Vegas finish

[captrandy]

Ok Guys,

I started the Poligow application with the spray on prep, which is supposed to get your surface ready for the application of the Poliglow product. I was careful to spray on a small section at a time and use the supplied scrubby with a quick rinse with plenty of water before anything dried.

I made a huge mistake by doing the entire side of the RV and not practicing with a small section first.

What happened to me was the prep spray seemed to have ran down and caused streaks. I thought that maybe the poly glow would blend this in, but not so. I now have streaks covered and sealed in by poliglow. Not being happy with this, I am going to take the RV to the Poliglow dealer and show him what I have encountered. Maybe he can shed some light on what I may have done wrong.

I am now going to have to remove the poliglow from the entire side of the RV and start over.

Never, Never do the entire side or large area. Start with maybe just the drivers door or small storage door to start with. Make sure you are happy before tackling a large area.

I may just strip and then go back to Meguiars wax and do it every 3 months or so.

I will update as things progress.
Thanks for listening
Capt Randy

[captrandy]

Originally Posted by captrandy

Good for you on the warranty, smart move.

This was the before pics of my Thor Axis 24.1 before the restore process. As you can see the finish on my Thor Axis 24.1 is beyond terrible after only 1.5 years old. I had tried all the best products that I could find and spent many, many hours on a ladder with a buffer trying to get the finish back with no luck.

I finally had to resort to a Product called PoliGlow that was recommended here on this site. PoliGlow company happens to be right here in Florida where I live, so I visited the company and decided to give it a last resort try.

They were very helpful with their products and I actually brought my RV to them for them to see first hand what I was dealing with.

The end result was a shiny finish with some runs that I could not seem to avoid. It looks great compared to the way it did and I am very happy with the results of the application of PoliGlow. I would recommend PoliGlow to anyone with a severely oxidized finish.

These two photos show the Port & Starboard sides after the application of 6 coats of PoliGlow. I hope you can see the difference and the great shine it has.

Bottom 2 pics are the before pics of the severe hazing/oxidation

[JamieGeek]

That looks great. Will that require yearly re-coats to maintain it or is it a one time permanent fix?? (e.g. what kind of maintenance??).

[captrandy]

Originally Posted by JamieGeek

That looks great. Will that require yearly re-coats to maintain it or is it a one time permanent fix?? (e.g. what kind of maintenance??).

Jamie,

According to Poli Glow the maintenance is as follows:

To maintain a shine reapply 2 to 3 coats of Poli Glow every 12 months. In Tropical areas, reapply Poli Glow every 6 months. Maintenance is easy, as dirt and grime will not adhere to Poli Glow finish.

The application of Poli Glow is very easy, as all you do is wet the microfiber mit with water, ring it out real good, then apply some product to the mit and squeeze it around. Then you just wipe it on like a floor wax. You can reapply additonal coats within minutes. I did 6 coats all together on both sides.

Capt. Randy

[Tom N3EQF]

Thank you for posting pictures Captrandy. My 2015 Windsport, having been in the FL sun most of the time, looks very much like your "before" pictures. Mine looks worse, I would say. I had it professionally detailed twice in the last two years and it didn't help much at all.

Definitely the Poliglow finish on yours looks VERY much better! I guess I will try Poliglow next.

Thanks again for the before and after - very helpful.

[revjeffrey]

Yes it does look like a mega huge Improvement my question is should we be putting the Poli Glow on now before the rig starts to fade meaning will it prevent it from fading?

[captrandy]

Originally Posted by revjeffrey

Yes it does look like a mega huge Improvement my question is should we be putting the Poli Glow on now before the rig starts to fade meaning will it prevent it from fading?

First off, I am not positive that all the Thor Axis have a bad finish, but I would guess that they do. After the warranty period of 1 year, Thor says too bad for you.

It is much easier to prevent the sun damage than to repair it with any product.

If I knew then what I know now, I would have applied the Poly Glow as a preventive. It is much easier to apply than wax, as there is no rubbing or buffing involved, just wipe on. Poli Glow has loads of UV protective elements to stop the UV damage from happening in the first place.

If you already have wax on the RV, then you will need to use the Prep first to remove the wax. As I stated, the tricky part is to prevent to Prep from causing runs, which are hard to remove, but most did come out after the 5th coat. I went on with the additional 6th coat.

You could always wait a while to see what happens to your finish and if it starts to look like it is fading, then get right on it with Poli Glow.

Hope this helps
CaptRandy

[captrandy]

Originally Posted by Tom N3EQF

Thank you for posting pictures Captrandy. My 2015 Windsport, having been in the FL sun most of the time, looks very much like your "before" pictures. Mine looks worse, I would say. I had it professionally detailed twice in the last two years and it didn't help much at all.

Definitely the Poliglow finish on yours looks VERY much better! I guess I will try Poliglow next.

Thanks again for the before and after - very helpful.

Good Luck with making her look good again. I hope you are successful.

[lazinskm]

Thanks for this advice! I think I am going to try this on my rig over the summer- I am going to let the wax I put on last Sept degrade a bit more. So what you are saying is that the streaks lessened as you put on more coats? Did you try removing the streaks with a magic eraser before applying the polyglow wax?

[captrandy]

Originally Posted by lazinskm

Thanks for this advice! I think I am going to try this on my rig over the summer- I am going to let the wax I put on last Sept degrade a bit more. So what you are saying is that the streaks lessened as you put on more coats? Did you try removing the streaks with a magic eraser before applying the polyglow wax?

The first area that I tried that had some streaks, after the 4th coat they were almost gone, after the 5th 90%gone, after the 6th totally gone. I did one small area first to try this out. It worked great, so I proceeded to do more areas. They also had some runs and they did not all come out. I did not try anything to remove the runs, as the 5-6 coats of Poli Glow I thought would remove them. It is best to try and not put on too much prep that will run down the side and cause these runs.

CaptRandy

[revjeffrey]

Originally Posted by lazinskm

Thanks for this advice! I think I am going to try this on my rig over the summer- I am going to let the wax I put on last Sept degrade a bit more. So what you are saying is that the streaks lessened as you put on more coats? Did you try removing the streaks with a magic eraser before applying the polyglow wax?

Take your streaks off with this Lysol Product instead... by using the Magic Eraser.. that is a micro sandpaper block it will just keep Dulling your finish as you use it continually, check this link out I have been using this Lysol Foam product for 20yrs. (SCRUBBING BUBBLES NOT THE SAME) it'll wipe your streaks off like a miracle. http://www.thorforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8247

[lazinskm]

thanks for the info Captain! As for the streaks- i have used the lysol- works awesome for the streaks off the roof. As for the ones w/ polyglow not worried about dulling- that is the point of the prep! Looking forward to trying (well maybe that is wrong wording.... )

[revjeffrey]

No, I agree. I mean use it before the Poli Glow. I am going to Polly Glow this summer. At min. the front cap. Sorry you had to be the guinea
pig, but you're going to probably see a lot nicer looking Vegas & Axis out there on the road & you saved a lot of us headaches and we thank you for that. I never heard of the product till I started reading your thread.

[ArrrV]

I used PoliGlow on my prior RV and it worked great--for years. I received a better price at trade in because it looked so good. I had my RV service person apply it (7 coats for first application) as I have applied before on a boat and it requires patience and practice or it will streak and bubble, not to mention that exacting prep is necessary for it to adhere correctly. Patience is not my thing--I guess when patience was being handed out I wouldn't wait on line! After the first application, apply 2-3 coats every year, a little more often if showing wear (I live in South Florida and keep my ACE in my yard). In between just wash with mild detergent to remove surface grime. Used it for 4 years before trading in my 7 year old RV. But I'm not using it on my newer ACE....yet. Why, because I called PoliGlow when she was brand new with a few questions, only to be told by PoliGlow that it won't work on new RV's--the fiberglass needs to age and wear a little (needs pits ) for PoliGlow to adhere. PoliGlow suggested I wait 3 years unless my unit was showing lots of oxidation. My ACE has been waxed 3-4 times every year and still looks pretty good, but she just turned 3, and will get PoliGlowed next week so she will look fantastic. When properly applied and maintained it works wonderfully.

[revjeffrey]

Originally Posted by ArrrV

I used PoliGlow on my prior RV and it worked great--for years. I received a better price at trade in because it looked so good. I had my RV service person apply it (7 coats for first application) as I have applied before on a boat and it requires patience and practice or it will streak and bubble, not to mention that exacting prep is necessary for it to adhere correctly. Patience is not my thing--I guess when patience was being handed out I wouldn't wait on line! After the first application, apply 2-3 coats every year, a little more often if showing wear (I live in South Florida and keep my ACE in my yard). In between just wash with mild detergent to remove surface grime. Used it for 4 years before trading in my 7 year old RV. But I'm not using it on my newer ACE....yet. Why, because I called PoliGlow when she was brand new with a few questions, only to be told by PoliGlow that it won't work on new RV's--the fiberglass needs to age and wear a little (needs pits ) for PoliGlow to adhere. PoliGlow suggested I wait 3 years unless my unit was showing lots of oxidation. My ACE has been waxed 3-4 times every year and still looks pretty good, but she just turned 3, and will get PoliGlowed next week so she will look fantastic. When properly applied and maintained it works wonderfully.

Great Tip! Thank you.

[captrandy]

Originally Posted by revjeffrey

No, I agree. I mean use it before the Poli Glow. I am going to Polly Glow this summer. At min. the front cap. Sorry you had to be the guinea
pig, but you're going to probably see a lot nicer looking Vegas & Axis out there on the road & you saved a lot of us headaches and we thank you for that. I never heard of the product till I started reading your thread.

I also found out about this product on the Thor Forum and it is made right where I live in Florida.

About the runs, maybe some are confused about what I was talking about, but these runs are causing by the application of the prep, not from any streaking or runs from the roof etc like we RVers are so used to. I like the idea of the Lysol rather than the standard black streak remover.

Just be very careful when applying the Prep and you can avoid these runs.

Glad the thread will help some of us with this annoying problem.

Capt. Randy

[bwloans]

Originally Posted by captrandy

This was the before pics of my Thor Axis 24.1 before the restore process. As you can see the finish on my Thor Axis 24.1 is beyond terrible after only 1.5 years old. I had tried all the best products that I could find and spent many, many hours on a ladder with a buffer trying to get the finish back with no luck.

I finally had to resort to a Product called PoliGlow that was recommended here on this site. PoliGlow company happens to be right here in Florida where I live, so I visited the company and decided to give it a last resort try.

They were very helpful with their products and I actually brought my RV to them for them to see first hand what I was dealing with.

The end result was a shiny finish with some runs that I could not seem to avoid. It looks great compared to the way it did and I am very happy with the results of the application of PoliGlow. I would recommend PoliGlow to anyone with a severely oxidized finish.

These two photos show the Port & Starboard sides after the application of 6 coats of PoliGlow. I hope you can see the difference and the great shine it has.

Bottom 2 pics are the before pics of the severe hazing/oxidation

Did you use the prep on the storage doors and main entry door? I was told they are painted and the prep can damage the paint on them? Also, how hard was it to apply around mouldings and the door frames? Or did you just put Poli Glow over them? Thanks!

[lazinskm]

I am glad that this thread got re-opened, because I am looking to apply this over the holiday season as well. Any tips from anyone that has done this would be greatly appreciated.

[captrandy]

Originally Posted by bwloans

Did you use the prep on the storage doors and main entry door? I was told they are painted and the prep can damage the paint on them? Also, how hard was it to apply around mouldings and the door frames? Or did you just put Poli Glow over them? Thanks!

Yes, I applied the Product over the entire RV, doors included with no problems.

Only tip as I went into with detail is the streaking problem from the prep.
Make sure you don't apply too wet, or it will run down and makes streaks, which are difficult to remove. I used 6-7 coats of Poly Glow.

My RV has had a cover on it for the entire Summer here in Florida and when I check on it monthly to run the engine and generator, the finish looks perfect.

This month the cover comes off and we start using the RV again for the winter months.

Good luck,
Rndy

[lazinskm]

Captrandy,
Thanks so much for checking back in and giving the feedback- i am going to apply this over the holidays. Please let us know how it holds up over the winter. I had the rig out for the first time of the "season" in FL last weekend in Ocala- it was wonderful.