-
POLISHING WHEELS
A while back my friend Roger Foster sent me a bottle of Wicked Metal Polish. It comes in a yellow plastic squeeze bottle like liquid wax might come in. He asked my opinion and I responded by saying it worked quite well and especially was not limited to aluminum wheels, but did real well on copper.
Today I worked in the garage and wanted to see if I could really prove to myself the metal polish was as good as originally thought. Over the years I have used almost every type and brand of metal polish available in the market. My latest polish of choice has been Flitz which seemed to do a good job, but I had only a sense of how all the different brands worked. I have used Mothers, Blue Magic, Flitz, Wicked Metal Polish, Never Dull, and various lesser known brands sold through truck supply dealers.
Today I got scientific. I knew Flitz did a great job so that was my benchmark. I used masking tape to separate a wheel into two halves. I polished 1/2 the wheel using Flitz and it looked great. The wheels hadn’t been polished in months, and while they still looked good I could see that milky appearance aluminum gets after a while. After doing the half of the wheel with Flitz, I pulled the tape and retaped the wheel placing the edge of the tape directly at the edge of the Flitz polish. I expected the half shined with Flitz and the other half shined with Wicked to be like one another. Wrong. When I got done polishing the Wicked half, I pulled the tape and the difference between Wicked and Flitz was distinct with Wicked being visibly better in both color and gloss. The Wicked polish removed all of the light milky surface and left a surface completely devoid of any oxidation. The Flitz side of the wheel was very nice looking, but obviously still had very slight indication of a milky appearance. Taken alone the Flitz side looked excellent until side by side with the Wicked polished side.
To add to the benefits of Wicked I used it on all exposed brass, copper, and aluminum parts and trim. It is the easiest polish I have used on my copper trim pieces, quickly removing spots and discolorations. I have not found any polish is easier to use than any other, so I was pleased to learn that with no increase in effort I could get better results.
I have no stock in Wicked, they are not advertisers, and I never even heard of the polish until Roger sent it to me. Good stuff.
-
39 Replies
-
Jon, I did not know you had copper on the outside of your coach? or are you polishing the plumbing bay again, I had to stop doing the plumbing bay, one day a friend ask to see it. I proudly opened the bay door not noticeing the sun was low, well! I looked around to see my friends reaction to my shiney copper, he was on the ground! blinded by the light reflecting from shined copper, well after two months of wearing sun glasses he was released from the doctor but he never comes around any more, just can’t figure why?
-
So as to not copy the chrome and stainless trim employed by the King of Bling I added a few pieces of copper trim consistent with other brass and copper trim that was standard on my coach. Now my coach looks similar to a diesel powered pot of Revere Ware with the stainless top and copper bottom.
When I have days in which I should actually be doing some work but I want to avoid it I claim I am doing some work on the bus, and I spend the time listening to talk radio while polishing copper an aluminum. I have learned to be very careful when opening bay doors or engine doors so as not to injure anyone with the highly polished components found on my coach. I know exactly how you feel about your poor friend who suffered injuries from viewing the brightwork.
If any of your folks reading these two posts wish to jump in and spread a little of what Gary and I are spreading, may I ask that you bring it to Knoxville to put on my garden to help my tomatoes grow?
-
Gary, for 6 something in the morning I’am half awake reading your post and positive you are drinking something else in your coffee
. That was good ……. LOL in KC.
-
While it is a badge of honor to be up early to post on the PC forum, in the interests of full disclosure (ignoring the content of our posts which may not be as accurate as they may appear) our site time clock is central time. But Gary does get high marks for his post because no matter what time of day he made that post it was an enjoyable one to read.
-
Jon: Glad to hear you had good results with the Wicked Polish. It is good stuff, but as we all know things change.
Breaking news: The latest and greatest wheel polish I have found lately is available in the Truck Tool Box Departent at Lowes Home Improvement Store. It is a little bottle of Tool Box polish and it does super on the Rims with very little elbow grease.
All I need now is someone to wash the bus and use the polish.
I
-
Will we at OysterFest be able to purchase tickets (and protective eye wear) to view this 8th wonder of the world?
-
Along with the protective eye wear, hip boots will be furnished “just in case” thin walled copper pipe burst, and of course, this from excessive polishing!, since this post is getting deep I will surf on out of here!
-
Jon,
How does the Wicked Polish work on the stainless steel of the coach?
-
The most extreme material I use on my stainless sides is car wash soap if I have gone through some nasty weather, otherwise it is just water. I have never waxed, polished or otherwise done anything with the stainless.
I always dry the stainless immediately after washing, drying it in sections if need be to prevent water spots.
Attribute my lack of effort to do anything with the stainless to laziness. Polishing wheels periodically with a buff, or shining them with a polishing compound such as Wicked is one thing, but I sure do not want to start something with the stainless because that goes beyond anything I am prepared to do routinely.
If my coach gets a little too hazy for my taste and I want to refresh the shine on the stainless I will have a professional polish it. That sounds easy, and I guess paying someone to do it is easy, but the process, if done correctly is not simple or easy. To start a sanding of the surface is required, a very coarse grit to start to remove deep scratches, working gradually to a very fine grit (1500 or maybe even finer) before the final polishing which might even entail various grades of polish or jewelers rouge. What is critical about polishing is to avoid heat which will screw up the panels and cause them to buckle in severe cases.
So far my stainless is tolerable. Not great, but not bad. As an aside when I got the coach I had a ding in the rear bumper. It was not really noticeable, but it was there so I decided to remove it. I pressed the dent as flat as possible from the rear using a hydraulic jack and the weight of the bus. I beat on it a little with a hammer, and then I started sanding it with a belt sander and about 120 grit. Once I had the surface smooth, I worked from 320, to 400, to 600 to 1000, and then finishing up with 1500 grit. Then I got out my buffer and with white rouge put the final polish on it. It is not perfect, but it looks pretty good for an amateur. I know where it is, but most will never notice where it was repaired. I can do that on the bumper because it is a small section, and mostly because of the thickness. On the lighter gauge sides I would be asking for trouble, hence my intent to use professionals when the time comes.
My guess is Wicked and polishes like that work well on aluminum, copper, brass, etc because they remove corrosion. Our stainless does not corrode as it ages, but gets hazy due to microscopic scratches that are created over time. The only way to remove them is to buff them out using abrasives, albeit very fine abrasive materials.
-
If anyone wants to know about polishing the SS siding, let me know. I can speak from experience and detail the entire process from learning to the finished product. But lets just says, it is a dirty, filty, mind numbing, whole body energy stealing process that took 90+ manhours of my life permanently away. AND, it’s still not as good as I would like, BUT if it looks like it needs it done in the future, I will hire it done by a pro and gladly pay whatever they ask. I did see on another board, that Jack in Florida has a man who will polish the entire coach for $300. Now he tells me. I spent twice that amount in just supplies to do the polishing, not to mention the forever lost time from my life, but now I am whining!!
Rob
91 XL40
Missouri
-
While my exterior is fiberglas, I wash it with a spot-free detergent.
But, I have had some good results on metal coach exteriors using/adding Rain-X solutions to the wash/rinse water, which, in glass (and seems to help metal too) , fills in the pores of the metal and that seems to reduce the spotting after a wash.
I also add it to my rinsing solution.
Just my cent and a half.
-
Sounds like an impressive product!
So where do I order a bottle??
-
My wheels are dura coat and I have been told I can not polish them is this true? They bhave a little oxidation and would like to do them but do not want to mess up and have to buy new rims.
-
Gary, same thing on our Marathon with a poly ura coating. No polish needed seems to be holding up . Wheels look good with just a wash.
Works for me.
-
Our coach received its New Paint Job Feb 2011 and with 3 coats of Clear Coat, I hesitate to use much cleaning liquids than necy. After talking with a couple Tour Bus companies and how they keep their coaches nice and sparkling clean, they have told me they use Jet Dry that is used in home dishwashers to repel spotting. Seems to help.
Log in to reply.