My prompting to use the pressure washer and acid wash method to shine up the Aluminum skin on our Silver Streak, came after I had several discussions with guys who have had some amount of experience with commercial pressure washing. It required that I purchase the most highly recommended product. This is what I have learned so far. There are many brands and types of aluminum brightener. The more effective ones use two or three acids all together in a "blend". These are hard to find. Home Depot does have a couple brands, but they are the "weak" single acid type. You would want to find a commercial supply house for pressure washer chemicals. I went to LANDA here in Portland. They have a "three acid" product called, SUPER NOVA. It is excellent for restoring oxidized aluminum and is formulated with Landa's exclusive advanced corrosion inhibitors. I just have to say something here about my own experience. As you know Portland is very rainy! In all my past attempts to restore the Aluminum skins luster, I was always quickly rewarded with failure when after it would rain a few days then dry off; there I was, back to less than satisfactory results. WELL NOW, the more it rains, the more lustrous the finish looks! A five gallon bucket of the LANDA SUPER NOVA product will cost you about $56. Each time you wash a 30 foot trailer you will use about 1/4 gallon of product, (Dilute the Super Nova 1/2 with water, then use this in the pressure washer chemical injector). Now a warning about safety here! Use gloves, eye protection, and heed all warnings and precautions, a respirator on warm days is also wise. It has a PH of 1.0 ( strong acid ) and contains these three acids; Sulfuric acid, Ammonium Biflouride and Quaternary Ammonium Chloride. Before the first application of this product I washed the trailer two times using high pressure and a Super Duty Degreaser with aprox. 180 degree water temp at from 2500 psi to 3500 with a 20 degree tip and 4 gpm flow rate. ( I bought a 13hp pressure washer with a Honda motor and a cat direct drive pump. It makes 3750 max psi at 4 gpm flow rate. I also bought a Hot Water Generator stand alone unit that boosts the water temp a max of 180 degrees over input at 4 gpm.) This unit works well in my Landscape Business, and I sure enjoy it around our home! When pressure washing Take caution around windows and seams, using the lower psi settings. I was able to remove road tar that previously only steel wool would remove. After I had a clean surface the acid wash was applied. The trailer was divided into 4 quarters. I soaked each quarter, with a low pressure chemical setting, or you can use a chemical nozzel and then rinsed before moving to the next. You allow the acid to sit NO LONGER than 1 plus, butunder 2 minutes on the aluminum skin. Then rinse completely and follow that rinse with soap (a base) to bring the skin ph level back to neutral.
Each successive time I have applied the acid the streaks fade more and DO NOT RETURN... and the skin shins brighter and brighter! And I am talking harsh Oregon winters with 30 plus inches of rain, with some salt content as we are only 80 miles from the pacific ocean here and my trailer is not garaged. I have closely watched the gold anodized trim and molding areas for signs of wear from the chemicals. None, they are holding up well as was I told they would if followed the proper procedure as above. Forget the hours of hand application and rubbing with WD-40! Forget the Brake Fluid Oil, or the hand polishing, I tried them all! This works! I have to confess, I feel proud to pull a classic Silver Stream when She shines like She just rolled out of the factory. You get thumbs up when folks see you on the road and remarks at camp grounds. It gets to the point you want to hide when you see folks walking up your way as you know they are going to stop and make conversation. Yes its fun, but its almost embarrassing at times when you do it so often. You know folks I really was about to give up trying to get the Skin to shine up permanetley. But I kept doing research and I finally found something I could feel some real pride in and satisfaction in the results. Please do not take my word for it, try this. As a man who I will always admire once told me, "don't talk, just show me son". (My advanced Jump School, PathFinder School, Parachute Seargent in the Army. And He was from Missouri, the "Show me State".) so don't make me prove it to you, prove it to yourself!
My Silver Streak is a 1978 model. I bought Her from the Original Owner who custom ordered Her new from the factory, with an additional 4" of lift on the sub axel spring attachments, for higher ground clearance for rough road traveling. I received all of His Original paper work and the Original Owners Manuel, that still had the factory pre shipping check list in the blue owners binder. I was thrilled to see noted in the paper work that the frame of this trailer was welded together in May of 1977, the same month I graduated from High School, almost 25 years ago. I am now 43, and the older I get the more attached I am to classic things. I did not go into this exterior aluminum skin brightening lightly! I am however very pleased at the results, and will share in more detail with anyone who would like additional information about the process. I grew up on a Dairy farm about 40 miles south of Portland in the foot hills of the Cascade Mountains. Neighbors used to share knowledge and pass both success stories and warnings or problems along to other neighbors. That is what this message board is all about to me, sharing both success's and problems so that all may learn together. I have gleaned much knowledge from this message posting board along with others. The computer allows us to share and access a lot of Information quickly. I really find others ideas and solutions, and stories, enlightening and Informative! My family just bought our first digital camera this year for Christmas and using windows XP is new too. I have taken digital photos and will try to get them posted on here so you can see the results. Learning the ins and outs of pressure washing is a whole process in and of itself. Should others have questions, or solutions, please share you Ideas and experiences!!!
Mark George
SW Portland Oregon
Qwestar@Rdrop.com