outside lower panel maintenance

[Wild Horse]

Lower panels are obviously different material then the rest of the sides on the monty, plus that li'l insert trim strip. Anyone able to get these clean and spiffy lookin'?

Also, I looked at new trim inserts, there seems to be some lower quality/thinner material out there. Any recommendations ?
Bill

[Rondo]

Bill-- There have been several threads on just your problem! Check out the archive and search engine. Seems like they used one of those scotbrite pads on it one way and the other was to pull it out and put it in bucket of dawn, water and clorox and let it set for a night then take it out and rub it down, rinse it then reinstall. If you don't want to go through the hassle, I got some at the RV dealer near here and I think I saw it at CW too but it was a cheaper rubber strip there! Good luck and quit doing all this stuff on your Monte, you're making us look REALLY BAD!

[scductman]

Bill the bottom is alum with baked on white paint very exp from the dealer. we used to keep it in our sheet metal shop in 4'x10' sheets. if you can get it from one of them you will save alot of money plus they can bend it if you need. also ron is right about the clorox.
bobby

[jsmitfl]

Ok I have to spill my guts. Am thinking of becoming a dealer for this stuff. I just used it on my unit and it saved me days of work in about 2 hours. No it will not ruin it so go read about it. After you get it good and clean then coat it with the other stuff im going to give a link to. Our unit was so bad from sitting here in Florida, its a 2001. I will be proud to take it down the road this summer. First link is www.streak-x.com the other link is www.myboatstore.com/poly_glow.asp I hope this helps alot of you.

[Rondo]

JP-- Any pictures of your rig before and after? What did the stripper to to the decals? I'm assuming you didn't use the scrubber or the stripper over the decals! I'd like to put something on ours. It doesn't really have any bad oxidation but I'd like to put something on the front especially to make it easier to get the bugs off from trips. The fabric softener sheets work OK but it does take some elbow grease especially if they dry on and cook in the sun. Keep us informed also on how it works! Nothing nicer than a bright shiny rig going down the highway.

[Wild Horse]

Thanks for the info everyone. I played with it for a minute yesterday. The trim inserts have to go....geez, but they are ugly. I'll order some new, in the heavy duty.

The panels are another story. They aren't bad, altho' I can see some black(more like gray) streaking thru it all. I tried a small spot with 409 and lightly scrubing with a green pad...pad came off covered in white. I'm guessing a build up of oxidation? I'm going to do some checking today, but that streak-x looks like it might be the ticket. I'm going to have to designate a day to take care of all the panels....will clean, then give it a wax/seal.
Thanks
Bill

[Rondo]

Bill-- There's another thread going on currently about oxidation and what to use on it! Check it out!

[jsmitfl]

Rondo, Most of my decals are gone as of now. The ones that are on there did not use the scubber on. Just the streak-x when I cleaned the whole unit. The decals that are there look really good after applying the poly glo.
Bill.. you can clean the white rub rails and the white metal with Awesome and Mr Clean Erasers. Its a long process but it works.
Here is a link to get the rubber if you want it. I bought some when I was there last year just didn't use it yet. http://www.rvsurplus.net

[Rondo]

RVS has it all! We stopped in there last year when we were at the Fall Rally! If you need it, they got it! They aren't the only rv surplus (salvage) store in the area either. We checked out three or four following the Rally. Will do the same this year when we return to Goshen, Elkhart and Shipshawana area! JP has the idea with Awesome and the Eraser also. Just a little more muscle power than taking out the screws and pulling the trim out.

[racerjoe]

On the pictures of the streak x, it only shows it cleaning ribbed aluminum panels, I did not see where it cleaned smooth walls, fiberglas type.