Help how to clean and polish my teardrop

[catinmoon]

HI all,
newbie here again. the suggestions I got when I asked about backing up the teardrop were so helpful, that I'm back again to mine the collective wisdom of the group.

My new teardrop (well we got it this summer) is aluminum and the builder polished it with Mother's Mag aluminum polish. it looked nice when we picked it up,
but now is dusty and needs a wash and another polish,

I've been searching the web a bit but haven't found the secrets. I thought I read somewhere that water drops are hard to get rid of, so don't just wash the trailer with a hose, but I am not sure if that is a big concern.

I live in the desert and don't have a garage, so I'm going to be doing this in the sun, unless we try and grab the moments before dusk after the sun goes behind the mountains. Basically I'm looking for hints about washing, and then how to polish. I got some polishing rags and was thinking to do it by hand.

Thanks for any insights--you all are so helpful.

Stephanie (catinmoon)

[48Rob]

Hi Stephanie,

Using tap water can often leave hard to remove spots, sometimes the minerals can etch the aluminum.
Rinsing with distilled water is one cure, though expensive.
Using a spot free rinse system that filters the water, like this one;

http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Clean-AutoDry- ... B0006M56CE

Will reuduce the potential for damage to almost nothing.
After polishing a traier to a mirror shine, it was the only way I could wash the trailer without damage.

Rob

[mary and bob]

I use Mothers on our teardrop. When it's not being used it is kept inside. After it is washed I will dry it with old towels. If it's only slightly dusty I'll wipe it off dry. Using the Mothers is like wax, rub it on with a rag, wait a couple minutes and wipe off the haze with a clean rag. The "on" rag gets black, and will no matter how many times you polish the aluminum. I don't try to get a mirror finish, just enough shine to blind other drivers on a sunny day.

[catinmoon]

hi again,
Well, we were able to do a good job washing the trailer off and not getting any water drops.

But I think we are naive about the polish/buffing. I have 2 products -- mother's mag and aluminum polish (a paste) and something called Glare professional polish which is more of a liquid.

At least we were smart enough to try the polishing on the top of the trailer where a normal sized person can't see. The mag polish went on black as expected but repeated buffing doesn't seem to get the black off. The Glare polish is similar, but if you use a large amt of polish and buff like a crazy person you can get the black out it seems.

My friend says we need a buffing wheel. Is this so? I worry about mechanical devices but there is no way a human being could polish the whole trailer using the method and time it seems to be taknig. Hopefully we either need a different product or method. Suggestions appreciated. if buffing wheels are allowed can you suggest a brand/size/type?

thanks!
Stephanie with a very sore wrist.

[mary and bob]

Our teardrop is vintage so it's not very big, but even so I only do a little at a time. Mothers can be a little dificult to buff off sometimes. I use mechanics shop rags, one with the paste, another to buff. When the buffing rag starts to get black it then becomes the paste rag. Sometimes I get lazy and use a wet rag to get the paste off, but otherwise it is time consuming and a lot of work to polish aluminum. You can rub with the paste forever, and the rag will still turn black. I tried some other polish that I bought at a boat show that was supposedly better than Mothers, but I didn't see any difference. I usually polish our teardrop once or twice a year.

[BrwBier]

First I have to ask what kind of finish you would like to end out with. A mirror finish looks great if done correctly, like a black car, but hard to keep that way. I soon found out I am not dedicated enough for a mirror finish and could never get a consistent degree of shine from one area to an other. I tried every polish I could find and soon discovered that they all are about the same. It was then that I discovered brushed aluminum. I found a site online that explained the whole process and the materials to do it. I now have a trailer that I think looks pretty good (not perfect), but I am happy with it and it is easy to keep looking like that. It only takes a little while and a few supplies to keep the level of satin that satisfies me. Here is a link to the site, its not for everyone, its not easy or fast, but fairly easy to be consistent and that was more important to me that anything else.
http://kirkhammotorsports.com/manual2/bodyfinishing/bodyfinishing.shtml
Mine sits outside almost all the time and imperfections are called patina.
Brwbier

[catinmoon]

Well, Rob's mirror finish is amazing but probably not compatible with my desert lifestyle. I don't need the finish to be perfect, but want to respect the trailer and keep it in good condition. I will look at the suggested website about the brushed aluminum. Since I didn't make the trailer I'm not sure about the specs of the aluminum. I know the builder usually paints his trailers and alerted me of the maintenance if I didn't paint. but I'm still wanting to find a way to keep it "natural". My friend thinks there are pores in the aluminum and the black is the oxidation getting into the pores and it can't get out without a buffer. Thoughts on this?

thanks, Stephanie

[mary and bob]

I think the black is just natural to aluminum, On ours the old original aluminum does it, and the outer hatch that I had to replace with new aluminum does it too. At a car show someone was trying to talk me into some liquid aluminum cleaner, but I'm afraid it would etch the metal. I know it's used on commercial freight trailers, I even have some, but won't use it on our teardrop. I'll stay with the hand rub method, I'm happy with the result.

[48Rob]

On another teardrop we used to have with plain aluminum, we used mothers or some other polish to just keep it sort of clean looking.
We found that Westleys Bleche-White tire cleaner would remove the black crud from polishing, while not harming the aluminum.
While doing the other polished trailer, we found that Windex with vinegar was also a very effective black polish residue remover.

Rob

[catinmoon]

I love the brushed aluminum look but question my ability to effect such an effect on my own. The Vinegar/windex sounds intriguing. we have a few "test spots" on the top of the trailer. come to think of it, these might also be the areas for the potential solar panels. Doesn't sound like it could hurt.

thanks again for the comments, will keep you posted. I'm out of town now but will be back later this week.

Stephanie

[BrwBier]

Don't be fooled. You won't be able to recreate the finish shown on the web site, only a somewhat satisfactory approximation. Like I said it's not for everyone but I had to do it because I had some very bad white corroded spots on my aluminum from it sitting in a wash stall at the trailer repair place I bought it from. Getting the brushed finish straight is the hard part. The natural action of your hand is in an arc. I use dollar store window cleaner on mine and it works pretty good. Using the top for testing is a good idea, not many will ever see it.
Brwbier

[cuyeda]

Various suggestions about polishing, so I will comment on the water drops. If you don't already have a synthetic chamois type of drying cloth. It absorbs water quickly. It is night time otherwise I would look at the brand name for reference. Don't wash your trailer when the sun is is blazing hot, and wait until your trailer is either shaded, or early morning, or early evening. If you choose to wash with a little sun, just do things quickly before the water drops gets a chance to dry on the surface.



I use an electric garden blower to dry my trailer after washing. It drys quickly, gets the moisture out of the crevices, and minimizes rubbing a polished trailer using drying towels. Once most of the water drops have been blown off, I use the synthetic towel to lightly and quickly pick up any moisture still left on the trailer.

[mary and bob]

I like the leaf blower idea, I have a gas powered one that I have found useful for things other than leaves, like cleaning out the garage, or blowing snow off the car. Never thought about using it to dry the trailer or car after washing.

[Martiangod]

ive found white baking flour to be a good aluminum polish,As it gets black it falls away. Used to keep the tunnels on my snow machine gleaming using flour.
Pour a bag into a dry bucket, and using terry rags scoop up the flour and polish away. Use a california duster to remove the dust at the end of polishing

[catinmoon]

thanks for the flour idea, Chris. But I am not sure what a CAlifornia duster is -- like a feather duster?

Stephanie