I recently bought a really well maintained Four Winds 28A Class C Motor Home. Very low mileage, stored inside, never saw winter roads, etc. It's main function was to take the owner to a couple of NASCAR tracks every year. The one thing I cannot find out (I am sure there will be others after I take possession) is if the exterior, which is the tan colors, is paint or gel coat. I am leaning to paint and now wonder if it needs to be an automotive type wax or if the liquid floor polish (ZEP?) is the way to go to make it shine like new. I know, not earth shattering but I really hope someone can tell me. At this point I have had one person say paint and one that said gel. I have no idea!
1994 Four Winds Exterior PAINT or GEL ???
- Thread starter clown9644
- Start date
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Charlie 5320
Well-known member
That coach appears to have corrugated aluminum siding, so it will have paint. Automotive wax of your liking will keep it in good shape.
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
That appears to be a metal-sided RV (based on the corrugated appearance), Fiberglass walls are smooth panels.
Metal sidewalls are pre-finished with a paint baked on when the panels are manufactured. Use any type of automotive finish restorer to remove dirt and oxidation and shine her up.
The front end is a standard van with automotive paint.
Metal sidewalls are pre-finished with a paint baked on when the panels are manufactured. Use any type of automotive finish restorer to remove dirt and oxidation and shine her up.
The front end is a standard van with automotive paint.
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
It won't be any more rubbing than needed for the Zep treatment. Putting on the Zep wax is easy, but you still would have to prep by rubbing away all the oxidized surface with some sort of rubbing compound. The classical method is to use Barkeepers Friend or Bon Ami, but that's just as much rubbing as an automotive rubbing compound.
Charlie 5320
Well-known member
Wouldn't even consider putting Zep on a painted surface. But I wouldn't put Zep on my gelcoat either. A good cleaner wax may be all you need. I had an old Itasca with aluminum side years ago and it wasn't too bad to make it look really good. Not near as bad as one with gelcoat. Bad thing with yours is you can't hardly use a buffer as it will wear the paint off of the high spots on the siding.
I?ve got to defend Zep. Put the second Zep job on our 92 Bounder in May. ( 1st application when all the prep was necessary 3-5 years ago and I painted over the vinyl stripes at that time) Bounder looks better than it did new. Took just over an hour to apply. Just wiped on. I also use it on my acrylic enamel vehicles. My 70 cj5 Jeep, my 92 Tracker, my 85 f250, my 70 Monte Carlo, and my 73 fastback Mustang. They all shine like a diamond in goats rear end and requires about 20 minutes of my time for each one every 2-3 years. Takes longer to give them a good wash job.
Long live Zep wet look floor polish.
Long live Zep wet look floor polish.
I bought a gallon to use on my 94 Damon which is a gel coat, then decided to sell it and get a c instead which is the unit that got me wondering. I may just have to try a hidden spot and see how it looks. I was really impressed with some of the You Tube vids on this for gel coat, have to see if there are any on paint. If not, I have a 5 year supply for my wooden floors! Thanks for jumping in on the topic, gave me food for thought.
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
Nothing wrong with the Zep product - it's just a wet-look (high gloss) liquid floor wax. However, a wet-look clear finish over an oxidized surface is essentially like polishing a turd. If you don't polish off the oxidation first, you get about the same look as wetting it down with a hose. The real work in the Zep treatment for an RV is the polishing the surface to get rid of the oxidation. Once that is done, it's a simple application process for the wax.
I owned a painted aluminum side trailer back in the day and polished it up nicely with an automotive polish product (I think I used NuFinish). It was about 8 years old at the time and probably had never been polished, but it didn't take a lot of rubbing effort. However, any RV has a lot of surface, so even an easy job is time-consuming.
I owned a painted aluminum side trailer back in the day and polished it up nicely with an automotive polish product (I think I used NuFinish). It was about 8 years old at the time and probably had never been polished, but it didn't take a lot of rubbing effort. However, any RV has a lot of surface, so even an easy job is time-consuming.
My issue is that I sold a really nice camper for this c class as my arthritis is getting so bad that I doubt if I could get much more done than a couple of square yards a day. I may have to bribe my 14 year old grand son to do the job. And it sure isn't getting done with this full sun, no clouds in site and 85 degree days they are promising for the next week or more! This may be a September kind of project!
R
rls7201
Guest
Zep Wet Look is not a wax. It's an acrylic polymer coating.
