Wax??

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RvFairyLady

RvFairyLady

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 25, 2008
Posts
89
Location
Northern California
I want my RV to be all shiney again like it was when we got it. (The prior owners had it detailed before selling it. )

I can't imagine waxing an entire rv.

I have a pressure washer.., is there some type of product that sprays on a shiney protectant kind of wax-like coating?
 
There are all kinds of products that claim to make the job easy - "just spray it on and walk away" or "add one ounce to the wash water". In my opinion, none of them are even worth considering. Your mileage may vary.

If the surface is in decent condition and just needs a shine and weather protection. Protect-All is as close to "wipe on, wipe off" as you are ever likely to get with a real shine and decent protection of the finish. Takes me a couple afternoons to do my 40 footer.
http://www.protectall.com/ Available at Walmarts and most RV stores.

If the surface is grimy or oxidized, you are in for some rubbing with a standard auto or boar cleaner/was product. No way around it.
 
there some type of product that sprays on a shiney protectant kind of wax-like coating?
Click to expand...

Don't we wish!  ::)  We use Protect All.

ArdraF
 
What's the surface you're trying to make shiny & protect? Is it unpainted fiberglass, unpainted gel coated fiberglass, full body paint over fiberglass, or aluminum? The answer will help provide a more appropriate response.
 
Well,, there are "Hot-Wax" type products that you can spray on with your pressure washer.. This is basically the same wax used at automatic car washes... Will it make it shiny again.. Can't say.

Is it as good as say Simonize... NO. in fact very little is.

That said there are several products that are nearly as good as Simonize, but a lot less work

If your rig is fiberglass.... Check out products made for boats, which are often painted fiberglass.  I can not recall the name less I'm looking at the shelf at the auto store but it begins with "M".. the one that comes to mind Meguiers or something like that.. Hold on Meguiar (At least that is what Google found)

Now I have never used this stuff Shampoo & Conditioner and in fact never heard of it till I went searching for Meguiar

http://www.meguiars.com/estore/product_list.cfm is the company products page for Meguiar.

NOTE: this is only one line of products.. One I see advertised often.. I have used some of their products but can not say that they are better than other products I've used.

But waxing it, the old fashion way.. That is still the best.

Note if it's lost it's luster.. There are multi-step restoration products.. I think that line above has some.. That will work better than a straight wax as a rule.

Ther are also single step products such as Nu-Finish, that claim to do the job

Again, I have not been all that impressed... but they do work.
 
Sorry, I forgot to mention this RV has mostly aluminum siding, painted & tape/paint striping, big chrome bumpers and mirros and some chrome trim.
 
Forget any of the heavy duty waxes, you don't need them on a painted surface. One of the car type spray polishes will do just fine. I use Turtle Wax liquid polish on our full body painted coach (it's fiberglass beneath the paint) once a year. Meguires also makes a similar liquid polish. I then wash with one of the car washes such as ZipWax, Blue Corral, or similar.

I save the heavy paste wax for the unpainted gel coat on our boat.
 
RvFairyLady said:
Hey Tom, thanks. Spray polish sounds a little easier.
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Spray polish is easier but definitely does not last as long. I use Protect-All on the expanse of the sides above the basement doors twice a year and on the front after and/or before each trip.

Every spring and fall the basement doors, front and rear of the coach get a good wax job with McGuire's, so worth it.

I use Blue Corral wash & wax prior and/or after each trip. She's always clean and shiney ;D
 
Somewhere around here are the results of a non-scientific test I ran using different wonder waxes/polishes. We use TurtleWax liquid only once a year, and the coach comes up "like new" after every wash.

I'm not one to shy away from work, e.g. it consistently takes me 21 days to wax our boat with carnuba heavy paste wax. So, if there were a need to apply liquid wax to our coach more often, it wouldn't bother me one bit. Some years I've done it twice, but it's not really not needed.
 
Tom said:
TurtleWax liquid
Click to expand...

Tom,
Is the TurtleWax you use Liquid Ice? I've used it on the cars and the liquid form is hard to see so you keep finding spots that need rubbed off. The application is just a wipe on method which is extremely easy but it still has to be buffed off. I highly recomend this for plastic, the cladding on Avalanche was looking pretty sun faded and ruined but this stuff darkened it and brought it right back to life. Haven't tried it on the MH yet.
 
[quote author=Dar]Is the TurtleWax you use Liquid Ice?[/quote]

No, it's the Turtle Wax Super Hard Shell. Liquid, but not spray-on, more like a cream. It's also available as a paste, but I use the liquid and find it excellent.
 
21 days.., I'm impressed!

I work full time and have a 14 year old daughter.., who happens to spend a lot of her time (and mine) in Kung Fo and Softball. Not to mention several fur babies. If it takes me 21 days to wax anything then it's not getting done!

But maybe I can pay one of my young adult kids to do the wax and then I could maintain with the blue coral wash.. that sounds managable. Cheap Labor..., that's the ticket.
 
LOL, I don't really mind the 21 days, depending on the time of year. But sometimes tendonitis (tennis elbow) sets in, and that's painful and takes months to heal.

There's no substitute for a heavy carnuba paste wax on gel coat. I've had "pros" try teflon and other products, and they typically last a few weeks vs a year for carnuba paste.

Some years I hire a pro crew to do the job (costs $$$). Typically, the crew is from the south, as in south of the border, and work their tails off. The calibration I use is when 3 guys work dawn 'till dusk for 3 days, bring their sleeping bags and sleep on the floor of the boat, and don't take breaks. Since they work longer and harder than me, I figure they rack up 18 of my man-days, so my 21 days doesn't look too far out of whack.
 
There are numerous happy DWG users here. We've tried it, and still have (expensive) unused bottles of it in the garage. It goes on easier than anything else we've tried, but the subsequent "washes" are with a wet hand cloth, and definitely a lot more work than using a brush with car wash in water.

Not running down the product or the results, but not the best/easiest solution for us. Good solution if you don't have ready access to a water hose, or are in RV parks where RV washing isn't permitted.
 
SCR said:
I'm looking at Dri Wash n' Guard http://www.dwginternational.com/products.shtml#

Seems like it would be pretty easy, albeit pricey. Anybody tried it?
Click to expand...

http://www.protectall.com/searchresult.aspx?CategoryID=3 We use the Protect All Easy Wash when on the road which works really good in situations where you can't use a water hose like Tom mentioned. You have to make sure you buff it out after drying or it smears but it does do the job.
 
Once a year, usually in the Spring, my husband uses carnuba paste wax and waxes our 35 foot coach.  He puts it on and then lightly buffs it with an electric buffer.  You have to be careful not to buff it too hard.  The coach is a 2003 and still glistens.

We live in an area that is very dry and we were beginning to notice the inside wood was starting to look dried out.  So, he lightly sanded the interior wood and applied light varnish.  Boy did that make the inside wood look great. 

Marsha~
 
Tom said:
There are numerous happy DWG users here. We've tried it, and still have (expensive) unused bottles of it in the garage. It goes on easier than anything else we've tried, but the subsequent "washes" are with a wet hand cloth, and definitely a lot more work than using a brush with car wash in water.

Not running down the product or the results, but not the best/easiest solution for us. Good solution if you don't have ready access to a water hose, or are in RV parks where RV washing isn't permitted.
Click to expand...

Tom,

We are full timers and stay mostly at COE or State parks. No car or RV washing with water is permitted under any circumstances. They may allow you to clean the bugs off the front but that's about it.

I agree that washing with a brush would be much easier but that's just not going to happen. Washing a 5th wheel at a coin wash, when you can find one big enough to get the rig in, is an expensive proposition on a per wash basis. Besides it's not easy at all.

In reading the directions, http://www.mydwgint.com/global/instructions.asp#1010, I didn't see the use of a wet hand cloth for subsequent cleanings mentioned. Perhaps the instructions are more explicit on the product label.

In any even I may give it a try.

Thanks to you and Dar for taking the time to reply.
Stan
 
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