Wax, Teflon, Wx?

Getting ready for the winter plane projects. The question
comes up every year...what to smear over the gel coat.
Is there any credible comparison of wax vs PTFE vs
Wx?
I don't want to hear about avoiding silicones because
that seems to be a non-issue since refinishers don't
have much of a problem doing repairs and repainting.

Guy

Best place to check is Consumer Reports. They rate waxes now and again, for
protection, shine and ease of use. From a decade ago, Nu-Finish came in
number 1, but in more recent reviews it was beaten by others. I still use it
though, because it's easy to find (orange bottle), readily available
(Wal-Mart etc), goes on nicely, and seems to work well.

All I want for Christmas is to go flying today.

bumper

"Guy Acheson" wrote in message
...
Getting ready for the winter plane projects. The question
comes up every year...what to smear over the gel coat.
Is there any credible comparison of wax vs PTFE vs
Wx?
I don't want to hear about avoiding silicones because
that seems to be a non-issue since refinishers don't
have much of a problem doing repairs and repainting.

Guy

Many years ago, I used to wax my Ercoupe wings. For about 1/2 hour, I would
pick up about 5 mph. It was quite easy to tell the wax was working - or it
may have been simply cleaning the bugs off.

The internet should have good stuff on car wax. Meguiar's might be a good
website.

Colin

Guy Acheson wrote:
Getting ready for the winter plane projects. The question
comes up every year...what to smear over the gel coat.
Is there any credible comparison of wax vs PTFE vs
Wx?
I don't want to hear about avoiding silicones because
that seems to be a non-issue since refinishers don't
have much of a problem doing repairs and repainting.

Guy

Guy;

Here it is, look no further
http://www.buyastroshield.com/?gclid...FSMkWAodSG5tUA

Scott

Scott-

The Astroshield website on the link states that the product works best
on non-porous surfaces. To my knowledge, Gel-coat is somewhat porous,
and definitely so where there are cracks. I assume you have been using
it for a while. Any signs of your wings falling off? ;-)

Mark

Guy Acheson wrote:
The question
comes up every year...what to smear over the gel coat.
Is there any credible comparison of wax vs PTFE vs
Wx?

Guy, It depends entirely on what you are trying to do.The main reason
most of us wax our ships is for the UV protection. You can also dress
up an older or neglected finish by polishing it out first.Dupont makes
several good compounds for this and the type you need will depend on
how much oxidation you have.Try to avoid a buffer over 1800 RPM unless
you really know what you are doing because you can build up enough heat
to cause problems with the finish and the glass plies underneath.
Once you are done with this step, you will want to seal your freshly
polished finish by using a wax with the HIGHEST carnuba content you can
find.Several brands sell stuff that is 100% carnuba.It may not be the
easiest to use but it works best for UV protection.Avoid the stuff in
consumer reports because they have different considerations and use
different guidelines than those of sailplane owners.

Guy

Good Luck,
K Urban

wrote:
Scott-

The Astroshield website on the link states that the product works best
on non-porous surfaces. To my knowledge, Gel-coat is somewhat porous,
and definitely so where there are cracks. I assume you have been using
it for a while. Any signs of your wings falling off? ;-)

Mark

Mark;

Wings are holding...

I had a rocker panel painted on a car waxed with astro shield. The
paint shop did not do the prep well and and the paint came off in a
perfect mold of the rocker panel...

My gel has been sanded and compounded - pretty smooth these days. The
down side is that the wings are hard to hold on to to rig :-)

Scott

KM wrote:

Once you are done with this step, you will want to seal your freshly
polished finish by using a wax with the HIGHEST carnuba content you can
find.Several brands sell stuff that is 100% carnuba.It may not be the
easiest to use but it works best for UV protection.

Is there any documentation for carnuba's UV and moisture protection on
gel coat?

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly
* "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org

"Eric Greenwell" wrote in message
news:sWkkh.7731$6Z5.1910@trndny01...
KM wrote:

Once you are done with this step, you will want to seal your freshly
polished finish by using a wax with the HIGHEST carnuba content you can
find.Several brands sell stuff that is 100% carnuba.It may not be the
easiest to use but it works best for UV protection.

Is there any documentation for carnuba's UV and moisture protection on gel
coat?

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly
* "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org


Might be biased ( ;-) ) , but check the WxBlock website----I thinhk
they published a comparison betw WxBlock and Carnuba a few years ago. Wx
Block did much better.
Many of the newer products have UV blockers added in.

Hartley Falbaum

HL Falbaum wrote:
"Eric Greenwell" wrote in message
news:sWkkh.7731$6Z5.1910@trndny01...
KM wrote:

Is there any documentation for carnuba's UV and moisture protection on gel
coat?

There could be but I dont know for sure Eric.I probably should not have
posted that Carnuba works best for UV.I should have posted that Carnuba
works very well.Another thing that I should have posted is that the
natural ingredients in Carnuba work to moisturize your finish much in
the same way that lotion moisturizes your skin.This aids tremendously
in the longevity of your finsh.
Ultimatly, any care is better that nothing so some people will use
these easy to apply or "one step" products like those used on cars.Alot
of these will have some pretty harsh chemicals that will not be good
for your finsh over the course of time.You will want to avoid anything
with petrolium distilates in it (Which includes most of your car care
stuff).Have you ever wondered why a profesional detailer will wax a car
using a 3 step process?I would be very leary of any product that claims
to be able to seal and protect your finish in one easy step (Like
Nufinish).

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA

Might be biased ( ;-) ) , but check the WxBlock website----I thinhk
they published a comparison betw WxBlock and Carnuba a few years ago. Wx
Block did much better.
Many of the newer products have UV blockers added in.

Hartley, something to consider here is that these companies will
sponsor several "Scientific Tests" but they only publish the one
(Usually out of several) that casts their product in a favorable light.

Hartley Falbaum

Happy Holidays
K Urban