Exterior Maintenance Help

[PNWorBUST72]

So how do you guys clean and shine your stainless steel or aluminum panels?

My roof, which I THINK is aluminum is pretty "corroded" and my stainless steel has seen better days...

What processes and products do you use?

[dtcerrato]

We love Shiela Shine.

[Dave5Cs]

If your SS hasn't been polished yet or is dull. It takes a lot of sanding with very high numbered grit 800, 1000, 1200 and then Polish with a 7 inch Buffer with white, black then green stick polish, and even blue to finish up. 1 person mirror finish you can expect 2 weeks worth of work.

If it has been polished before. Polish with blue or green stick and wash between cuts. Clean off polish with windex.

IBP website has polishing instructions in detail.
For roofs most just pressure wash, seal with primer and then paint from spraying  to some who have used rollers and paint brush it out.
You use roof coatings or bed liners, add ceramic powder to paint for insulation.
Tropical Cool roof is a good one Lowe's or Home Depot.

[Branderson]

Isn't it true that once the aluminum starts to bubble, there really is no fix?  You can sand/buff it off but it will come back within a year? 

[PP]

If your SS hasn't been polished yet or is dull. It takes a lot of sanding with very high numbered grit 800, 1000, 1200 and then Polish with a 7 inch Buffer with white, black then green stick polish, and even blue to finish up. 1 person mirror finish you can expect 2 weeks worth of work.

If it has been polished before. Polish with blue or green stick and wash between cuts. Clean off polish with windex.

IBP website has polishing instructions in detail.
For roofs most just pressure wash, seal with primer and then paint from spraying  to some who have used rollers and paint brush it out.
You use roof coatings or bed liners, add ceramic powder to paint for insulation.
Tropical Cool roof is a good one Lowe's or Home Depot.

2WEEKS?? It took me 2 years to get my anodized stainless to a mirror finish. But yeah, the rest is correct-lots of wet sanding and then buffing. But at least now I can keep it shiny with only a couple of minutes work and then only after it's rained on it. Dust wipes right off.

[PNWorBUST72]

Any thoughts on the roof?

I was just going to pressure wash it, acetone it down and put down some Henry's Tropi-Cool in the coming weeks.  Once my welder guy fixes the hole in the roof.  I dont have to sand that do I?

Looks like the stainless is just spit and elbow grease as they say, the IBP site has some good information.

[DoubleEagle]

If the aluminum is bare in spots or has white powder corrosion, it will have to be treated, or sandblasted, and then coated with epoxy primer, or aircraft primer. Check the sites that deal with aircraft painting, they have a lot of detailed information. Whatever you use to coat the roof won't stick well if the aluminum is corroded. Bare aluminum starts developing its oxide layer within hours of being cleaned properly, pressure washing will only get the dirt off.

[PNWorBUST72]

Its not bare, but the white pant isn't holding up well in spots thats for sure.  I will grab some pics of it tomorrow...

The Henry's product doesnt say anything about special prep for aluminum so I am not sure if it's required.

[Dave5Cs]

Branderson
See where I said SS (stainless steel) not aluminum.
Then talked about aluminum but without pictures didn't know how bad it was.

Will
LOL 2 years wow. Ok mine was about 1/2 done when I bought it years ago so I only had to do the other 1/2.

PNWorBUST72
Double Eagle is right especially if it has a lot of powdery look to it. If you rub your hand over it and it shows powder on your hand it will need a lot of work.

[Jim Eh.]

Opps, whats that ... about 3" behind the front wheel and 4 ribs up, you missed a spot. Nope, wait, just some pop that landed on my screen.

[PNWorBUST72]

Here are pics of the roof, thoughts?

[Dave5Cs]

Yep pressure washer first to see where it stands corrosion wise as well as any peeling paint. You may have to use some stripper on that. You would be surprised what a hard pressure wash will do. Maybe Media blasting also if really bad.

I had a lot of algae at one time growing on my roof. I sprayed it with roundup and that made it go away. Then PW it and has lasted 6 years but now is almost ready to paint.

[DoubleEagle]

The picture is a little fuzzy, but it looks like multiple layers of old peeling paint mixed with corrosion. You might need to strip it with something safe for aluminum. There is a converter in Florida (I forget his name) that advocated applying stripper to the whole roof and then using a pressure washer to blast it all off. That could be very messy, I would cover the rest of the bus to prevent streaking, and not have anything you like within many feet. I suspect that it will actually take several applications of stripper to get it all off. The reason professional paint jobs cost so much is that a good shop that stands by their work will not paint over someone else's paint, they strip it completely. A good paint job costs thousands even if you did it yourself, tens of thousands if it is multi-color with effects. This is why the more frugal of us are tempted to roll on some RV roof coating and hope for the best. In any event, you should inspect every part of the roof carefully, just one missing rivet can cause a lot of hidden water damage. Same thing with gutter screws and window seals, you don't want extra moisture messing up your interior handiwork.

[chessie4905]

You could pay someone to soda blast the roof. Much safer and less messy than paint stripper.