Buffing out an oxidized RV

[RaynorternWI]

Greetings again!
I'm almost done..
I have a 30' RV that has a fiberglass shell. It is oxidized, but not terribly so, and will likely buff out nicely.
My arms already hurt thinking about buffing out a half acre of oxidized finish on a 30' RV with a scaffold, some rubbing compound, and a buffer.

Is there such a thing as the easy way? Some magic juice that I can put in my pressure washer?

As always, thanks for any help or suggestions!
Ray

[D Gardiner]

No magic juice. Just good old hard work.
The good news is, once you are finished removing the oxidation, the up-keep will be much, much easier.

(Day 1) Give the coach a good wash, and dry.
(Day 2) Meguiar's 49 Marine/RV Heavy Duty Oxidation Remover, using an orbital buffer.
Best advice: Do no more than one side at a time.
(Day 3) Meguiar's 45 Marine/RV High Gloss Polish, still using the orbital buffer.
(Day 4) Meguiar's M6332 Flagship Premium Marine Wax, use the orbital buffer to expedite waxing.
Lastly, use a boat load of micro fiber towels. They will be your friend.

[Isaac-1]

I tend to agree, though I prefer their Ultimate product line

[Jon_C]

Check out poli-glow thats what i use on my 25 year old coach and it looks like new. Been using it for 2 years.

Was highly oxidized before no buffing.

[1972VWbus]

I used (94 Southwind) the following with excellent results:


https://www.protectall.com/product-i...on/fiberglass/


Once done I hit it annually with Mother CMX coating. Here are some pics...

[153stars]

3M makes all in one ...compound-swirl remover-wax for boats /gelcoat. I have never been disappointed in a 3M product. Find vids about and using it. New compounds the proper buffing speed is important.Ladders and plank or bakers scaffold would help.
Stay away from/tape vinyl stripes with buffer.

[rffowler55]

I 2nd the Poli-glow recommendation. I have used the Poli-glow oxidation removal compound on our previous 1998 Born Free and my current 2007 Newmar Baystar and the process still requires work but, the end result after completing the 3 step process, is well worth the effort.

[bokobird]

Originally Posted by D Gardiner

No magic juice. Just good old hard work.
The good news is, once you are finished removing the oxidation, the up-keep will be much, much easier.

(Day 1) Give the coach a good wash, and dry.
(Day 2) Meguiar's 49 Marine/RV Heavy Duty Oxidation Remover, using an orbital buffer.
Best advice: Do no more than one side at a time.
(Day 3) Meguiar's 45 Marine/RV High Gloss Polish, still using the orbital buffer.
(Day 4) Meguiar's M6332 Flagship Premium Marine Wax, use the orbital buffer to expedite waxing.
Lastly, use a boat load of micro fiber towels. They will be your friend.

The above is the best, just finished mine, even though oxidation wasn't much of an issue. Check out the mirror shine thread for pictures by me and others using the products above. The fiberglass on my RV is easily as smooth as glass. Folks around me can't stop commenting on how nice it looks.

I've seen some videos on Youtube as well for boaters using those products and for heavy oxidation, it's unbelievable the difference. Completely brings out the colors again.

[RaynorternWI]

First of all thank you to all of you that replied. In the couple of weeks that I have owned my RV we have had about 3 days that weren't raining or under 50 degrees. ( Lousy northern Wisconsin weather..)
At that point I have had very little time to work on it and way too much time inside surfing the net for supplies.

I looked at a lot of the products here is what I found.

Meguiars- I am not a fan after having some of their products fail miserably. The photos look great, after a couple of times getting burned they are not trusted.

Poly Glow- I love the results but I really don't want to hand scrub a huge RV with ugly oxidation even with the special juice. I also saw where one guy's finish started peeling and was ugly. Still in the running, but not so sure about the arm work and having to strip it in 3-6 years and start over.

3M- The 3M heavy cut was my top choice with Poppa Cut close.
Right now my top pick for compound is Starke Level R. In this video it noticeably outdid both 3M and Presta. It is priced similar to the 3M.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAee1RqTYaE

The leading buffer isn't a DA or long throw due to the amount of detail work needed around windows, trim and the like. 98% of the reviewers gave it 4 or 5 stars, pretty unusual.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09MT1WMW4/

Scaffolding- I had a deal from Facebook Marketplace where the guy was going to sell me a 6' heavy frame scaffold complete with planks, wheels, and outriggers for $180. At Menards they are $270 and Harbor freight was $240. I drove my one ton towing truck an hour each way (at 10MPG), only to find out that the jerk sold them before I got there. He knew I was coming and did it anyway. Not happy.
As luck would have it I found a special buy at Home Depot for the same level of 1,000lb scaffold for $70 off- $170 vs $245 normally. The best part was that they offered free delivery. I am not sure who is going to deliver a 135 pound scaffold, but they said free delivery, saving me another two hours in the big truck to pick it up.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/PRO-SERI...GSSI/100645165

The really nice coach on the mirror shine thread looked freaking amazing. I checked on some of the products used and they looked great.

https://www.irv2.com/forums/attachme...p;d=1681434319

https://www.irv2.com/forums/f112/mir...ne-602419.html

One that caught my eye was the Gyeon Q2R GelCoat. Clearly that coach looked spectacular so I looked into it. Woa Nellie! $185 for 100Ml? That would be cool but this is a 30 year old coach that cost me a little over 10G. I think that I will be looking into a ceramic or carnauba top coat that is a little closer to a blue collar budget. I love the results but can't cover the $$.
https://clean-garage.com/gyeon-q2r-g...ramic-coating/

I will update as it evolves further and as the iceberg finally melts and we get into temperatures where I can actually start buffing and waxing.
I believe that when people put forth the effort on a forum to contribute that you should at least give them the courtesy of a follow up. That is where we stand right now. I intend to follow up with my successes and or failures once I get to work on it. In the meantime thank you again.

[RickNC]

I went the same route using 3M’s series of buffing compounds and wet sanding on my 1995 Winnebago. It looked okay when I was done. I wasn’t totally satisfied,so 3-1/2 years ago I bought two gallons of 2 part Polyurethane clear coat (Eastwood). I wet sanded with 800g then sprayed the whole thing with 2 coats. It really brightened up the fading graphics. Made it look almost new. It has held up really well. Picture from 10 days ago

[RaynorternWI]

That looks great RickNC!

[Gustinegal]

my question is WHAT is the actual composition of the top on a 1998 190 B. on a Ford 350 V10 vehicle.
"gelcoat" or "fiberglass" or what
??

Originally Posted by RaynorternWI

Greetings again!
I'm almost done..
I have a 30' RV that has a fiberglass shell. It is oxidized, but not terribly so, and will likely buff out nicely.
My arms already hurt thinking about buffing out a half acre of oxidized finish on a 30' RV with a scaffold, some rubbing compound, and a buffer.

Is there such a thing as the easy way? Some magic juice that I can put in my pressure washer?

As always, thanks for any help or suggestions!
Ray

[PoliGlow]

Thank you for the Poli Glow recommendation. Jon, we do suggest after about a year or so to wash the rig thoroughly with a pH-neutral soap that won't break down Poli Glow and to follow up with a maintenance application. The maintenance application consists of 2-3 additional coats of Poli Glow. By doing this, you will protect the surface from becoming oxidized again and keep your rig shiny!

[PoliGlow]

@RaynorternWI
You have some great products to choose from. Whatever you use on your rig, be sure to remove all of the oxidation before applying polishes or wax to your surface. If the oxidative layer is not removed, then you will have a shiny surface for a short period of time, and once the product wears off, then the oxidation will be exposed again. I hope this makes sense.

In reference to Poli Glow peeling, we have seen this happen when there are only 2 coats of the product applied to the surface. Our instructions address this issue. The first two coats of the product get into the pores and seal it. It also depends on the age of the fiberglass. As fiberglass ages, it becomes more porous and may require 8-10 coats of Poli Glow. This is an easy process as the product is wiped with our microfiber mitt applicator onto a non-oxidized surface dull surface. The product dries within 2 minutes. Reach out to us directly if I can help, we love walking our customers through the process and we understand that every situation can be a little bit different.