1956 26' Airstream Trailer

M

mtndrew1

New member
Hey guys,



Long time lurker, first time caller...



I've been detailing on weekends and off days for a few years now and have become fairly good at it, getting lots of referrals and such. I've become somewhat proficient with rotary and DA polishing on painted surfaces. Etc. etc.



Anyway, a friend of mine just picked up a 1956 Airstream trailer he wants to restore and he'd like the shell polished out. It's badly oxidized (of course) and I believe it's bare aluminum.



Can anyone here recommend any techniques or products for this? I'm assuming rotary polishing with something aggressive on a wool pad followed by a DA to finish up? Do I just use Menz-style products or should I go with a dedicated metal polish? I don't believe he's looking for show quality as he'll actually be using this with his 1956 GMC pickup (!) for regular camping duty.



I've searched around and aside from the WWII aircraft polish (wow!) and the old Rolls-Royce polish I'm not finding anything. Surely someone here must have some experience!



Thanks in advance!



-Drew
 
I have done this, believe it or not. A buddy had a large two axle Airstream and we polished it with Mothers Aluminum Polish and a RO polisher using the stiffest orange pads we could get. These worked better than wool and used less polish.



Hint: for buffing put a microfiber under the buffer pad and do it that way. Saves your arms on these big jobs.
 
rolite an nuvite products would be a good place to start. both have some good info on there websites. basically your'e good to need 3 products one to remove the oxidation (pre-polish/heavy cutting), polish it bring up a shine, then a fine/final polish to bring it to a mirror finish. of course after all the hard work you'll want to protect it with some sort of sealant (so i guess that makes 4 products total).



this is no small task and will take many hours to accomplish.
 
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