UPDATE: Thanks Mike ~ BAD oxidation on fiberglass - need help.

[gb387]

This question might be for the pros....

Below I have some photos I am wondering how to remove the oxidation and restore the color... They are fiberglass panels, when you wax them the rag turns the color of the paint. Is this a gelcoat or something else. I tried some #6 one area and only saw a slight improvement (shown in the photo below).

Here is the one I tried some #6 on you can see in the photo on the right side.




Can anyone help?

[Mike Phillips]

Hi gb387,

Unless the gel coat is so far gone that it has become unstable, in most cases, most gel coats can be brought back from the dead.


For severely oxidized finishes, you want to thoroughly clean the surface, i.e. remove the dead, oxidized material, and gorge the pigmented polyester resin with Meguiar's rich conditioning polishes. The oils in Meguiar's polishes will penetrate into the pores of the gel coat and restore the color by adding richness, clarity and gloss.

If it were me, I would use a rotary buffer and either #44 Color Restorer or #49 Oxidation Remover. Both of these are aggressive surface cleaners that utilize Meguiar's diminishing abrasive technology.

Color Restorer



Heavy Duty Oxidation Remover



If you have to get really aggressive, then you could use our new One-Step Compound



Follow this with an application of the #45 Boat/RV Polish on the rotary buffer with the W-8006 or W-8000 foam polishing pad and then go to wax.

Boat/RV Polish



Hope this helps...

Mike

[gb387]

Thanks for the reply... We will have to give it a try. These products are hard to find localy here but I will have to give the 800 number a call.

[Mike Phillips]

Good luck,

The aggessive cleaning followed by the polishing should restore the color, clarity and gloss. By the way, what are these things we're looking at? Do you have and far shots?

Mike

[gb387]

I work for an amusement park in Iowa and they are a couple amusement park rides, always get hit with the sun 24/7... I will get some far photos.

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by gb387
I work for an amusement park in Iowa and they are a couple amusement park rides, always get hit with the sun 24/7... I will get some far photos.

That was my guess...

Mike

[gb387]

Here are a couple far shots of the two problem rides, they are not the best quality, everytime I turned the sun was in the lens...

[gb387]

Originally posted by Mike Phillips
Hi gb387,

Unless the gel coat is so far gone that it has become unstable, in most cases, most gel coats can be brought back from the dead.


For severely oxidized finishes, you want to thoroughly clean the surface, i.e. remove the dead, oxidized material, and gorge the pigmented polyester resin with Meguiar's rich conditioning polishes. The oils in Meguiar's polishes will penetrate into the pores of the gel coat and restore the color by adding richness, clarity and gloss.

If it were me, I would use a rotary buffer and either #44 Color Restorer or #49 Oxidation Remover. Both of these are aggressive surface cleaners that utilize Meguiar's diminishing abrasive technology.


Follow this with an application of the #45 Boat/RV Polish on the rotary buffer with the W-8006 or W-8000 foam polishing pad and then go to wax.

Hope this helps...

Mike

EDIT: Just answered my question by reading this again!

[Tim Lingor]

Hey,

Just to add....

From the fiberglass I have buffed, I have got great results from the #49 and a rotary buffer. It takes a bit of work, but the results will be worth it. Sometimes if it is really bad, apply a little #7 Show Car Glaze first, and then remove. This helps to prevent the pad from grabbing the oxidized fiberglass.

Tim

[Jason Rose]

I was going to suggest the same thing...but Tim beat me to it.

For rotary buffing...while keeping that pad as flat as possible, make your passes slow and deliberate. Two slow passes will do the work of five fast ones.

Jason "Waxman" Rose

[Rockpick]

OT HERE...


How in the world did you land a gig detailing these? This is VERY unique!

[gb387]

Originally posted by Rockpick
OT HERE...


How in the world did you land a gig detailing these? This is VERY unique!

I work for the park.... I personally do not detail these I just round up to products and show the process. I hope to have some after photos this spring once the snow melts and we can start on them.

You think these are big we have a fiberglass water slide we have to clean and wax in 2 steps 2-3 times a year. 10-12ft wide and 800-900 feet long.

[gb387]

Thanks for the help mike!

Well here is some of the work that we did this week. Believe it or not these get waxed every year. Never to the degree we did this week and never with the right products till now. We have never gotten these results until now. Some of the rides are in the sun with no shade all day and take a beating.


Here is what we used:
1. Heavy Duty Oxidation Remover
2. Boat/RV Polish
3. A Quality Meguiars Wax

There is no question that #49 and a rotary is powerful, it will do the job! Then #45 adds a little more shine and on to the wax. There are many hard to get to spots and the #49 does not work as well by hand, you can see the difference in the finish (hand applied vs. rotary applied). We also discovered that some of the fiberglass had been damage from the sun but most was OK. The end results are very dramatic in person.


Here is a BEFORE of on seat back:


Here is a AFTER of on seat back:


Here is a combo shot, the seat in the foreground is after the one in the background is a before:



Here is another project that we worked on...

Here is a BEFORE:


Here is a AFTER:


Here is a far shot just to show what I am showing... well its a boat!:


The after photo shows some "chalkiness" still there but I think its a camera thing because you sure don't see it in person. There is a dramatic difference what the photos don't really show is the shine that is now there.

We have some others we are working on, if I have time I will take some photos.

Here is a link to additional questions that I had.

[everglo]

Hey GB,

Was the fiberglass difficult/easy to work with in comparison to a modern CC finish? How many passes did you make? Did the fiberglass tend to stay cooler than car panels? Or hotter? Just curious in case I happen to run across a similar situation?

Looks great BTW. Too bad most park attendees will never stop to appreciate the difference as they scream and enjoy themselves.

[gb387]

Originally posted by everglo
Hey GB,

Was the fiberglass difficult/easy to work with in comparison to a modern CC finish? How many passes did you make? Did the fiberglass tend to stay cooler than car panels? Or hotter? Just curious in case I happen to run across a similar situation?

Looks great BTW. Too bad most park attendees will never stop to appreciate the difference as they scream and enjoy themselves.

They were more difficult to work with but I think the reason for that was the heavy oxidation we were dealing with. It took one application with the rotary buffer but by hand it took two or three and some hard work.

The panels do get warm in the sun, hard to say if its warmer than a cars panels. We removed the panels that we could and moved them to the shade and used a rotary on them, this worked very well. As the sun moves during the day you can kind of move from one side to the other and follow the shade. Sometimes you just have to work in the sun there is no getting around it, the products dry quick but you can still get results.

True most guests don't notice a shiny just waxes ride but we sure like the look.