SEMI transport truck pointers

[tuscarora dave]

tuscarora dave you summed it up real well , !!

PAYING YOUR DUES IS WHAT YOU ARE DOING !!
CAUSE ONCE's its done!!

THE KNOWLEDGE IS WORTH more!!!

Yeah!! I've definitely payed my dues!! I can't tell you how many times I've grumbled under my breath about nothing working on these things , just to go out and buy another $50 quart of something that also wouldn't work.

Or...Sprayed on a strong cleaner starting at the top instead of at the bottom before a wash only, just to find that now I'm left with clean and dirty streaks that in the end had to be polished off because no amount of scrubbing would produce an even clean look...

Or....allowed that same strong cleaner to run down over clean and shiny uncoated aluminum just to have to repolish to remove the resulting etchings....

Thanks for backing me up on the paying your dues thing, you've clearly been there and done that!!

[Mantilgh]

Dave, thank you for all the information that you are supplying here. Not to thread jack, hopefully my questions will add to this and help others that have questions.

Could you let me know if there is a way to tell if I have a single stage paint or a gelcoat?

I have a 97 Volvo straight truck painted Lunar Yellow and thought it was just single stage paint until I read some of your post, now I'm wondering if it is a gelcoat.

I have not attempted to work on it. We did have mid 90s Frieghtliner painted the same colour that I "cleaned" up using Meg's #9. Seemed to work well, and was planning on doing the same to the Volvo in the spring.

Any suggestions for removing staining from paint, either single stage or gelcoat?

The #9 seemed to work alright for stain removal on the other truck.

Truck is very stained but only really noticeable on the side section below the windshield (from nasty truck stop self serve window wash) and on the fuel tank.



Also, the bumper and fuel tanks seem to be lighter in colour than the rest of the truck and bumper is much more oxidized.

[tuscarora dave]

Dave, thank you for all the information that you are supplying here. Not to thread jack, hopefully my questions will add to this and help others that have questions.

Could you let me know if there is a way to tell if I have a single stage paint or a gelcoat?

I have a 97 Volvo straight truck painted Lunar Yellow and thought it was just single stage paint until I read some of your post, now I'm wondering if it is a gelcoat.

I have not attempted to work on it. We did have mid 90s Frieghtliner painted the same colour that I "cleaned" up using Meg's #9. Seemed to work well, and was planning on doing the same to the Volvo in the spring.

Any suggestions for removing staining from paint, either single stage or gelcoat?

The #9 seemed to work alright for stain removal on the other truck.

Truck is very stained but only really noticeable on the side section below the windshield (from nasty truck stop self serve window wash) and on the fuel tank.



Also, the bumper and fuel tanks seem to be lighter in colour than the rest of the truck and bumper is much more oxidized.

The more interaction these threads get the better it is for all who are interested. Your questions are certainly welcomed here.

I would take a dark colored terry cloth towel, perhaps you can sneak one of Mom's good black wash cloths out of the bathroom closet, wrap it around your index finger then put a little polish or compound on it and rub it vigorously back and forth on the Lunar Yellow on the hood. Flip it back over and take a look at the towel under your index finger. Does it have yellow on it? If it does, then it's most likely single stage paint.

Gel coat is more like a real thick resin clear coat and shouldn't rub off onto the towel. Perform this test on each panel because there could be some parts gel coat and some parts painted, especially if you are seeing different shades of yellow from one panel to the next.

Regardless whether it's gel coat or painted, stain removal will be performed similarly. Nothing works better than a non abrasive liquid metal polish at removing these stains. It won't do much if anything for heavy gel coat oxidation but it does a pretty good job at removing light oxidation from the painted parts.

[tuscarora dave]

I think a lot of the crud that gets in and on these trailers has a good percentage of metal tarnish in it, both from it's own metal structure, and from the high percentage of metal rolling down the highway. There's like a water, grease, mud, metal, rubber slurry splashing around from one big rig to the next during wet highway driving conditions. The fact that these rigs don't have a protective clear coat protecting the paint like cars do, just invites all this slop to absorb into the paint on these rigs.

I copied and pasted this little tidbit from post#20 to bring it back up front, as to why I think the non abrasive liquid metal polishes work so well on these big rigs for stain removal in the paint or gel coat.

[tuscarora dave]

I'd be willing to bet that if I took a nice strong magnet, stopped along the shoulder of the highway, walked over to where all the gravel and other debris collects on the shoulder and rolled my magnet all around in that gravel debris it would come up with a good bit of metal dust on it. This theoretically would support my theory in post #44 above.

[Mantilgh]

Thanks Dave.

Non abrasive metal polish for paint cleaning and test the different panels for paint transfer to help determine paint type.

Are Aluminum wheels on trucks typically uncoated?

I assume for wheels, just use the method as above with white rag and paint polish or compound.

Any good OTC polishes good for the dual purpose of Al polishing and paint cleaning?


Roadside Metal note:
All the rust removed by wheels blasting the underbody while driving on wet roads

[tuscarora dave]

Thanks Dave.

You're welcome

Non abrasive metal polish for paint cleaning and test the different panels for paint transfer to help determine paint type.

That's right. I like to do a caustic wash when trucks look the way yours does. I use a half gallon of Super Clean mixed in a 2 gallon sprayer with 1 1/2 gallons of water, spray it on a reasonable working area starting at the bottom of the truck and wetting from there to to the top of the area where I'll be scrubbing. Let it dwell for a few minutes as I keep spraying lightly from time to time to insure that my entire work area stays wet. After a few minutes of dwell time I hit it with a wash brush dipped in a bucket with a car wash soap / super clean / water mix and scrub thoroughly. This gets a good thorough clean to start with. You can typically see a nice milky liquid oxidation slurry dripping off of the truck as you rinse each area you work as you move around the truck. I try to keep this caustic wash off of the glass, and rinse it off right away if it does get on the glass.

Let it drip dry then test your liquid metal polish with a soft polishing pad preferably on a Flex 3401 VRG polisher. Rotary polishers really don't work well at all for this process. The cost of the machine will be more than covered in time/effort in the first job you do on one of these big rigs.

Are Aluminum wheels on trucks typically uncoated?

Some are coated but a lot of them are raw unpolished, some are polished, most were polished at one time.

I assume for wheels, just use the method as above with white rag and paint polish or compound.

Yep, if it turns black, it's uncoated.

Any good OTC polishes good for the dual purpose of Al polishing and paint cleaning?

Tons of good polishes at truck centers and the likes of Kenworth/Peterbuilt dealerships. Just ask for the non abrasive type.

If there's a penny in the bottle, that's typically an indication that it's an abrasive polish. The penny is used to mix the solids and liquids together like the ball in spray paint cans. Some abrasive polishes will/can work well but typically require a little more work. There are a lot of different grades of abrasives at the truck centers, so find someone who knows the products. Look here at AGO for something.

Roadside Metal note:
All the rust removed by wheels blasting the underbody while driving on wet roads

Yeah. That stuff is always out there churning and gets all up in your truck's/car's paint.

[tuscarora dave]

Poorboy's World original formula Pro Polish Poorboy's Professional Polish: Now Poorboy’s Professional Polish is creamy”, making it more user-friendly and a real pleasure to apply! poorboys works pretty good as it's really more of a metal polish than anything. It's mostly non abrasive, very very light abrasive but mostly a chemical polish.

[Vegas Transplant]

tuscarora dave you summed it up real well , !!

PAYING YOUR DUES IS WHAT YOU ARE DOING !!
CAUSE ONCE's its done!!

THE KNOWLEDGE IS WORTH more!!!

Yeah!! I've definitely payed my dues!! I can't tell you how many times I've grumbled under my breath about nothing working on these things , just to go out and buy another $50 quart of something that also wouldn't work.

Or...Sprayed on a strong cleaner starting at the top instead of at the bottom before a wash only, just to find that now I'm left with clean and dirty streaks that in the end had to be polished off because no amount of scrubbing would produce an even clean look...

Or....allowed that same strong cleaner to run down over clean and shiny uncoated aluminum just to have to repolish to remove the resulting etchings....

Thanks for backing me up on the paying your dues thing, you've clearly been there and done that!!

Lifelong motto of mine.
Hard Times is my c.b. handle.
Sun visor swung to the inside for photo.



Exterior view

[Vegas Transplant]

I think a lot of the crud that gets in and on these trailers has a good percentage of metal tarnish in it, both from it's own metal structure, and from the high percentage of metal rolling down the highway.

Especially from that big overhead hay rack and structure.