What's new
Van's Air Force

The definitive Van's Aircraft support community! Buying, building or flying an RV? Join our exclusive family of mentors and enthusiasts!

Advice needed on Removing Rubbing Compound from the Center of the Pulled Rivets and how best to “Wax” an RV-12

B

Brett H

Well Known Member
Patron
This past July my RV-12 was painted with Sherwin Williams Sunfire PRO Urethane and coated with Sherwin Williams Sunfire PRO Urethane Clear Coat.

There are two things that I am looking for advice on:

First, any suggestions on how to remove the white dust that has collected in the center of the pulled rivets from the wet sanding the clear coat with rubbing compound? This is most noticeable in the areas that are colored rather than the white areas. Also, the rivets facing upward are more challenging to clean than the ones that are horizontally orientated.

Second, what is the best way to “wax” an RV-12 considering all of the protruding pulled rivets? What type of coating, wax, ceramic or something else? Which product? Application effort and how long does it last?

Many thanks.

Brett

Columbus Indiana, N4BH
 
Brett H said:
What type of coating, wax, ceramic or something else? Which product? Application effort and how long does it last?
Click to expand...
Hi Brett. I like the Rejex product (always notice a 4kt - 5kt speed increase right after application spring and fall) but it requires a lot of effort. Picked up some Koenig Polish at Sun n Fun last year and love it despite not seeing the same increase in airspeed. Much easier to apply so I do it more often (at least on the leading edges).
 
jrtens said:
I use this a couple times a year. Vans was using it on their bird when I bought mine.

Click to expand...
Beware of products containing carnauba. Carnauba wax can build up a static charge when subject to high airspeeds, and worse when combined with precipitation. This then can affect avionic performance, especially VHF com and nav. Try to stay with an ani-static wax on airframes. Like Wash Wax All from Aerocosmetics (which is the same price as Griot's). Although in the case of the RV-12 the airspeeds aren't the highest nor is it common to fly in actual IMC so perhaps static charge isn't a big thing. Plus who am I to argue when the factory was using Griot's?
 
I've used distilled water and a microfiber towel to clean off compound. Nothing special about distilled water other than it won't spot, and we have really hard water where I live. As far as a wax, I've had good luck with Turtle Wax ceramic coating. It's a spray on and wipe off product with no dusting or residue left behind. All of the big automobile cleaning products have their own version of this (Griot's, Mother's, Meguire's, etc.) They also have touch up spray/cleaners when you just want to wipe the bugs off the leading edges. The ceramic coating makes it very slippery. Not sure about the speed increase, but it sure does fly better when it's all clean. That's a proven fact...
 
jliltd said:
Beware of products containing carnauba. Carnauba wax can build up a static charge when subject to high airspeeds, and worse when combined with precipitation. This then can affect avionic performance, especially VHF com and nav. Try to stay with an ani-static wax on airframes.
Click to expand...
I'm a little skeptical of the carnauba/static relationship, but regardless, carnauba would be a terrible choice as an airplane wax. Great gloss, terrible longevity/persistence, and very expensive.
 
Last edited:
wirejock said:
When I was into show cars, everyone used Zaino. Some sort of polymer.
Really easy to apply and remove.
Zaino
Click to expand...
Zaino is/was great stuff. The depth of shine isn't as good as carnauba, but it's a a lot cheaper and lasts far longer. The show car guys used to use carnauba over Zaino. This is very effective (appearance-wise) on darker paints.

On my airplane, I'm much more concerned about paint protection and bug release rather than gloss or depth. I think carnauba would be a waste of money. Any of the cheaper big-box polymer or silicone polishes are good enough for me. These days, I use Rejex, mainly for better bug release.
 
Brett H said:
This past July my RV-12 was painted with Sherwin Williams Sunfire PRO Urethane and coated with Sherwin Williams Sunfire PRO Urethane Clear Coat.

There are two things that I am looking for advice on:

First, any suggestions on how to remove the white dust that has collected in the center of the pulled rivets from the wet sanding the clear coat with rubbing compound? This is most noticeable in the areas that are colored rather than the white areas. Also, the rivets facing upward are more challenging to clean than the ones that are horizontally orientated.

A tooth brush works good to get dust or dried wax out of those small nooks and crannies the buffing towel misses..
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the responses.

My challenge was removing the white residue from the paint shop wet sanding the clear coat. The white residue was in the center of all of the pulled rivets and around the perimeter of some of the pulled rivets.

With the paint scheme being white with blue and red stripes on top of the white base coat, the white residue was most noticeable where the rivets were located in the colored stripes.

The approach that I found worked the best for cleaning the white residue in the center of the pulled rivets was using micro swabs. The micro swabs are typically used for makeup, have a 2 mm diameter end and can be purchased in bulk from Amazon.

The micro swabs were effective at removing the white residue. But, it appears that not all of the rivets had good paint coverage in the depression in the center of the pulled rivets and that this is why it wasn’t possible to fully get the stripe color to fully appear in the center of these rivets. It makes me wonder if filling in the center of the rivets prior to painting would have been a better choice.

Finally, being able to wash the airplane with a product similar to Aero Cosmetics Wash Wax All improves the washing process as compared to the bucket and hose method. The advantages are being able to do it in the hangar, doesn’t cause water to drain out of the airplane and doesn’t leave hard water spots. Also, it works well touching up areas.

Brett H
Columbus, IN N4BH
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top