Posted 2005-06-25 2:40 PM (#27092) Subject: cleaning up an aluminum trailer
Member
Posts: 7
Location: Maryville, MO 64468
I just bought a used Exiss (2002), this is the first alum trailer we have had. We are moving up from a steel 2-horse BP!! How do I make shiny? What best for cleaning it - the outside primarily. I guess it is a stainless steel nose also? Also what do you all think of EZ-ALL trailer wash?
Posted 2005-06-25 9:54 PM (#27109 - in reply to #27092) Subject: RE: cleaning up an aluminum trailer
Regular
Posts: 67 Location: Central Ky.
afpchemical.com makes a product to clean aluminum trailers and is an advertiser here which helps keep this site up and running.The owner posts under the user name "trailer-brite".I may be wrong,but I believe he guarantees you'll be happy with his products.
Posted 2005-06-26 2:35 PM (#27134 - in reply to #27092) Subject: RE: cleaning up an aluminum trailer
Member
Posts: 6
Location: Dallas, TX
Well the only way to make an unpainted (Mill Finish) aluminum trailer shine is an acid product. The only problem is that acids remove some of the aluminum and that makes a trailer brittle. In other words, you are seeing aluminum that has never been exposed to the elements. So no matter how mild someone says their acid is...For your trailer to shine the acid has to remove the oxidized aluminum on top. Since this is the only sure way know at this time, you can have this process professionally done at some of the major truck stops. (They clean the truck trailers with what they call an acid bath.)
Posted 2005-06-27 8:52 AM (#27187 - in reply to #27092) Subject: RE: cleaning up an aluminum trailer
Member
Posts: 9
Location: Stevensville, MT
If you are talking about the black streaks on the white aluminum I like concentrated simple green. You can buy it at Wal-mart for about $4. It works really well. Cheap too! Spray it on a wet trailer and wait a couple of minutes. Rub lightly with a was mitt or a brush and Rinse, it's amazing.
Posted 2005-06-27 4:52 PM (#27241 - in reply to #27092) Subject: RE: cleaning up an aluminum trailer
Member
Posts: 9
additonal question... I have a 1995 4 star aluminun trailer that is very dull... am confused some say acid wash it some say that will do harm to the aluminum. does acid wash hurt the aluminum bad enough to be concerned???
Posted 2005-06-27 5:13 PM (#27243 - in reply to #27241) Subject: RE: cleaning up an aluminum trailer
Expert
Posts: 2689
Originally written by psyncere on 2005-06-27 4:52 PM
additonal question... I have a 1995 4 star aluminun trailer that is very dull... am confused some say acid wash it some say that will do harm to the aluminum. does acid wash hurt the aluminum bad enough to be concerned???
As with many things, too much is too much.
If done "properly" it removes the outer skin of oxide, exposing bare metal. If not covered that metal then oxidizes and it again turns gray, waxing can delay this. It probably varies by microclimate, local proximity to polution sources, etc.
Personally I think the darker it gets the better the trailer looks as a whole, it shows up the white painted aluminum panels a lot better (-:
If you don't know how to do it "properly" and don't want to take chances with it a truck wash is probably your best bet.
Posted 2005-06-27 5:41 PM (#27245 - in reply to #27092) Subject: RE: cleaning up an aluminum trailer
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 366 Location: Albany, Oregon
For what its worth....I bought a new Featherlite and to maintain the warranty I am supposed to get an acid wash every year. I would follow the advice of the previous post. The material removed is micrometers...you would have to do it everyday for 10 years to do measurable damage. It isn't that expensive and truck stops do lots of them. They don't do it to make it shine, I think the oxide is brittle and is a place for cracks to begin around welds and stress points. removing the oxide leaves only the parent metal which is more ductile.....It is more of a structural reason than to make it shine....! Or something like that...I don't think the warranty people care what it looks like....just how the structure is maintained.
Posted 2005-06-27 5:42 PM (#27246 - in reply to #27092) Subject: RE: cleaning up an aluminum trailer
Veteran
Posts: 161 Location: Chino, CA
A friend of the family of mine has a 1978 (i believe its a 1978) Kentucky 15 horse trailer with aluminum skin. The only way he washes it is going to a truck wash and acid washing it. He washes it once every 10 days or so. The skin is holding quite well, especially since i believe it is the original aluminum skin straight from the factory. here is the picture. man if he would polish it, its the perfect looking trailer (well besides my dads old trailer)
cleaning up an aluminum trailer
