Saturday, May 05, 2012

Clean Up Time

After going out to breakfast this morning I decided to head to the airport and give 08Romeo a bath, she really needed it.  Once the wash was completed and 08Romeo dried off with a microfiber chami I worked on the water stains below the cowl camlocks.
I tried a clay bar but that didn't do much, then switched to a cleaner wax that always did a nice job on our cars. Zymol was recommended by a few pilots on the forums that I read so I went through my cleaning supplies and gave it a try.  I will say the smell of the product is really nice.
I attacked the stains with the Zymol product and with some added elbow grease the stains vanished. I followed up the cleaning with a new product that was also suggested by fellow pilots, Collinite #845 wax.  This product was a bit odd in texture. I followed the directions to shake the container but honestly the texture was like a soft chapstick type of material. I'm not sure giving it a good shake did much at all.
The Collinite is very easy to apply and just as easy to remove once drying to a haze. It leaves a super shine and smooth to the touch feel.  I called it a day after only getting the spinner and top and bottom cowling completed.  I may finish up tomorrow now that the plane is clean.

2 comments:

Geoff Nelson said...

I've been interested in the Collinite stuff as well reading all the opinions. I know it will be a while to judge durability, but did it make an immediate improvement in appearance? Where did you end up buying it from? Thanks.

Gary said...

Geoff,

I purchased the Collinite from Amazon. (http://www.amazon.com/Collinite-Liquid-Insulator-Wax-Combo/dp/B005ZUMLV6) It came with an applicator pad and microfibre cloth for the same price as the product sells for.

The end result was a really nice shine. I used the Zymol to clean the stains then used the collinite. Really easy on and off, a welcome change to waxing any vehicle.

I think the darker colors will show better. I waxed my ML320 that is a cobalt blue (dark blue) and it looks like its wet. A very deep shine with great reflection.

I'll cleaner wax my wings tomorrow then use the collinite to finish up the plane. The clock is ticking, we'll see how it holds up.