Paint type

[Jdbillin]

Today I was detailing a RV and it got me to thinking, how do I know what I am working with. Is it Gel-Coat, Imron, Clear-coat?

The reason I was thinking about this is this RV was different than anything I’ve seen before. The nosepiece looked just like Gel-coat on a boat, it was smooth and once waxed it was shiny but the sides were almost textured, After I put wax on it shined but the wax was very hard to remove I think its partly because it was so rough. It also wasn’t very smooth after it was waxed.

I’m not sure what year it was I’m guessing early to mid 90’s it was a Winnebago.

I’ve herd people talk about how on some boats all the white is Gel-Coat and the color is clear coat. Once you would start buffing on it you would know just by looking to see if the pad changes color but is there a general rule to go by to figure out what your working with before you start?

Thanks
Jordan

[Mike Phillips]

is there a general rule to go by to figure out what your working with before you start?

Thanks
Jordan


There's gel-coat, painted and pre-fabricated panels. Sounds like the sides were some type of pre-fabricated panel where the exterior finish is made or created when the panel is manufactured.

Here's what I would do... get the year, make and model of the motorhome before you show up to detail it and contact the manufacturer or Google the year, make and model and add a couple of extra wards like

year make model exterior finish

Either or both of these option should get you some answers.

Big picture is this, if you're not working on normal gel-coat, which tends to be thick and forgiving, and you're not working on a painted motorhome, which will usually be a high end motorhome with a basecoat/clearcoat finish that's real expensive and then you treat it like car paint, then you're probably working on some kind of pre-fab material and treat the exterior like THIN paint because whatever the coating or material it's probably very thin.

I'd also recommend trying to do the detail using a one-step cleaner/wax with a foam pad on a dual action polisher. Safe approach that should work on most pigmented materials.

:)

[Jdbillin]

There's gel-coat, painted and pre-fabricated panels. Sounds like the sides were some type of pre-fabricated panel where the exterior finish is made or created when the panel is manufactured.

Here's what I would do... get the year, make and model of the motorhome before you show up to detail it and contact the manufacturer or Google the year, make and model and add a couple of extra wards like

year make model exterior finish

Either or both of these option should get you some answers.

Big picture is this, if you're not working on normal gel-coat, which tends to be thick and forgiving, and you're not working on a painted motorhome, which will usually be a high end motorhome with a basecoat/clearcoat finish that's real expensive and then you treat it like car paint, then you're probably working on some kind of pre-fab material and treat the exterior like THIN paint because whatever the coating or material it's probably very thin.

I'd also recommend trying to do the detail using a one-step cleaner/wax with a foam pad on a dual action polisher. Safe approach that should work on most pigmented materials.

:)

That's a good idea, I'll have to start doing that on the RV's now. If they are going to be textured like this one I am going to have to up the price a lot to make it worth the time.

It was an extremely difficult process to wax it. I tried to use my porter cable da buffer and it wouldn't even transfer the wax from the pad to the panel. We ended up doing it all by hand.

As far as wax goes I tried several different types and trewax had the best shine by far. I tried marine and automotive waxes and none of them really gave it any shine.

Thanks for the advice