SEMI transport truck pointers

[tuscarora dave]

Have you ever heard of someone toting a bucket full of flour along with them on a big polishing job?

Wait until you get to polishing the aluminum on these big rigs. The amount of black polishing residue can be astonishingly hard to remove on a lot of the metal surfaces. You'll wipe and wipe and wipe, you'll find that a lot of times you'll just be moving black from one spot to another.

When you encounter this, you'll want to break out your bucket full of flour, take a dry microfiber or cotton T-shirt type of towel, (have both with you) smash it down into the dry flour, flip it over and smash it down in the flour again, shake the excess flour off the towel and wipe the still wet black polishing residue off with this flour coated towel. It magically removes the black residue better than any amount wiping with a normal towel. I am not kidding at all on this. Even if you don't use it, grab a bucket with a lid, pour at least a small bag of flour into it and take it along with you. A $5 investment here can save you hundreds of dollars in time on one of these big jobs where there's a lot of aluminum and paint side by side especially. You'll want your bucket of flour with you when doing an aluminum polishing job of any sort or size. Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

[tuscarora dave]

Be very careful with using any hot solvents on the paint on these rigs. A lot of the paints are different on these rigs, but most of it very quickly dissolves with the use of hot solvents such as lacquer thinner, naptha, acetone etc.

You'll be much better served by taking your time with some denatured alcohol or mineral spirits to remove light amounts of decal adhesives. Go slow with limonene adhesive removers too as these can quickly soften the paint on these trailers too. Someone always recommends 3M Adhesive Remove, It's Pure Evil on many of these types paints. Proceed with extreme caution if you take any of that with you. If you need to take a lesson on the use of 3M Adhesive Remover, do so under the trailer where it won't be seen if it melts right through the paint.

That's it for now...I'm subscribed, so I'll answer any questions if I can as you post them. TD

[tuscarora dave]

here are some pics of this semi . its needs a lot of love really bad. it is very dull all over and very very chalky!!!

When looking at big white trailers in photos, often times the white washes out the detail the photo contains, so I may be wrong here but upon looking at the photos, it looks to me like the trailer has one piece gel coat sidewalls. These sidewalls are jig built then after the lower frame, front wall and front corners are put together, they crane these mammoth sidewalls into place and 2 piece button head bolts are used to secure them above the rub rails of the trailer.

If this is the case, and the gelcoat is really chalky with a rough textured feel to it, it's going to take a ton of work to bring those walls back to a glossy condition and just about everything I wrote above can be disregarded. The box on the rig, behind the cab however, does look like pre-painted aluminum panels so everything I wrote above should apply to bringing that back.

These big single unit sidewalls are sometimes painted, and some are gel coat very similar to what you'll find on a boat or on the front roof caps of the buses that I work on often.

If these are heavily oxidized gel coat walls, you'll want to do some testing to see how aggressive you'll have to go in removing the oxidation and to bring back a gloss.

If it's just lightly oxidized, you might get away with a wool pad on a rotary and a heavy duty compound but.... The kind of abuse a boat sees and what these trailers see is a bit different. Boats seem to be cared for much better, are in the water a lot, and are often times wrapped in the off season.

I rarely see these types of gel coat walls or roof caps just lightly oxidized, they're typically super rough in texture and show a thick layer of oxidation. I've tested all sorts of products, pads and machines on these "Hyper Oxidized" gel coats and nothing works. When they're in a totally "FUBAR'D" condition, I pay a couple of guys to work ahead of me, scuffing off the thick layer of oxidation with 3M Purple Scuff Pads There is no substitute for these. Norton Purple Scuff pads work but don't last near as long and dull out quicker requiring twice the effort and time in scrubbing. The extra cost of 3M Purple Scuff Pads pays for itself 100 fold in time savings. After my hired hands have scuffed off the outer layer of oxidation, I follow behind them with my rotary, a twisted wool pad and a bottle of 3M Super Duty Rubbing Compound bringing back the gloss. Sometimes I can get away with my Flex 3401 with 6.5" Lake Country Purple Foamed Wool pads.

If this is what you're dealing with, and it's in a super oxidized state, I could easily see it taking 100+ man hours to recon that entire trailer. Hopefully it's not that bad.

[Mike Phillips]

Thanks for chiming in Dave...

This thread started out as an e-mail to me and I told the OP the best thing to do would be to start a thread on our forum because we have so many talented and experienced forum members always willing to help others.

[tuscarora dave]

Thanks for chiming in Dave...

This thread started out as an e-mail to me and I told the OP the best thing to do would be to start a thread on our forum because we have so many talented and experienced forum members always willing to help others.

No doubt about it Mike, you're quite welcome.

I personally know how absolutely frustrating and expensive it is to work through the learning curve in working on commercial vehicles. I only wish I had someone guiding me along when I worked through my own learning curve with it.

If I had to do it all over again....I'd work at McDonald's to earn the money to put myself through college instead!!

There are a ton of pitfalls, and some extremely dangerous chemicals involved in making commercial vehicle cleanups and recons easier, a lot of different processes that just don't apply to car care.

Often times what works extremely well in the garage on the BMW or Mercedes Benz, either does nothing on these commercial vehicles or takes ten times longer or worse yet cuts the paint off in just a few passes.

It's my pleasure to help out.

[captain detail]

first dont sell yourself cheap make sure it is light oxidation , check if its chakly or rough paint then smooth !!also see if it has atleast some shine, if it dont then youll be putting some good elbows n grease cause its not light oxidation!!!heres a before n after of something similar

[Bill1234]

might I suggest a foam gun or cannon and a montana wash broom? I have this for the family suvs and it is a killer combo.

[tuscarora dave]

first dont sell yourself cheap make sure it is light oxidation , check if its chakly or rough paint then smooth !!also see if it has atleast some shine, if it dont then youll be putting some good elbows n grease cause its not light oxidation!!!heres a before n after of something similar

Nice outcome!! How many hours did that take?

[captain detail]

Washed it Monday finished one side ,Tuesday got other side finished all the paint, Wednesday just came back for the chrome n all the little details

[envious2014]

wow , I am really impressed you really seem to know your stuff. The fact that this is so bad and neglected and how much there is to know, Im a little intimidated lol. I almost am fearful i will be biting off my than I can chew in this scenario.