Car Trailer Maintanence

Tito Tw

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Hello Guys,

I often get a lot of questions about the proper maintenance for car trailers, if you are like some of us keeping our car trailers is a Must!:omg: However is much easier to said it that to actually do it, car trailers are a big pain especially if they are neglected for a very long time, those black streaks are a nightmare and with that said I’d like to take the opportunity to mention a few ways to keep your enclosed car trailers looking sharp.:2tu:

The main problem seems to be around 4 to 6 inches from the top and between the rivets, we have seen up to 6 solid months of streak free when you maintain it regularly. I've been told that I should spray a coat of clear coat via spray can but I have concerns about the panels flexing and eventually the clear coat will get damage and it will look even worst.

To accomplish your "New" look will require a little bit of work;

AS always Patience and Time, and believe me you will need it with car trailers since they are so big, it’s very easy to get discouraged,for that just think of one panel at the time, nothing else.:(

1. First you will have to wash the trailer (pressure washer will speed the process up) but extreme care should be taken because you can easily damage the surface.

2. After the "Pre Wash" with the pressure washer or water hose, you want to wash the trailer with a good car shampoo; as long as it’s PH7 you will be safe, usually I use a 5 gallon bucket and a soft brush with an EXTENDED retractable handle! You will be glad you have that!

3. Depending on the surface condition you will need some sort of Cleanser; (also referred to as a Pre Wax) or (Pre Cleaner) a product like such is just as the name implies, to get the surface ready for wax to be applied. Tar spots, some tree saps, and various other surface contaminates are usually not taken off by a product that is termed wax only. Your better pre-cleaners have a small amount of abrasive in them, and a lot of the wax/cleaners on the market have a very high content of solvents in them. The wax/cleaners with high solvent content in them need to be avoided.

4. If you have some imperfections like swirl marks or light scratches then a swirl remover will do the trick and you can skip the pre wax, "IF" the swirl remover has similar qualities as your pre wax cleanser. If you have small scratches you can also use a scratch remover product. The porter cable with an orange foam pad will do the trick most of the times.

5. You can certainly apply the wax by hand and remove with a Porter Cable and a foam pad. Special care must be taken when operating the Porter Cable, if your trailer is like ours, that the panels are riveted together, you want to avoid going over the rivets with the foam pad, they will destroy the foam pad immediately.

Plan on spending around 16-20 man hours, it is a very long process to get them back into top shape.:dunno::cool:

Tools and products of your choice that you will need:

1. Water hose/pressure washer
2. Shampoo
3. Drying microfiber towels or a shammy
4. Porter Cable XP or similar
5. Foam pads-Orange-Yellow and Black with the backing plate
6. Pre Wax Cleanser or Pre Cleaner
7. Swirl Remover (or a Scratch remover)
8. Wax of your choice (I prefer liquid over paste)
9. Microfiber towels (LOTS of them!)

*If" you want to go all out
1. Spray Wax or Detailer for the interior panels
2. Wheel and tire cleaner
3. Tire dressing
4. Chrome polishing

As found :rolleyes::rolleyes:

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Done- It took 20 man hours to get it to this level

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Now if you have a Black trailer (I feel sorry for you):lmao::crazy2:


This is a sample of a "Black Surface”, fully contaminated with tons of over spray, the process was similar to the one I'm suggesting

As found

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Sample area done

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and the rest of the car that I skipped :rolaugh::D

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I hope those tips are useful for all of you that have car trailers, if you have any tips PLEASE share them! :drive:
 

chiefchad

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Unless you have sealed bearings in the wheel hubs - everyone should keep the dustcovers on tight and grease the fittings every thousand miles or so. This seems to be the oft overlooked factor regarding trailers on the side of the road with a failed or loose wheel bearing. Choose your grease wisely. Not all grease cartridges are the same. Use a Constant Velocity High Viscocity rating, as the wheels spin at a high rpm constantly - do NOT use the regular extreme pressure machine joint grease most likely in your grease gun.
 

Viperless

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Check those brakes too! Check the wiring. Get rid of those factory installed pinch lock connectors and butt slices and solder everything! Test your breakaway system.
 

thompsonracing

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Good writup!

Trailers require a ton of upkeep. We use the Gilmour Foamgun to soak our truck and trailer, then the normal wash. We put wash pads on poles to reach the high spots. We use 2 Porter Cable 7424s to apply Adam's Fine Machine Polish, followed with Adam's Machine Super Wax. We have two people about 10 hours just washing our rig. Another 14 hours x 2people Polishing.

Wheels get nasty and require even more attention. We use the Mother's Powerball with the Adam's Metal Polish to really brighten up the wheels. We protect them with the Brilliant Spray Glaze.

Our rig is black paint, no gelcoat, so we store the rig inside. One thing to pay attention to is sunlight will destroy a trailer. If you can, store your trailer inside, or in the shade. Tree sap will be your next enemy, stay away from dirty trees.

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Tito Tw

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Some Great tips so far!

Mr.Thompson, First, Thank you for the kind words:)Secondly, that picture of that rig is just GORGEOUS, I'm a sucker for big trucks and big engines, it's something about them that makes me weak :rolaugh: I can spend hours just looking at them:drive: about two years ago I was part of the development of a Drag Racing school and we had a rig similar to that one, the total length was 85ft, Freighliner truck, automatic transmission, air ride you name it we had it, driving that thing was simple unreal (unless you had to make a U turn :D).

What we ended up doing (maybe it will apply to you)we had both sides professionally wrapped with high tech Vinyl, not only is it a GREAT tool to advertise your business, it was a breeze to keep it clean. Never mind that the expense is tax deductible:2tu: What a job was to keep her clean :crazy2::crazy2::crazy2:

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Trucks PERIOD hold a special place in my heart I just love them and as you mentioned it's a full time job to keep them nice, I do one maybe two a year to get my fix BUT I like the old type, this one it took 45 days to get it to this level, but we ended up winning the truck show with it.

Few pictures of the "Old School"

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My apologies..............I think I got carried away:omg::drive::omg:
 
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thompsonracing

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Nice rigs! You can spend countless time trickin em out!

We run a private outfit so we keep our rig unadvertised, not for hire. In most states we can run right past the weigh stations and don't run a logbook. We have our CDLs, but would prefer to keep it unadvertised.

The flames on the front are vinyl (for now) and we vinyl our racecar when it's in R&D mode. We just like the black paint!

The water at our shop is aweful! It is not even potable. Suprisingly, our shop is in a very wealthy township. One tool that has completely changed the condition of our paint is a CR Spotless water treatment system. Cheapest we found it was at Costco. It works wonders on our rig.

On a side note, we run into the Pickett Bros at all our races as they crew for another car; GoForths. Super nice guys and they know their stuff when it comes to big rigs. They had a TV show not too long ago. Check em out: Custom Trucks
 

BCBowers

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Eh... if my race car doesn't get detailed I'm sure as heck not detailing my trailer! Nice work though.

I check my bearings/breaks annualy though.
 
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Tito Tw

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Eh... if my race car doesn't get detailed, I'm sure as heck not detailing my trailer! Nice work though.

I wish I could be like that too :rolaugh:BUT I would feel guilty everyday :rolaugh: don't you?:D :D


Very good point on keeping the truck low profile! I remember seen that show!

For any of you that have similar problems with the water like Thompson, heres another alternative

Garden Hose Filters – Pure Water Products, LLC
 

BCBowers

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No... I have no guilt about my racecar being dirty... I have a vert I keep in the garage that gets buffed when I'm feeling waxerish.
 

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