Re: [a/s] Polishing 1970s Trailers

[HHamp5246@xxxxxxx]

This is a previous post from a listie... rlashway@NMSU.Edu (Lashway)

First you need to learn if you trailer exterior has a treatment of Clear 
Coat.
  
To see if your trailer has a, "Clear Coat" on it. - Do the following:

1) Toothpaste on "soft" cotton rag. - Lower panel - towards hitch. Wrap 
cloth around 2 fingers - tight. Dampen
rag. Put 2 SMALL drops of toothpaste on it (Note: Tooth "PASTE" - NOT 
Gel) rub approx. 10-15 times in about 4" x
4" area applying good pressure (Direction - not important for this little 
test!) - okay. After this, if the rag is
NOT black & there is NO shine - YOU HAVE CLEAR COAT!!

2) Go to lumber yard - get a can of: "Strip-It" stripper and a 1" Natural 
Bristle brush - cheap-o. Mask off 4"
square - lower panel front. Apply to surface with brush, wait 10 minutes. 
If stripper starts to bubble or a white
film that looks wrinkled - THAT IS Clear Coat - coming off! Spray with 
water in bottle - rinse thoroughly -
CAUTION: If you have painted surface below this area - lay tin foil OVER 
painted area to protect them from the
stripper - (will remove paint!!) Tin Foil works good - to protect ALL 
types of Plastic & painted surfaces!)

If you DO have a Clear Coat - you MUST determine WHICH type it is. i.e., 
Lacquer, (Lacquer thinner WILL remove).

You should be aware that Airstream also used stuff called Plasti Coat and 
another called Poly coat, these require a "Lacquer stripper to remove".   
This is a bit more complicated I I am not familiar with the details.   
The age of your unit suggests you would have clear coat if anything.  Be 
aware that I have this information on file but have never had to remove 
anything so perhaps others can add to your knowledge.

After the coating problem is resolved you have a few choices for your 
finish.  You can have th trailer clear coated again and it will peel off 
again in 10 years or so,  you can paint the trailer, or you can polish 
it, or do nothing at all except keept the dirt washed off.  I have seen a 
couple of  excellent paint jobs on airstreams.  Clear coating and 
painting can run from $1500 to $3000 depending on  condition of your rig. 
 Polishing is getting to a popular solution.  One professinal at this 
charges a $100. a running foot (body lenght only) and does nice work.  
You can do it yourself for a few hundred dollars for polishing buffers 
and polishes,e tc.  It is one hell of a time consuming, dirty, and at 
time frustrating to try to get all the scratches worked out, but it can 
look pretty nice.  Also needs following up care to keep shining.  Hope 
this helps.