and spending the winter on the westward coast meant we could accept hands fabricated it happen. Only in the terminate, nosotros decided the inconvenience of leaving our firm and finding an alternative place to live for at to the lowest degree a calendar week wasn't worth the hassle. Also…DIY-aholics. And so we polished the Airstream ourselves and lived to tell the story.

Just before we get into all of that, how about a little background on why we would take on such a chore.

Mirror end

Why Polish?

Polished Airstreams are about much more than creating a shiny "pretty' await. There's a reason behind the madness. The skin of an Airstream is made of aluminum covered with a protective layer of clearcoat — or more precisely a production called Plasticoat developed for Airstream. This is not the same as the clearcoat used on cars, boats and other RV brands. Over fourth dimension, exposure to the elements can crusade the clearcoat to "fail" and skin off leaving exposed the bare aluminum that oxidizes and turns discolored. Once this happens there are basically 3 options:

1. Let it happen and simply live with the patchwork look. Most clearcoat fails begin along the roof line and high up on the curved end caps where the sun breaks down the clearcoat. An Airstream with a balmy instance of peeling clearcoat is not terribly unsightly to a casual observer. Just, it is guaranteed to get worse over time and the longer you lot get out information technology as is, the more oxidized the now blank aluminum patches get, and the more than endeavour it will take to restore.
2. Strip off the remaining clearcoat and replace with a new layer of clearcoat. This is most definitely Non a DIY option (unless you happen to have a sealed paint booth in your back yard), and paying someone to apply clearcoat to an Airstream is crazy expensive. Very few people go this route.
3. Strip off the remaining clearcoat and smooth the raw aluminum. This is a tedious and time consuming process that an amazing amount of people take on themselves. At that place are massive threads on the Airforums dedicated to polishing, and the fine art of Airstream polishing has reached a level of popularity that seems to be bordering on trendy these days.

Our Story: Polishing Circular Ane

We never set out to have a polished Airstream. We simply bought the Airstream that nosotros could afford at the fourth dimension which happened to be a 1999 with some clearcoat peeling off the end caps and at the top near the canopy roll. Our first inclination was to exit information technology and maybe someday hire someone to strip and polish it for united states. We had already committed to renovating much of the interior, were deep in the process of paring down our possessions and getting our house ready to sell (which of course involved a slew of DIY projects), and simply didn't call back there was time to deal with the clearcoat result. But then quondam in between our house selling in a tape 2 weeks, learning that our septic system needed to exist dug up and re-washed, and dealing with an ongoing plumbing event in the firm, we decided to take on the project of Airstream polishing. That crazy DIY bug strikes again!

Airstream before polishing – the arrows point to where the clearcoat was peeling

It came down to the fact that nosotros had put a whole lot of time and try into the Airstream interior and wanted the outside to match the within. And so with a month to go until our house closing we began to strip off the remaining articulate coat. This was a terrible, tedious, time consuming project that I hope to never, ever repeat. We used a production called CitriStrip that you basically pigment on, let sit and then wipe off. In theory the clearcoat should simply pare off with the CitriStrip. In reality information technology often required multiple aplications in combination with various brushes to "scrub" off the clear coat without damaging the aluminum underneath. Believe it or not, a toothbrush concluded upward existence the best tool for the job.

Once the clear coat was gone the polishing began. The most common product for polishing Airstreams is called Nuvite. It comes in seven different grades that are used in succession to remove oxidation and scratches, and provide that mirror-like shine Airstreams are so famous for. Yous don't have to utilize all seven grades –in fact, most people only use three or four — but we knew that even that many would take far more time than we had. So we did some research and came upon a product called Gord'due south Aluminum Polish.

The Gord's is applied in a thin layer and then polished off with a rotary polisher. Because it only requires one step it took a fraction of the time as compared to the Nuvite. It too just worked a fraction equally well. Gord'due south is basically the equivalent of the commencement i, perhaps 2, grades of Nuvite. Significant that while information technology did a expert task removing the oxidation and minor scratches, it did leave backside some adequately unsightly swirl marks (a normal result of polishing) and never quite got it every bit shiny as a typical polished Airstream. The reason was because we missed out on the final smoothen form whose task it is to remove swirl marks and up the shine level to maximum. But at this indicate we were out of time and itching to go on the road. It did wait better than when nosotros started and for the get-go six months had a pretty center catching shine.

Subsequently polishing round one

Polishing Round 2

The first round of polishing took place in May of 2022. Fast forward to the winter of 2022 and we were in drastic need of another polish. Over the years the bare aluminum had begun to develop oxidation and water spots. Nosotros had besides accumulated a hefty dose of scratches. From afar it withal looked great, and in photos it looked even better, but up close it was in a pretty deplorable land.

Upward shut view: Oxidation, water spots, and scratches

This fourth dimension around we decided to do it the proper style using more than ane polish grade. Except we all the same didn't use the pop Nuvite brand, instead choosing a newer product chosen Bright Work Polish. Bright Work is normally used in the aviation manufacture.

Bright Works Shine comes in three grades:

• Crimson for removing oxidation and scratches.
• White for removing h2o spots and reducing cloudiness.
• Blue for removing the swirls and giving it that oh and so shiny await.

Brilliant Works Polish + our 2 polishers

*Earlier we get into the nitty gritty details, I want to stress that this in Not a "How To" kind of post. Fifty-fifty subsequently going through the process nosotros are in no way qualified to teach anyone how to properly polish an Airstream. This was very much a learn-as-you-go projection for us and nosotros definitely made some mistakes along the way. If you want more data about Airstream polishing I take put together a list of resources at the end of this mail. If yous have polished your own Airstream and want to add together some advice, tips, or tricks experience free to add them in the comments. But please don't view this as a guide to Airstream polishing. We are in no style experts and this post is only an account of our experience.*

We split up upward the work with Tim tackling stride one and two, and me tackling the final step and clean up. In theory it should have been a pretty directly forward procedure. You put a scant amount of polish on a modest section of the Airstream and polish until it's gone. The reality was that we struggled with the amount of smooth, the speed of the polisher, the polishing pads getting gummed upwards easily and and then creating more than scratches, the varying exterior temperature affecting the smoothen, and most of all, our exception that afterward all this work the result should be zero short of perfect.

Tim working on step one

The first two grades (cherry-red and white) were applied with a Makita Polisher. This is the aforementioned tool that nosotros used the first time around with the Gord's and it performed well on both occasions. There are other comparable brand polishers out there, including a Dewalt that you tin can buy through Vintage Trailer Supply. Equally far as my knowledge goes at that place is little difference betwixt the brands and they perform the same function (and basically toll the same). For polishing pads, or bonnets as they are properly called, we used the recommend Claw and Loop Wool Pads.

Using ingenuity to become the job done

The starting time step did a great chore of removing the oxidation and most of the scratches. Not all of it though, and fifty-fifty after going back over a few spots we were however left with problem areas that refused to clean up perfectly. Nosotros're however not certain if this is normal, or if a nosotros simply didn't spend plenty time on these areas.

Afterwards footstep one and two

After the first 2 steps were left with a surface fairly costless of blemishes, but full of swirly polishing marks. This is where I came in. Step 3 removes the swirls and adds the shine. I used a smaller, orbital polisher to apply step 3. We experimented with a bunch of different pads and ended upward liking the Lambs Wool Hook and Loop pad the best.

One of the major struggles I had with pace 3 was the polish gumming up on the pad and leaving behind a web of fine scratches on the aluminum. Ane department was so bad that Tim had to go back and re-do it with both the red and white polish. It was a learning process for sure. We did effigy out how to best make clean the pads somewhen (mineral spirits to the rescue) and nosotros also determined that the pads mentioned to a higher place were the least likely to mucilage upward. Of course, I don't take a photo of the lambs wool pads, only I do accept one of our second favorite, the Wool Blend Polishing Bonnet.

The orbital polisher with a wool blend pad

Aside from the pad consequence, I also leaned the hard way that step three only requires a tiny corporeality of shine, and that the polisher needs to exist set at a much college speed and so I originally thought (hold on tight — this baby is fast at high speeds). When I finally got it dialed in the results were pretty impressive.

Progress: One side washed

Close up – also information technology'southward really hard to accept a shut upwards of a polished Airstream

Time & Coin

Time Spent: We didn't keep track of how much time we spent polishing, just we started on January ninth and finished almost a month later. During that time nosotros didn't polish every day, and we never polished all solar day, but my best estimate would be that combined we put in about 120 hours.

Cost:
Makita Polisher – $180 (we already had this from our offset round of polishing)
Porter-Cablevision Polisher – $120
Various Polishing Pads – $100 approximately (we didn't use all of these pads)
Smoothen – $150 (16 ounces of each grade – we used all of the red, most of the white, and only most half of the blue)
Microfiber cloths – $twoscore (we withal have some unused cloths)

Total spent: $490

Not bad considering that we still take both polishers, a bunch of pads, and one-half a container of the blue polish that we will use next time. Also nifty considering the going rate for polishing an Airstream is around $150 per foot.

What Now?

Aside from enjoying the shine, now we await until the oxidation and h2o spots re-develop, and so we exercise it all once more. Except this time we will definitely non wait as long, and now that it's been properly polished information technology should take less time and require less steps. Most people recommend re-polishing an Airstream every six months to a year. Yes, you can apply a non-wax sealant made for cars and boats, simply the jury is out on whether it really slows down the rate of re-oxidation, and you demand to remove it before re-polishing. So, like near people with polished Airstreams nosotros decided to let it go au naturel and accept that it will inevitably need to be polished once more.

In the meantime, we're trying to be more vigilant about wiping off water spots after it rains, washing it on a more regular basis, and staying away from things that scratch. Since we alive in it total-fourth dimension we can't keep it out of the rain, out of the dominicus, or away from the salty ocean air (the concluding one we could practice, but where'south the fun in that?), but we can put more effort into keeping it make clean and commit to re-polishing at to the lowest degree once a year. On that annotation, I demand to get outside and wipe off the water spots from yesterday's pelting storm…

Airstream Polishing Resources

How to Smooth a Vintage Airstream
Airstreamguy.com: Stride-by-step Polishing
The Art of Airstream Polishing (video)
VintageAirstream.com
Airforums: Cleaning, Stripping & Polishing

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Source: http://www.watsonswander.com/2016/airstream-update-polished/

Posted by: weatherspoonruncest91.blogspot.com

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