dull paint work

[christopher_5074147]

i have just polished my van ,and it has come up great,but the frount i am afraid to polish,it is plastic?,but the paint has gone dull form no care![prior owner],i would love to be able to bring it back up to a nice finish,any ideas,o yeah shes a 94 eldiss typhoon xl

 

[Guest]

Try a small area out of the way with T-cut or similiar. T cut can works on enamel and plastic baths, polyeurethane varnishes, GRP gel coat etc.

 

[rob_jax]

Hi,

The front panel could be made from GRP (glass reinforced plastic - fibreglass) or an acrylic capped ABS plastic - given the age of your caravan it's likely to be GRP

Both of these materials will go "chalky" over long term exposure to sunlight - eventually the plastic degrades, first becoming matt, then more obviously chalky over many more years.

If it is GRP, then the top 1 mm or more is a self coloured resin coat (without the glass reinforcement) and is not painted.

Not a problem, you can fix GRP as a DIY job:

1. If it's not too matt, then do as already suggested and try a session with T-Cut. Try this first.

2. If T-Cut won't cut it, then you can try a very fine grade wet and dry paper (something with a grit number of 1000 or more) - don't worry - this very fine abrasive paper is used to remove scratches from acrylic windows.

Used with lots of water this will rapidly cut the matt surface, then use T-Cut to remove any faint marks, then wax.

3. If the surface is really very chalky - flakes come off when you rub with a thumbnail - then a more aggressive wet and dry paper (400 grit) to remove the chalky layer, then a rub over with 600 grit to remove the scratch marks from the 400 paper, then 1000 grit to remove the marks from the 600 paper.

Then either T-cut, or probably paint the panel with International Yacht paint "TopLac" - this is a GRP compatible paint. After only 10 years this is very, very unlikely.

Once it's back to a new condition, protect the GRP with a good quality wax.

Robert