Red Maxx Report

[honda03842]

About two years ago I gave my Scamp 4 coats of Red Maxx. Since than we have traveled to Prince Edward Island,, made an 11 month loop of the USA and spent winter in FL. To all casual observers my trailer glows and looks bright white. This is not the case.

My trailer does glow and shines brilliantly but there are two things I noticed after washing the trailer yesterday.

First on wear surfaces, top leading edges and the roof (exposed to more sun?) have small and large areas that look whiter than surrounding areas. These are areas where the Red Maxx has worn off or been removed by sunlight.

Second, the difference in color means that Red Maxx is not a clear coat but may dull with age. The dulling is really not noticeable unless you're looking at a coated versus a non-coated surface. Everyone who looks at our Scamp things nothing but white.

Again to most people our Scamp glows. At least one motorhome owner and one fifth wheel owner saw our rig this winter and did their rigs.

I will say all side surfaces, even the front of the trailer do not exhibit any areas where the Red Maxx has come off.

I am applying another coat or two to the areas where the Red Maxx has come off. My goal is to see if it quickly ages to the non white of adjacent areas.

When we return from NFld I plan to strip the trailer, reclen it and apply Zep Wet Look since Red Maxx is no longer available.

[Bobbie Mayer]

Polyglo says to apply 1-2 new coats each year for maintenance. I wonder if you should do this with Red Max/Zep, too? (My polyglo wore off after several years of NOT doing this, and I redid it last year since I still had plenty left.)

[cpaharley2008]

Norm,
You need to do a better job keeping people off your roof to prevent the floor polish from scraping off!!

[honda03842]

I think it has to be related to sunlight since no other surface seems effected.

We did go thru a number of sandstorms this year. I ruled them out because it's primarily top surfaces that has worn.

I recoated the roof. Once again the glow is back but there's still a color difference but smaller. This may be a function of number of coats.

In retrospect when you are coating the surface for the first time, any drip looks a little gray. If a thick region looks gray, thinner regions must also look grey, but less so.

Considering the trailer looked 'praise great' for two years I believe its a good solution.

[Kevin A]

We use Red Max Pro on our UHaul VT and have done so for about 4 years. I give it a good wash each spring and add two more coats of Red Max. This seems to keep it looking nice. The VT is also kind of a beige color to start with, so any aging of the Red Max isn't noticed. It works for us!

[rabbit]

I am preparing to recoat Burro at two months short of two yrs. since first application. No observable change in appearance on vertical surfaces BUT central roof forward of A/C and smaller area on the driver's side outboard of the central raised Pullman section has lost the shiny coating in a splotchy pattern composed of roughly circular spots of 3/4 to 1" diameter surrounded by continuous shiny finish. I scrubbed these areas with both BK and with medium cut (red) ScotchBrite. The shiny areas that retain wax do not scale at the edges or enlarge by the application of abrasion. In addition, edges of the dull spots can be detected with a fingernail.

I suspect silicone contamination from the sausage-sized dam of silicone with which the PO or another party surrounded the A/C shroud and which I removed as prep for the first RedMax application in 2011. I removed the silicone by scraping with a scrap of plastic laminate, abrasive removal with ScotchBrite, and Bestine as a solvent. I also removed silicone from a 14" vent when replacing with fan and a huge mess of same around the range hood vent on the vertical side and neither of the adjacent areas are affected. Perhaps some contaminant other than silicone weakened adhesion in the affected areas? There is absolutely no sign of progressive scaling around the spots; the surrounding wax is extremely tenacious and concentrated abrasion does not enlarge the spots.

Looks to me that the RedMax is dealing very well with sun, rain, freeze and thaw. I speculate that a very thin layer of silicone residue/other barrier has prevented simple mechanical adhesion of the wax to gelcoat. What I see doesn't appear to be the result of "weathering." I'm waiting for a warmup before recoating. In for a penny . . . .

jack

[David B.]

Jack, do you think there is a possibility of flexing from the weight of the air conditioner that may have caused the RMP to come loose? I don't know how flexible the floor finish is. The only place our RMP has come loose in 2 years was on the plastic drain covers on the window frames.
Dave & Paula

[honda03842]

Dave, As a data point, we have no roof AC.

Our rig has never been stored indoors, been in the weather since we bought it and your's is stored indoors..

[rabbit]

I don't think flex is at the root of what I see, Dave. A/C opening is reinforced with 3/8" plywood between inner and outer hull. This combined with Pullman roof and the additional strength of the bonding of inner and outer hulls produces a very stiff roof on the centerline. Outbd. of the raised Pullman section, I've been able to flex the roof with a lot of weight on one knee but that's not where the major patch of lost finish is located. The big patch is located forward of the A/C but not immediately contiguous and no loss whatsoever on either side of the air conditioner. It is true that the rash does not coincide with areas where the use silicone caulk was obvious to me.

Lot of variables including whether or not garaged or otherwise covered out of the weather. Time and the experience of users will tell.

jack

[honda03842]

It glows anew.

Lest year we carried a small water bottle filled with Re Maxx. After washing I reapplied 3 coats to the roof where it had worn and a single coat to the area above the belly band. It looks great once again after 1-2 hours of work.

[Mike Magee]

Would you characterize the coating's color change as "yellowing"?

[honda03842]

No it doesn't seem to be a yellowing. I believe the liquid is not perfectly clear like water.

If you create a drip, the hardened drip in minutes has a slightly grey look. To me this indicates the color of the material. The thicker the drip the more gray.

However to the my untrained eye with no pure white for reference my Scamp looks bright, white.

One reason the trailer looks so white after red maxxing is that it goes on very thin. To give the top half of our Scamp 2 coats, took less than a 1/2 small water bottle of red max.

[rabbit]

I don't see a change in color.

jack

[EddyEd]

Just cleaned my 72 Cloud with Bar Keepers friend spray on cleaner and then applied around 5 to 6 coats of Zep floor wax. I'm pretty happy with the results and I don't think my camper has been this shiny in 30 years. I attempted some before and after pictures ill try and attach to this post.

[CindyL]

Wow!!!


CindyL

[KevinPete]

Headed to the store this week to get BKF and Zep. Does anyone put a coat of wax over the Zep? Or do the solvents in the wax soften or dissolve the Zep?

[cpaharley2008]

Looks real nice....

[rabbit]

Kevin, I've been very satisfied with the ability of RMPro to shed dirt over the two years I've used it. Never occurred to me that I should add work by over-waxing as long as an occasional car wash kept the trailer looking good.

jack

[honda03842]

Red Max doesn't stick to wac and probably the other way around

[mmeyer]

Originally Posted by honda03842

Red Max doesn't stick to wac and probably the other way around

Actually spray on wax works well on red max to finish off with that " killer shine".