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Cleaning up un-painted fender skirts on XL
So after 17 years and who knows how many applications of black rubber dressing, my black fender skirts are looking rather shabby. Tried everything to clean them up and get them looking decent again.
After many failed attempts and countless products, I finally sat back and started to think about the problem. The rubber skirts are heavy duty formed rubber. This isn’t the black plastic that is found on most cars and after a couple years starts to turn grey then white. This is rubber… So what was making them look all grey? All that dressing that has been applied over the years has created a film that is making them look terrible.
So decided to take some light weight degeaser (simple green, plus it’s “safe” for the environment 🙂 ) and started to scrub with a terry cloth towel. Much time and much elbow grease they are cleaning up well.
Here is a front skirt with what I am starting with (some already scrubbed with simple green). You can actually see the “film” that is turning something other then black on the rubber.
Here is one rear skirt completed with a fresh coat of dressing applied. I think I spent about 2+ hours on that one fender. You really need to break up the dried up dressing and get to the rubber. but the results are worth it I think. The dull looking fender really makes the coach look old (not that it isnt already). GEttig them back to a nice shiny, dark black skirt makes it look much nicer. Hopefully a wipe down with some simple green before the next application will make it not get so hard and bad looking.
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11 Replies
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We know Tam did all the work.
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But Charles, are your slack adusters clean and shiny?
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Tom, To be honest, Tam did do some cleaning of the skirts. She cleaned 1/3 of a rear one about 1 year ago. She was using some other technique which took a lot longer and didnt get as good results. took me all that time to come up with a different approach and get it done. Finished them all yesterday and it really makes the coach look better. Getting the crusted on coating of what ever was on there off allowed me to dress the actual rubber, which seems to he holding the shine and dark color rather well. of course I will need to keep it up and clean them between applications, but it’s worth it.
Jon, no the slack adjusters are not polished. I’ll be spending a day at Parliament next week getting a shut off valve for the webasto replaced. Maybe I’ll get a quote on what they can polish my slack adjusters for. Of course Ive heard the real way to do it is to just repalce them 🙂
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Real men polish their slack adjusters. Of course the newer coaches don’t have slack adjusters any more so like flip phones they are becoming rare.
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There is some stuff called Wipeout that should clean that up with two wipes of the rag !!!!
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Peter, do you have a little more info on wipeout? When I search on that I come across a couple different products. Mostly bore cleaning products. I keep my bores pretty well clean, so dont need to worry about that 🙂
I used Mothers Back to Black dressing. For the application, really worked well (especially after cleaning off the crusty stuff).
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Charles, I googled Wipeout and found the bore cleaner along with a product at Walmart called Wipeout Surface cleaner that sounds like what Peter may have referred to. The description sounds like it is designed for the job. -
Charles, this stuff makes the rubber flares look like new. Sorry about the sideways pic. It is straight in my album.
I fixied it for you big boy, payback for the HVAC info -Tom
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Charles go to Wipeoutsystems.com
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When you guys are detailing the ruber fenders, don’t forget to complete the job by polishing the inside of the holes in the wheels. I see a couple of spots Steve missed on his wheels.
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