Since I've now gone way out of my way to make this trailer exactly what I want it to be, it's time I started taking care of it. You really should wash your trailer regularly and wax it twice a year. I...have not done that. In fact, I haven't washed or waxed it once yet...bad. Traditional waxing, washing and clay barring is just a lot of freaking work, and that's time I don't have, so I've slacked.
But then I stumbled upon this:
It's a waterless wash/wax originally intended for airplanes (which are made of painted aluminum just like my horse trailer), and from what I can tell by
the reviews (five stars after 2,000 reviews on Amazon!), it has a niche cult following. It's made to Boeing and Airbus specifications for aircraft safety, and is biodegradable.
I'll cut to the chase: I was freaking blown away by this stuff. Both how easy and fast it was to apply, and how amazing the results were. My trailer looked like I spent hours washing, clay barring and waxing it. If you live in a drought/water restricted area or if you just don't have a ton of time to spend on trailer maintenance like me, this stuff is the holy grail.
Before:
After:
How do you use it?
Step 1: Spray on small area of trailer
Step 2: Wipe off.
That's it! And the trailer looks and feels like it just came out of the show room with that new trailer gleam.
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| Reflecting the indoor and the 3h slant next to it like a mirror! |
It took me an hour and a half to do the outside of my trailer by hand. I would spray it on, use a rag more or less soaked in it to agitate the dirt and black streaks, and then dry it completely with a dry rag. As the dry rag got soaked, I demoted it to damp rag duty. The damp rag was kind of unnecessary, but it worked for me.
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| Left side before, right side after (look at the caulk!) |
Several things to note if you try this:- You have to dry it with a towel before it air dries or else it will leave a cloudy
film (which you fix by re-wetting it with Wash Wax All and re-drying).
- It's safe to use every time you wash your trailer (the wax won't build up).
- If you submit a question about this via Amazon or the company's
website, the owner will reply to you. He's very passionate about his
products and making sure people have a good experience with them.
- If your trailer has a lot of grit on the surface, it's a good idea to rinse it first so that you don't drag particles across it and scratch the paint. I did not do this.
- A
16oz bottle ($9.95) did my 7'6 tall x 12'10 long x 6'4 wide trailer with very little left over
- I did it by hand with towels, but they do make poles and
scrubbers to make it go quicker for large vehicles. I recommend doing your trailer by hand at least the first time though - inspecting it that closely, I discovered some minor maintenance issues I'd have missed if I used a pole, such as failing caulk and nose paint chipped by rocks.
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| Working my way around the nose |
- It's safe to use on "any surface that can get wet" but do a patch test first!
- It's probably not going to work well on a trailer with a busted clear coat or oxidized/chalky fiberglass.
- For tougher dirt, the instructions say to wipe with a damp (water) rag before drying, but I didn't have to do that.
- My black streaks were fairly new so it almost completely took them all off. If your black streaks have become black stains, they recommend using "
Polish All" to take them off.
- You could use this stuff to do like, one section per day if you only had 10 minutes after your ride to do it and couldn't dedicate a couple of hours to doing it all at once.
This isn't an ad and they're not compensating me for this, this is just a freaking awesome and relatively cheap product that I wanted to share with everyone. I've got a couple of other of their products I'll be reviewing too, but this is the main one.
Bottom Line: This is a game changer for trailer maintenance for me. If you don't have time to devote to trailer cleaning, or if you live in a drought-prone area, this is a must have!
What: AeroCosmetics Wash Wax All
Quantity/price: Various, from 4oz for $4.95 to 5 gallons for $139.95. 16oz did my 1H slant once.
Where to buy: Amazon or
direct from the manufacturer
