oxidizied nightmare

[Donavin629]

may/2009 still having an issue getting this oxidation off these older RVs with Gel coat.. i washed.. clayed.. and still when i wipe my hand on it a white powder is left on my fingers... someone recommended using some comet and a scrub brush to get most of the oxi off.. then polish and wax.. the problem is.. when im hitting it with the rotary buffer.. its like grabbing dirt and just smearing it.. and its a pain to work around those stickers.. cause if i hit it with any product or machine.. it smears the color into the white.. so i have to wet the surface every time i do a section.. any ideas of how i can bang these bad boys out faster?...



i posted that on another site for help.. below is the latest post i have out there.. just looking for help with this... thanks.



RV update. 6/12/09



Well everyone.. still having a hard time with that one oxidized RV.. my steps on the right side worked out great.. now that im working on the left side.. totally different reaction.. I cant win with this gel coat crap lol… im not a fan of gel coat at all now.. but I need to figure this out since there are tons of boats here for me to work on.. plus the RV parks.



Using that Marine compound.. followed up by System1 polish… what was happening was the pattern from my machine were being left behind… so if you looked at the rv from the side.. you can see where my Makita or cyclo was going side to side and top to bottom.. so it was really blotchy and ugly.. it def shined up but I cant let that go this way.. my customer wont notice it in the sun.. but give my customer a cloudy day and he looks at it at the right angle.. hes gonna see how ugly of a job it is.



So this is what I did.. went back to Sail and Ski where I bout the marine compound.. explained to them what was going on.. they had their detailer come up from the shop to talk with me..he knew exactly what I was talking about .. he said he sees it all the time.. and the only next step is wet sanding.. I asked if there was any other way cause im not charging the customer enough for that work.



He said not really… I asked him why one side went better than the other.. he said .. all depends on where the sun is hitting.. he said the one side could be in the shade a lot more that the other.



Example.. he said.. sometimes boats come in and the sides come out fine.. but the back is a pain in the butt because the sun was setting on that boat everyday so the back of it had to be wet sanded.



Well I went back and used 1500 grit sand paper .. then tried to use the marine compound with wool pad.. was not taking the scratches out.. I had to go over it a couple of times.. so I said forget this.. there has to be an easier way.. I felt I was making more work for myself.



Can someone help me out please… as this wil be a large majority of my work here in Austin.



Im looking for a product that can cut through this oxidation and leave a clean finish.. I don’t mind going over it maybe once or twice.. but I don’t want to create more work for myself



The pics are kinda hard to see since its white.. but you can see a little of whats going on.



Thanks a bunch guys.

[Donavin629]

no suggestions huh? anyone??? anyone... you out there??? helloooo houston this is ground control do you copy?? lol

[DM101]

Sounds like to me you need to have someone apply new coats of clear gel coat.

[Greg Nichols]

you are doing a job that is way more than a simple polish and wax, so I hope you bid it out as a correction job, more like 15-25$/linft. My guess is that you need to really remove the oxidation and 1500grit should have done that, follow it up with 2000 and then either foamed wool or green foam and megs 105 should give you good results, further polishing will help with shine.



Oxidation removal is not easy work.

[ghost28]

Gel coat is a totally different animal then paint......it is porus so it sucks up product like crazy.. when oxidized like that any and alll automotive products are a waste of time and money....and conventional ways of detailing go out the window.....



Clay-dont bother....any contaminants that stick to oxidized gel will be gone when the compounding phase begins.....



wet sand is not advised unless you have intimate knowledge and tons of experience with gel...



you need to hit the local marine supply store and get the products below.....



Knights Spray9....this a i a HD cleaner that is used in the marine world....dilute it in a 5 gal pail at about 1/4gal to the rest of a 5 gal pail of water and wash the RV well with it....do small sections at a time rinsing in between....you may notice it yellowing the badly oxidized spots but thats OK it will disappear when it dries....



onceits thoughroughly washed get out the WOOOL pads....3m superbuff 2+2 is my pad of choice on a superbuff adapter since they flex alot more than a velcro backed wool pad and allow you to apply more pressure to compound with.....keep plenty of fresh pads handy (pad is double sided so i would say 2 or 3 for that job) since once they gum up they need to be let sit to dry out then spurrred.....Spurring a wet gel compound pad usually doesnt work as well as a dry one....



for COMPOUND use Meguiars #49 compound....this compound is very aggressive and has a diminishing abrasive that lightens up as you go as well as essential oils that the gel needs to allow for proper compounding....start in a small area and spread at slow speed....once evenly spread out run higher speed than you normally would on paint and appli pressure....just be cautious in the decal areas as they dont like the pressure....with gelcoat speed IS your friend so dont be afraid to spin the wheel to 2200-2500 RPM......work the area until the polish is cutting less and then drop down to slower speed and allow it to basically dry out.....ten wipe the panel with a towel to remove any light residue



after you have compounded the entire thing then its off to POLISH.....now you can use automotive polishes at this point with some success if you have done the Compound step properly.....you can experiment with whatever polishes you have in your arsenal.....i happen to like Menzerna SIP for this step as well as 3M Finesse it.....again dont bother with Foam pads stick to a wool blend or synthetic polishing pad such as the 3m yellow and use the double sided pads on the superbuff adapter as mentioned earlier....this step will take some time to get the swirls out (roughly twice the time of paint) and you will probably have to polish twice in order to get it looking nice....



after this step its back to the marine products for some Meguiars #45 Boat/RV Polish....apply this by hand or machine with a foam pad on slow speed and work it well....remove before it dries.....again using a terry towel.....



then my wax of choice is Meguiars #50 cleaner wax....i know its a cleaner but it works well and lays the foundation for whatever you choose to top it off with....be sure to apply the wax generously and allow it to dry fully and then buff off with a terry towel....(microfiber is not your friend on gelcoat)....i usually do 2 coats to be sure i fully covered the whole thing as its easy to miss a spot on things this large.....



after all of this you will have a nice finish again and whoever owns the RV will need your services waxing the RV AT LEAST once every 2-3 months with monthly being best in order to fight the oxidation from coming back....



i know its sounds like a big job and it is but it will be worth it.....here in NY that is about a $1000.00 to $1200.00 exterior detail.....keep in mind as well that with gelcoat the word Correction is basically non existent....gel will always show some swirls here and there and especially if allowed to sit outside in the sun it will fade and show swirls that werent there when you finished as that is the nature of the beast.......



hope this helps......