Getting Buff!

Hit the 550 with the Griots G9 and some Blue Magic polish this evening. Cleans up nice.

 

Looks nice from here!
It's hard to tell from your picture whether you still have the grain of the mill finish left after all of your polishing, or if that came off along with the tarnish.
You'll have to keep us posted as the season progresses to see if the Blue Magic leaves a protective film to keep it looking good.

 

thank you for the pic. Extra request, can you do a straight side view picture?

Can you say more on the Blue Magic? Is that the stuff to get to a mirror finish?

 

Looks great!

Do you recommend a power polisher?

 

Griot G9 IS a power polisher.

 

Oooohhhh!

Thanks Lipster

 

When you did your polish, did you use a cutting pad? Or something else? Multiple steps with multiple pads?

I'd like to get mine polished out, and I'm curious for your details on what worked for you.

Thanks.

 

disclaimer - before I stick my foot in my mouth here, please don't read in-between the line. I'm very happy with my Camp-Inn 550, the materials used and also the awesome support.

That out of the way, I'm specifically asking, because conventional methods I've used haven't been very effective on my camper. I don't know if its just a unique aluminum alloy that was used in construction, just dumb luck on my part or a combination of both.

Since I've made my last serious effort, I've actually acquired a Griots G9 polisher. Just a coincidence, not driven by this post. I typically have exceedingly good luck with Mothers Mag & Aluminum polish. did not do to well on my 550. Nothing bad, but not great results either.

Also, and from another polishing post, I'd purchase some highly recommended "Wizards Turbo cut compound". Definitely more aggressive than the Mothers polish I usually use and also the Blue Magic polish used by the OP for this thread.

Back to polishing, I have a large CM aluminum flatbed on my pickup. I polished it out successfully to a mirror finish with Mother's. I did that last summer, and it still looks great. Definitely could use some touch up now that it has finally stopped raining in my area, but ultimately, the answer for longevity, is it depends on you, materials, environment/weather, etc.

At this point, I'm suspecting that my lack of much higher quality success here is that I probably need a more aggressive polishing pad. Happy to hear any additional comments, but for right now, that seems to be the only thing I haven't addressed.

Wishing you good luck, or at least better luck than I've had polishing your Camp Inn trailer.

 

I got my polish in about February of 1967, my German too. I’ve been accused of being a bit abrasive since August of 67, when I showed up 3 months early. Since then I have been a pain in everyone’s tukus. So far, it’s worked out well.

Except in 2020. That sucked for everyone.

 

I used a foam pad the first go around and on the second I used a wool pad. Both similar results. Shine comes when you use a clean terry cloth or cloth pad to really remove all the residue.

I may have come to the conclusion though that the shine just wont stay. This trailer does not stay on the pavement very much. We mainly do dispersed, deep woods, off-road, desert playa, winter weather, etc. type camping. Shine doesn't want to stay past 1-2 trips depending where we go. And we go a lot! The effort vs reward is waning. I'll keep her clean and probably do a once a year buff to get any oxidization stuff off, but other than that, I am going to leave her be.

 

thank you for the feedback.

My above disclaimer stands, but I'm wondering if it isn't the specific aluminum alloy used. I've got other aluminum items, that seem to generally do an exceedingly good job of holding their polish. Nothing last forever, especially without a protective coating, but it just seems I've failed miserably trying to get a good polish on my Camp Inn.

I appreciate the feedback.

 

I am a fan of the Nuvite Nushine products. They are available at Aircraft Spruce and other vendors, NUVITE NUSHINE II METAL POLISH | Aircraft Spruce

I got a dual action polisher at Harbor Freight with a number of foam pads. I used a large piece of flannel material wrapped around the pad and polisher, this stops the pad from rotating which makes swirls, and just gives the circular motion that does the work. The final polish is with a lambs wool bonnet on the polisher. It's a lot of work, but the result is amazing, though once you do it, you are committed to the maintenance to keep it shiny.

I have not tried it on my Camp Inn, but it worked very nicely on my aluminum bodied roadster.
View attachment upload_2021-7-16_8-40-18.jpeg

 

more notes - I probably need to purchase a wool pad. I've polished a lot of metal, but most of my work in the past has been by hand or with smaller equipment. most of the tutorials suggest doing the least aggressive, but only working up to more aggressive methods when lesser methods do not suffice.

I/we do mostly primitive camping ourselves - whether with or without our Camp Inn trailer.

We go camping to get away from everything (and other people), not to be packed in like sardines in pre-defined camp sites.

 

Thank you for the suggestion. If my current list of new items to try do not play out well, I will definitely give that a spin.

Also, love your tow vehicle, I know our tear drops are ultra light, but some of the stuff I see people tow with here scare the **** out of me and I fear for them.

 

It does have a V8, that's all you need, isn't it?