Collinite No 845 Insulator Wax and a Walmart Orbital Buffer

[jjhoneck]

(I did a search on VAF for any mention of this product, and found none. I hope y'all find this PIREP useful!)

We live on an island surrounded by salt water. Keeping our plane beautiful and corrosion free can be a full time job.

A good wax job is critical, and an enormous PIA. We use spray & wipe wax on the leading edges after every flight, but a good, old-fashioned paste wax is still a twice-yearly ordeal that we dreaded...until now.

My good friend the neighborhood hardware store owner is well versed in the care and waxing of boats, not surprisingly. (Mary and I are probably the only people on this island that don't own one.) He recommended using this:



He said it's the best wax on the market. It's certainly not cheap, at almost $20/bottle, but I thought I'd give it a shot.

I managed to wax the upper portion of the plane in about six hours, and got a very nice shine. It goes on easily, and buffs off neatly. Still, I was beat at the end of a day of buffing -- and I knew I had the worst part to come: The BOTTOM of the plane.

As anyone who owns airplanes knows, there are few jobs worse than cleaning/waxing the bottom of a low-wing airplane. It's a nasty business, compounded by hot, sticky weather.

So, I bought this at Walmart, figuring that for $20, even if it only lasted a couple of wax jobs, it was worth it:



This is the cheaper of the two orbital buffers that Walmart handles. I wanted the smaller one, for getting into all the nooks and crannies, and it works well for that.

The buffing pads are elastic, cheap, and washable. I bought five boxes (two in a box), so that I wouldn't have to worry about not having a clean pad.

The end results of using this very special wax, with this handy little tool, are nothing short of spectacular! I have never seen a shine so deep, and so easily achieved. Amelia looks like a show plane!

Here are some pics, taken today. As you can see, it's hard to imagine a deeper shine -- and the buffer makes it almost fun to do!

This is a remarkable view of my reflection, as I lay on the creeper under the plane. I have NEVER seen a shine like this:



Here's another view of Amelia's bottomside. I doubt it's looked this good since she was painted, back in 2003:



This is the forward luggage door, with my ugly mug reflected in it. Have you EVER seen 11 year old paint look this good?



Here's the top of the cowling:



Another view of the bottom, from the tail.



In my 55 years, I have rarely been as pleased as I am with these two products. The wax literally just wipes on, and the buffer does all the polish work! You cannot go wrong, using these products on your plane!

[rleffler]

How much of the collinite did it take to do your RV-8?

It looks fantastic. I may have to try it on my RV-10.

[GalinHdz]

I am a sworn lover of Collinite 845 and have been using it for more than 6 years now. I wax my airplane with it once a year after the conditional inspection and it always looks freshly waxed. For my airplane (KIS4 - Slightly smaller than an RV-10) I only use about 1/4 of a bottle to wax the entire airplane. Goes on super easy and no hard buffing to get an incredibly glossy shine. The best part is that smashed bugs clean off very easy with just a few drops of dishwashing liquid water in a large cup of water.

Although you can find it at Advanced Auto Parts they don't normally carry it so I wind up ordering it from AMAZON.

It really works.

[jjhoneck]

Originally Posted by rleffler

How much of the collinite did it take to do your RV-8?

It looks fantastic. I may have to try it on my RV-10.

I used about half the bottle. However...

I posted this on Pilots of America, and ran into a guy I now call the "Collinite Guru". He is responsible for the care and feeding of several million-dollar yachts, and uses this stuff in every non-fabric surface in the boat.

He told me that I was using WAY too much product. He says to just put a dollop of wax on the rag and rub in a circular motion, leaving as thin a coat as humanly possible. Then buff.

I switched to that technique, and discovered that, sure enough, the results are the same. No sense in wasting this $20/bottle wax!

BTW: I used it on my 13-year old Lexus last night. This poor car is parked outside in the salt air and South Texas sun, and looks new, now.