Posted 2019-01-05 8:35 PM Subject: May have ruined my trailer by acid washing :(
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 516
Inexperienced acid washer here; thought I did my research well enough and diluted the muriatic acid but number one: the acid wash didn't do anything, the trailer looks the same and number two: on the side that was facing the sun, the water must have evaporated and left pit marks where the acid dripped down and ate it away
Lesson learned, leave it to the professionals. The trailer is 20 years old and my guess is rarely been polished or acid washed. What do I do to remedy this?? I tried some polishers and while it worked on the corrugated aluminum on the bottom, it didn't work very well on the top paneled portion (unpainted aluminum). I got some very, very fine steel wool to polish the top portion (that's now pitted thanks to me) which worked pretty well with the polisher but oh my goodness it's a lot of work and this trailer is 35 feet long
Any suggestions? Do I keep chipping away at it with my steel wool? Bring it somewhere? Being it's 20 years old I don't really feel like spending more than a few hundred dollars on making it look better.
Posted 2019-01-05 8:41 PM Subject: RE: May have ruined my trailer by acid washing :(
Hugs to You
Posts: 7550 Location: In The Land of Cotton
Do
You have a Blue Beacon or truck wash close? They can fix it. It has streaks because it wasn’t rinsed soon enough. It’s hard to do with just one person. Usually my husband sprays and I use the pressure washer and rinse.
Posted 2019-01-05 8:46 PM Subject: RE: May have ruined my trailer by acid washing :(
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 516
3canstorun - 2019-01-05 8:41 PM
Do
You have a Blue Beacon or truck wash close? They can fix it. It has streaks because it wasn’t rinsed soon enough. It’s hard to do with just one person. Usually my husband sprays and I use the pressure washer and rinse.
Yes there's one about two miles down the road! I just wasn't sure why it didn't work at all on the one side (was worried it's too old or I ruined it so that they can't wash it) and then the side with the sun it worked too much. Maybe I'll just try the truck stop. Can't make it any worse than it looks now lol
Posted 2019-01-05 8:54 PM Subject: RE: May have ruined my trailer by acid washing :(
Elite Veteran
Posts: 705 Location: Weatherford, TX
Okay...at first...I just looked at the pictures not the post (formed my opinion) and then showed just the pictures again to my husband. He said the same thing I thought.
(1) Older 4Star that was at least 15 years old and dirty; (2) Take it to someone/some company that knows what they are doing.
We both think it can be corrected by a professional. We have had 2 big aluminum trailers acid washed and never had them look like that. On pure alumiminum, it can be dulled over repeated washings, but not that.
I think you are right in your thinking, but I think a professional can fix it.
ETA...After seeing the other posts and I didn't mention...we always have used Blue Beacon.
May have ruined my trailer by acid washing :(
