POLISHING FIBREGLASS MOTORHOME

[Pat and Poppy]

Hi. I have got a 1995 Autosleeper Clubman GL with the monocoque body. I have been quoted today a price of £1000 to machine polish and seal it. A friend has told me that I can use several coats of a high gloss liquid floor polish to achieve the shine. Has anyone else tried this. The polish I have in mind is Diamond Extra. All I can find out about the polish is that it is a thermoplastic polymer.

 

[Clarky]

Sounds a bit dodgy to me........but what do I know?
Our resident expert on a vehicle cleaning matters is @Charlie who will no doubt have a well informed opinion.
Having added his name to the thread he may well pop up soon.

Richard.

 

[mfw]

Do it a lot cheaper yourself even if you factor in the cost of purchasing a mop to do it ( polishing machine ) always got buffing machine then

 

[Jaws]

Hi. I have got a 1995 Autosleeper Clubman GL with the monocoque body. I have been quoted today a price of £1000 to machine polish and seal it. A friend has told me that I can use several coats of a high gloss liquid floor polish to achieve the shine. Has anyone else tried this. The polish I have in mind is Diamond Extra. All I can find out about the polish is that it is a thermoplastic polymer.

Be careful.... some polishes degrade the gel coat... And if you get a mop make sure it it is an oscillating one and not a cheapy that just goes round and round as it is REAL easy to burn a gel coat !

 

[funflair]

This is the gel coated fibreglass front of our 13 year old Flair, machine polished (carefully) with Meguires compounds medium then fine and an orbital dual action polisher, then finished with Colonite 476s, in my book floor polishes are for floors

Martin

Oops forgot the photo,

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[TheBig1]

floor polishes are for floors. There are specialist polishes designed for fibreglass. I have used farecla with superb results, designed for fibreglass boats

 

[mfw]

Farecla G3 compound is supposed to be ok to use on gel coat but do your own suitability checks on it

 

[Charlie123]

Sounds a bit dodgy to me........but what do I know?
Our resident expert on a vehicle cleaning matters is @Charlie who will no doubt have a well informed opinion.
Having added his name to the thread he may well pop up soon.

Richard.

Up he pops !!

I’m not so sure about using floor polishes on a Motorhome..

I think the OP may be confusing polishes with LSPs.. LSPs are waxes or sealants they do not polish or correct finishes.

Care must be taken when using abrasive polishes on gel coats. All polishes are abrasive to a lesser or greater degree. LSPs are not.

In the polishing stage you have to know exactly how much gel coat you have to go at .. This really speaking means using a multi layer Paint Thicknes Gauge or PTG. Most PTGs are single layer. This means they will only measure combined layers of paint and Laquer and on fibreglass won’t indicate anything at all.
A multi layer indicates the thickness or each individual layer so on fibreglass will identify the actual thickness of the gel. It does this by bouncing a signal off the fibres underbthe gel. A hell of an expensive tool but we are talking very expensive vehicles here.
In short it’s risky to correct or polish without a multi layer PTG.

The main difference between Gel coat and car paint is whilst car paint lacquer is dead smooth and has no minute holes or defects gel coat does. Or at least it’s likely it does. Gel can have minute air holes that the eye can’t see. So the use of Tcut or ANY product that contains ammonia MUST be avoided. It really must. Or stains may appear that are completely impossible to remove ..
In a recent thread here the use of Tcut was encouraged and I was put right ! So I just withdrew from the thread as I couldn’t be bothered to argue....


So if you are going to polish use a light cut polish. Slow machine speeds with a nice low cut....

LSPs really should be waxes. I would not risk sealers on gel. Collinite 476s is fine and safe. I would not use floor polishes.

 

[Charlie123]

Farecla G3 compound is supposed to be ok to use on gel coat but do your own suitability checks on it

The problem with G3 is that it’s an AIO Polish. This makes its cut unstable. Not ideal and certainly not what I would use on gel coats. It’s way to abrasive at its start point anyway unless you are certain how thick the gel coat is.

 

[mfw]

The problem with G3 is that it’s an AIO Polish. This makes its cut unstable. Not ideal and certainly not what I would use on gel coats. It’s way to abrasive at its start point anyway unless you are certain how thick the gel coat is.

Ok Charlie i did say to do your own checks for suitability at least you have told people thanks

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[cornish boy]

Hi. I have got a 1995 Autosleeper Clubman GL with the monocoque body. I have been quoted today a price of £1000 to machine polish and seal it.

To put that into perspective, boats cost around £10/ft to polish and wax the superstructure and the same again for the hull, so unless your motorhome is two storey and 50 foot long, your quote would appear on face value to be way over the top.

Is your motorhome in storage as it is normal for contractors to have to pay through the nose to access and be able to work in storage sites (and marina's)? If so, ask them to re-quote to do the work with the motorhome parked on your driveway.

To be honest, a GRP bodied motorhome should cost around £300 to cut and wax including doing the roof.

GRP has a certain mystery about it but in fact it is very easy to work once you understand the products and the risks. That said, I have seen some real messes caused by lack of knowledge or thought. I should also point out that GRP is very easy to burn during the polishing process and once burnt, the only option is to remove the burnt Gelcoat and replace - something that comes at a huge cost and after a couole of years, becomes visable due to the orginal and the new gelcoat aging at different rates. You have been warned!!!!!

The two photos below are after machine polishing but before any wax was applied, the top one was £250 (Hull only), the bottom one £420 (hull only) but was a 42 foot boat.

 

[Sandancers]

On our MH we had a couple of yellowish, barely visible streaks appear on the fibreglass overcab. I talked to these people who sold me a product to clear the streaks. They may have the right products for you.

https://www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk/

 

[cornish boy]

On our MH we had a couple of yellowish, barely visible streaks appear on the fibreglass overcab. I talked to these people who sold me a product to clear the streaks. They may have the right products for you.

https://www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk/

I use trade suppliers but ECFS will have some quality over the counter products. Taking on hand polishing and then waxing a full motorhome isn't something I would want to do in terms of the huge amount of energy and effort required to end up with second rate surface preparation which just results in the UV damage happening even faster. Hand polishing works on very small marks if you dont have the time or equipment but isn't viable for larger jobs due to the swirls left behind.

I posted sometime ago about how polishing GRP to a high quality finish actually prevents ageing as a result of UV damage - you can find the post HERE

Hope it helps explain why hand polishing is not viable for a long term solution to UV ageing due to being unable to remove the scratches uniformly.

 

[Pat and Poppy]

To put that into perspective, boats cost around £10/ft to polish and wax the superstructure and the same again for the hull, so unless your motorhome is two storey and 50 foot long, your quote would appear on face value to be way over the top.

Is your motorhome in storage as it is normal for contractors to have to pay through the nose to access and be able to work in storage sites (and marina's)? If so, ask them to re-quote to do the work with the motorhome parked on your driveway.

To be honest, a GRP bodied motorhome should cost around £300 to cut and wax including doing the roof.

GRP has a certain mystery about it but in fact it is very easy to work once you understand the products and the risks. That said, I have seen some real messes caused by lack of knowledge or thought. I should also point out that GRP is very easy to burn during the polishing process and once burnt, the only option is to remove the burnt Gelcoat and replace - something that comes at a huge cost and after a couole of years, becomes visable due to the orginal and the new gelcoat aging at different rates. You have been warned!!!!!

The two photos below are after machine polishing but before any wax was applied, the top one was £250 (Hull only), the bottom one £420 (hull only) but was a 42 foot boat.

View attachment 275318 View attachment 275319

 

[Pat and Poppy]

Thank you for the advice. The quote was that I was to take the motohome to their workshop and they would need it for 2-3 days. The price did include sealing the paintwork. I have since had quotes from two other people of £230 + £30 mileage and £220. Both will come to me. They will do the work in one day but say nothing about sealing (whatever that is). One says that the work will take 9 hrs. I cannot work on the motorhome myself as I am elderly and have recently had a spinal op. plus I don't have a tower or anything.

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[ambulancekidd]

I went for a simple but relatively safe approach to polishing our old Autosleeper.
I did a good quality wash but, with NO wax. I then dried every panel off with a very very clean chamois leather (beware of grit) then polished with Collnite to very good effect.
I do love polishing a vehicle but, I don't enjoy the practise of cutting the finish, talk about fraught with danger.

 

[CazPaul]

I went for a simple but relatively safe approach to polishing our old Autosleeper.
I did a good quality wash but, with NO wax. I then dried every panel off with a very very clean chamois leather (beware of grit) then polished with Collnite to very good effect.

Yes that what I do but now @cornish boy has got me worried, saying that UV damage will occur even faster. Thank heavens ours is mainly aluminium.
Certainly looks nice if nothing else

 

[mfw]

Thank you for the advice. The quote was that I was to take the motohome to their workshop and they would need it for 2-3 days. The price did include sealing the paintwork. I have since had quotes from two other people of £230 + £30 mileage and £220. Both will come to me. They will do the work in one day but say nothing about sealing (whatever that is). One says that the work will take 9 hrs. I cannot work on the motorhome myself as I am elderly and have recently had a spinal op. plus I don't have a tower or anything.

You might find this is classed as a sealer farecla profile uv wax liquid

PROFILE POLYMER UV WAX LIQUID PROTECTION

• Quick and easy to use, making short work of large surfaces such as on boats, caravans, trucks and planes
• Delivers a high gloss finish of excellent evenness and clarity
• Highly water resistant
• Contains UV inhibitors
• Low viscosity sprayable formula

Profile Polymer UV Wax is a high performance polymeric wax specially developed for ultimate gloss and water resistance, whilst protecting against UV degradation.

It is extremely fast and easy to use by hand or machine and can be sprayed onto surfaces using either a small hand spray bottle or pump spray system. It is highly resistant to drying out and can be polished to easily to leave a durable high gloss on most surfaces.

 

[funflair]

I went for a simple but relatively safe approach to polishing our old Autosleeper.
I did a good quality wash but, with NO wax. I then dried every panel off with a very very clean chamois leather (beware of grit) then polished with Collnite to very good effect.

That’s waxing not polishing, polishing takes a very fine cut off the surface to give a shine and remove oxidation, waxing is just for protection.

Martin

 

[ambulancekidd]

That’s waxing not polishing, polishing takes a very fine cut off the surface to give a shine and remove oxidation, waxing is just for protection.

Martin

Quite correct Martin, I didn't word that very well.
My apologies everyone.

Robert.

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[Pat and Poppy]

Love the finish on your Moho Robert. Hope mine eventually comes up as well. After the polishing is finished I will then need to look into having new decals done. Hopefully that will be the end. It has been a long journey.

 

[cornish boy]

If you are going to re-decal the motorhome, get the old ones stripped off before have the GRP polished so the entire surface is done. Saves the annoying tiny lines you will see when the new decals are not perfectly matched to the old positions.

 

[Pat and Poppy]

I don't think I could do that. I don't want to do any damage so I will let the decal people take them off.

 

[Gary Roe]

My RV had been sitting in my yard in the South Florida sun for over two years untouched. Mildew had covered the finish on the fiberglass. I purchased this product based on the reviews. I could not believe <Broken link removed> not only cleaned the camper but actually brought back the shiny finish. No real scrubbing required. I would be proud to pull into any RV park after using this product.

 

[Salza65]

Up he pops !!

I’m not so sure about using floor polishes on a Motorhome..

I think the OP may be confusing polishes with LSPs.. LSPs are waxes or sealants they do not polish or correct finishes.

Care must be taken when using abrasive polishes on gel coats. All polishes are abrasive to a lesser or greater degree. LSPs are not.

In the polishing stage you have to know exactly how much gel coat you have to go at .. This really speaking means using a multi layer Paint Thicknes Gauge or PTG. Most PTGs are single layer. This means they will only measure combined layers of paint and Laquer and on fibreglass won’t indicate anything at all.
A multi layer indicates the thickness or each individual layer so on fibreglass will identify the actual thickness of the gel. It does this by bouncing a signal off the fibres underbthe gel. A hell of an expensive tool but we are talking very expensive vehicles here.
In short it’s risky to correct or polish without a multi layer PTG.

The main difference between Gel coat and car paint is whilst car paint lacquer is dead smooth and has no minute holes or defects gel coat does. Or at least it’s likely it does. Gel can have minute air holes that the eye can’t see. So the use of Tcut or ANY product that contains ammonia MUST be avoided. It really must. Or stains may appear that are completely impossible to remove ..
In a recent thread here the use of Tcut was encouraged and I was put right ! So I just withdrew from the thread as I couldn’t be bothered to argue....


So if you are going to polish use a light cut polish. Slow machine speeds with a nice low cut....

LSPs really should be waxes. I would not risk sealers on gel. Collinite 476s is fine and safe. I would not use floor polishes.

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[Salza65]

Up he pops !!

I’m not so sure about using floor polishes on a Motorhome..

I think the OP may be confusing polishes with LSPs.. LSPs are waxes or sealants they do not polish or correct finishes.

Care must be taken when using abrasive polishes on gel coats. All polishes are abrasive to a lesser or greater degree. LSPs are not.

In the polishing stage you have to know exactly how much gel coat you have to go at .. This really speaking means using a multi layer Paint Thicknes Gauge or PTG. Most PTGs are single layer. This means they will only measure combined layers of paint and Laquer and on fibreglass won’t indicate anything at all.
A multi layer indicates the thickness or each individual layer so on fibreglass will identify the actual thickness of the gel. It does this by bouncing a signal off the fibres underbthe gel. A hell of an expensive tool but we are talking very expensive vehicles here.
In short it’s risky to correct or polish without a multi layer PTG.

The main difference between Gel coat and car paint is whilst car paint lacquer is dead smooth and has no minute holes or defects gel coat does. Or at least it’s likely it does. Gel can have minute air holes that the eye can’t see. So the use of Tcut or ANY product that contains ammonia MUST be avoided. It really must. Or stains may appear that are completely impossible to remove ..
In a recent thread here the use of Tcut was encouraged and I was put right ! So I just withdrew from the thread as I couldn’t be bothered to argue....


So if you are going to polish use a light cut polish. Slow machine speeds with a nice low cut....

LSPs really should be waxes. I would not risk sealers on gel. Collinite 476s is fine and safe. I would not use floor polishes.

 

[Salza65]

Hi very interesting reading this, I know this is a motorhome site but need some advice .
We have a Abbey Caravan and struggling to get a shine back on the panels, it's GRP made , washed with Mer , polished with Mer which was pretty good but soon as added wax it was all smeary , any ideas

 

[ambulancekidd]

Hi very interesting reading this, I know this is a motorhome site but need some advice .
We have a Abbey Caravan and struggling to get a shine back on the panels, it's GRP made , washed with Mer , polished with Mer which was pretty good but soon as added wax it was all smeary , any ideas

Which kind of wax did you use?