T Cutting

[malcy]

Ive just spent all day T.cutting & polishing one side of my m/home & I am not happy with the results. It,s a 2003 Ace Milano with GRP sides. Try as I might I can,t get an even finish It,s ended up depending on which angle it,s viewed from mottled or patchy,either way it,s not as it should be. Anybody else done this succesfully & if so what have I done wrong

 

 

fed up malcy :'(

[602]

Hi,

 

Ask you local bodyshop to give you a small quantity of PANEL WIPE, which is used to clean paint before spraying over. Use it somewhere not too important to see what effect it has.

 

Note ..... this is not the same as BRUSH WASH, which wil also get rid of your blotches .... and everything else.

 

602

[Guest Tracker]

Before you do anything else wait for a warm dry day and go over the side with a clean dry soft cloth to remove any missed polish and polish residue.

 

If that fails I would re polish the bits that are still blotchy with a decent car or boat fibreglass suitable polish - not with T cut as that can take off too much surface if overdone.

 

With large panels like van sides it is not uncommon to have to do them a couple of times to get a decent finish.

[Guest JudgeMental]

Lidl do a really good battery polisher for under £20

 

It makes really light work of it

[Guest Tracker]

Sorry Eddie - can't agree with you there - I tried one of these polishers a few years back and it was a waste of time as not only did it not give a decent finish it was also tiring to use over prolonged periods.

 

A good quality mechanical polisher may be good in the hands of an experienced person but for many home users the risks of surface burn marks caused by using it too dry or not moving it quick enough are risks they might not want to take?

[malcy]

Thanks for the swift replies guys.

 

Ive now had my tea finishing it off with rhubarb crumble which of course changed my whole outlook on life, things are never as bad as they first appear eh.

Just one thing. 602 what is the anything else that brush wash will remove,are you saying that it,s to severe to use on GRP. &should I stay clear of it.

BTW it seems very busy in cyberspace tonight.Must be the dark nights being upon us.

 

[Guest peter]

Brush wash/Cellulose thinners is perfectly o'k on bare gelcoat, but it will remove all your decals and any painted areas, so I wouldn't use it. You don't have a need to anyway.For panel wash you can use white spirit or methylatd spirit and water say 50/50. A white spirit wipe will liven up dull polish and bring back the shine. I have a special coating that I've discovered for use on dull Gelcoat that needs no polishing at all, just wash it and that's it. Unfortunately I can't divulge it at the moment as I am in the process of marketing it along with a cleaning agent that brings Gelcoat back to sparkling white. I've been testng it on my boat and it's brill'.

[Guest Peter James]

Tracker - 2010-09-26 5:42 PM

 

Sorry Eddie - can't agree with you there - I tried one of these polishers a few years back and it was a waste of time as not only did it not give a decent finish it was also tiring to use over prolonged periods.

 

A good quality mechanical polisher may be good in the hands of an experienced person but for many home users the risks of surface burn marks caused by using it too dry or not moving it quick enough are risks they might not want to take?

 

Have to agree with you there. I had one of those rotary (mains) polishers from Woolworths and binned it as a dead loss.

 

Incidentally I find the cheap stuff from the pound shop works as well as T Cut.

[Guest JudgeMental]

Tracker - 2010-09-26 5:42 PM

 

Sorry Eddie - can't agree with you there - I tried one of these polishers a few years back and it was a waste of time as not only did it not give a decent finish it was also tiring to use over prolonged periods.

END QUOTE]

 

 

 

 

 

 

the Lidl one is surprisingly powerful and easy to use......and great results without to much effort? I responded to this thread trying to help someone? that spent a day doing one side of a camper? I can do one side in 2 hours tops?

 

I used to spend hours cleaning van and black streaks, until I discovered Fenwick's motorhome cleaner recommended on here......I certainly would not return to polishing a van by hand either *-)

[alf]

Re Polishers its each to there own I have a mains 240v polisher and find it too clumbersome and difficult to use in some areas so I dont use it now

 

BUT I have got a smaller 12v polisher from Halfords see link

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_

10151_productId_188980_langId_-1_categoryId_165640

 

and find this brilliant easy to use one handed being smaller gets into corners better buffsup a treat far better than by hand

polishing mops cheap too and wash up well

 

Alf

[fred22]

Hi, I seem to remember reading somewhere that you are not suppose to T cut glass fibre that has a gel coat on it.

You can T cut glass fibre that has been spray painted because you are cutting the paint back but T cutting a gel coat ruins the shine???

Just something niggles me in the back of my mind but I may have my wires crossed.

[bob b]

I always had trouble getting an acceptable finish after polishing the motorhome. After a relatively short time, the finish was uneven and dull in places.

Earlier this year, I went over the whole body with Farecla G3 superfinish rubbing compound and then polished with a caravan polish. The results were fantastic and the shine has endured.

If using the Farecla cutting back paste, you must be gentle and use just enough pressure to take off the old polish and general grime. Don't use a machine to cut back, just do it by hand.

[ips]

I agree with tracker. rotary polishers are lethal in the wrong hands. Tjhe secret is keeping the surface wet and using the right product of course. Also agree regasrding the use of t cut on gel coat much better to use a marine product or you could try auto glymn paint renovator its not as harsh as t cut and IMO gives a much better result.

[Guest peter]

fred22 - 2010-09-27 11:27 AM

 

Hi, I seem to remember reading somewhere that you are not suppose to T cut glass fibre that has a gel coat on it.

You can T cut glass fibre that has been spray painted because you are cutting the paint back but T cutting a gel coat ruins the shine???

Just something niggles me in the back of my mind but I may have my wires crossed.

That's true, you shoild not use normal T Cut as it contains Amonia which yellows the Gelcoat. Use Farecla instead which doesn't.

[Colin Leake]

Sorry but using T-Cut may have already done significant damage to your surface. To renovate faded fibreglass gel coats use any good quality marine combination cleaner and polish. You will find this hard work but well worth the effort. Finish off with a good quality marine polish. Use the polish ones or twice a year and you fibreglass will positively sparkle even better than when new. You can obtain supplies on line or from any boat chandlers.

 

I remember seeing on another thread someone recommending using T-Cut to remove scratches from plastic windows. Don't! it will remove the scratches alright but leave swirl marks on the windows that show up in strong sunlight. Take time and use the proper Fenwich product. This is slow and will obviously not remove deep scratches but it does achieve very good results. If you have already used T-Cut the the swirls can with some effort be removed by using the Fenwick scratch remover.

[747]

Following a tip on some motorhome forum, I used a cheap bathroom foam cleaner from Lidl. It comes in an aerosol can and it really cleaned up the paintwork on my wifes car. If I did not wash it for her then it did not get washed. The result was a pale silvery blue car with ingrained black specks. A little bit of elbow grease and they were gone. I have not tried it on the motorhome but I think it should be OK.