Guest 1footinthegrave Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 I must confess as a younger man I polished away till I was blue in the face on every vehicle I ever owned. I now look back and think it is one of the most futile things anyone can do with their time, as Brian quite rightly states it's dirty again before you can blink. The only exception I make is the windscreen for obvious reasons and when it's going up for sale. As for the roof I echo what someone else said " Don't look" ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 I had a relation who used to buy expensive cars. He would polish it once when he got it using old fashioned hard wax polish in those days. Apart from the windscreen and lights he would then never wash it again until it was being sold some year later. From what I remember they always came up like new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 An advantage of cleaning the van more regularly, especially the roof, is that you can see if any of the seams/joints are deteriorating under all the grim and resolve them before they become major issues .... :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 Blimey, Mel, I never let it get that dirty! :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 ... but how do you know Brian .... if, by your own admission, you don't clean it that often! 8-) ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 If I was worrying about my seams on a 2010 reg van I'd think I'd purchased the wrong van. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coach2000 Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 Well not one reply on the black stuff, perhaps I should start another thread, or is it so unusual that no one has come across it before. Clive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 1footinthegrave - 2011-11-15 6:27 PM If I was worrying about my seams on a 2010 reg van I'd think I'd purchased the wrong van. Better safe than sorry, unfortunately some vans do develop faults and you can't know if your van is one of them. Also, you simply don't know if something has happened up there ... such as a firework landing on it, a seagull deciding to drop bombs (bird poo is nasty stuff!). In the case of our Rapido, which we had for just under 4 years, when it was about 2 and a half years 'old' I was about to fit some new clear roof vents in place of the opaque ones, and before I started I gave the roof a clean. There roof had a large join which was filled with a type of mastic, about an inch wide from one side to the other and I noticed it had started to crack and pull away from the edges of the roof panels. Fortunately I caught it in time before it did any damage and was able to reseal it, but if I hadn't been looking ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 Mel B - 2011-11-15 6:18 PM ... but how do you know Brian .... if, by your own admission, you don't clean it that often! 8-) ;-) Bloody hell woman, I can still see (just! :-))! :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 coach2000 - 2011-11-15 6:48 PM Well not one reply on the black stuff, perhaps I should start another thread, or is it so unusual that no one has come across it before. Clive. We have some black mould on the seams across our roof. It doesn't seem to be causing damage to the sealant, so I'm just leaving it alone. I'm loath to attack it with anything, because I have no idea how anything that would remove or kill the mould might affect the sealant itself. I know the sealant is Terostat MS 939 by Henkel. It is described as silane-modified polyether. If the mould gets worrying, I'll have to contact Loctite-Henkel in UK to ask them if they know what can, and cannot, be applied. My suggestion would be to contact CI (presumably Trigano in UK) and ask what sealant has been used, and then contact the sealant manufacturer for guidance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coach2000 Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 Brian, thanks for your reply. It is just unsightly and I don't know if it adds to the black streaks that seem to come down the side of the van from the roof. I will continue to experiment with a toothbrush on a small area. Further to keeping an eye on what is going on up there, 15 months ago I had a sattellite and solar panel fitted by a well known company in Clitheroe on which I did at the time because of a cople of issues I had with them. As I was cleaning I spotted that the plastic mini trunking that they had fed the cables thru was starting to unstick and come away from the roof. It was just stuck down with the sticky backing and is not intended for outdoor use. A bit of sikaflex in the meantime until I get time to redo it all So it just goes to show that a new van that has had work done on the roof by a company like this will have issues in avery short time. Clive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjmike Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 Brian Kirby - 2011-11-15 12:00 AM No sooner is it all clean and shiny than I drive a few miles down a wet lane and its dirty again. Beyond a certain level of road grime the rest doesn't show - unless you hit cow pats, or a tractor has spread the verge across the road. Then the brush and hose may come out. In winter, if the roads have been salted, I usually hose off the car wheel arches, but the van stays put until rain has washed the salt off and the roads are dry again. Lazy sod! :-D Using a modern wax or sealer your motorhome should still look good after a quick wash down after receiving the above treatment and don't be fooled by those dry roads after salt has been laid, there is still loads of salt there but it is hard to see and being dry it gets everywhere and is very concentrated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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