Black Spots On Front And Wheel Fender

Hi all,

Our new to us CI has these black marks on the front, on one of the wheel fenders, and under the Alcan, as far as I can tell. I hadn't paid too much attention to it and I thought it was dirt until yesterday when I tried to wash the CI because of warm weather. They seem to be small dings and scratches in the aluminum.

Is there an easy way to address these short of polishing the entire teardrop? Will Walburnizing this work?

 

It looks like tar from the road. I use a little naphtha to remove it, then rewax.

 

Ditto on the tar.

 

Yes, and no.
While I don't profess to be an expert on the subject, from following posts on this website, and personal experience, these are my observations on the issues you are inquiring about.

If it is tar, the above advice will work well, but if it's corrosion or stone pitting, that won't help except for cleaning the tar off.

No, Walburnizing won't take out the pits caused by stones or corrosion in the aluminum. It's more for removing oxidation and providing a protective coating to prevent new oxidation for a little while. I'm not sure the pitting can be removed without damage to the aluminum, certainly not easily. So you may just want to put the Alcan cover back on to cover up what you can, or consider a spray on truck bed liner like some on this forum have done on the front with nice looking results.

Yes, fortunately the wheel fenders are made of stainless steel, and they can usually be fixed up quite nicely with whatever level of abrasives are needed to remove the damage and smooth the surface by graduating to finer abrasives, and ending with longitudinal strokes to give bring back close to what was the original grain appearance of the stainless fender. YMMV

 

Here is a picture of the area under the Alcan. Like whitish pitting? Was that from road damage before the previous owners out in the Alcan?

 

It's hard to tell. It could be that the Alcan was put on after the damage was done, but while the Alcan does a nice job of protecting from road debris abrasion on the front of the trailer, it can also trap moisture behind it that sits against the aluminum skin. If that moisture contains corrosives like road salt, it could be from that as well. You could probably find out from Camp-Inn if your trailer was sold with the Alcan, or if it was added later, but does it really matter? Some say to just never take the Alcan off, and others might say to take it off regularly, and clean and wax the surface behind it. That's where the spray on truck bed liner may save a lot of work.

 

You're 100% right about any damage under the Alcan. I guess the only way forward is to use the naphtha to remove any tar and see what's left behind on the visible portions of the CI.

Sounds like if there is pitting mixed in with the tar, there's not that much I can do about it? No magic treatment or polishing that would fix it?

 

+1 on tar. Start simple. Good suggestion on the Naptha (AKA white gas AKA Lantern Fuel) I wouldn't have thought of that. Not sure much you'd need, can't imagine more than a gallon --- just remember its used for meth production -- don't try to buy 20 at a time

The fenders and the skin are two different metals and the damage look somewhat similar suggest to me it is something external and not corrosion. Stainless (fenders) aren't prone to corrosion -- This was one of the biggest selling points of a DMC car Other than its easily converted into a time machine

 

posting only to 2nd your comment. and I wasn't even going for the expensive white gas.

Always be safe, but moving past that, just regular unleaded gasoline, like the stuff you put in your lawn mower, is frequently a great start to cleaning up after tar, or any petroleum based stain or spot or deposit.

 

Mineral spirits would also do a nice job, and be a bit safer than any of the gasoline types.

 

I think a Camp-Inn would make a good time machine.

 

They did! Way back in the day! check out this attachment...I'm officially showing my age in the forum

I'm a huge fan of steampunk....I think he nailed it....

Thomas "She Blinded me, with Science!" Dolby got hold on a CI...It was sold, unfortuantely with all the accoutrement removed.

 

The accountrements were not removed when it sold. The current owner has it fairly well restored with the original stuff. Thomas basically just parked it after the music tour with the camper loaded up with gear and all. That is how it was auctioned off. So, the current owner scored some cool concert T-shirts and CDs.

Cary

 

I remember seeing the Thomas Dolby CI a few years ago. It was cool.

 

Thank you for sharing that. I can't tell you how much I wish this forum displayed images, vs that little rectangular link that I came so close to missing.

That Camp Inn was incredibly well done, at least from the outside pic provided.

 

Ya mean like this:


you can do that if you just right click on the picture you want to include, click copy, then paste it into your post.

 

Oh thats even more cool --- I thought I read it was more or less returned to normal.

I'd have a hard time doing that -- as I said, I have an affinity for steampunk, to score that would be...incredible.

I don't know about dolby, the only thing I ever really heard/knew of his was the "blinded by science" --- which is certainly a representative of an era...80's was surely a different time

- Dire Straits - Money for Nothing (alhtough Brothers in Arms is a MUCH better song)
- A-Ha (Even on hammer dulcimer)
- We Built This City (Even the U-93 remix with the Notre Dame/Golden Dome "DJ rap" redeaux)
- West end girls (Pet Shop Boys)

Some great tunes ack then

 

Did you do the gold trim, or was that an gold film of some kind?

 

yep..... absolutely.

I guess not many are aware of this feature, myself included.

 

Did you do the gold trim? or was that a gold film of some kind applied by them?