Silicon free polishes?

Hello folks,
it's annual time and we plan to give our LS1-f a bit of a buff and
polish. A product called NuFinish was recommended, however a quick
Google search finds that it contains silicon and I understand that
this is not a good thing should any future repairs be required. Is
this correct, or is silicon getting a bad rap?

Our club has used a Meguiars marine product called M4516 High Gloss
Polish, I am led to believe that this contains no silicon but have yet
to confirm that.
See
http://www.meguiars.com.au/productde...otec t&show=3

Can anyone speak with authority on this subject? Any other products
that I should know about? The gel coat is in good condition, it was
machine buffed last year and shows little if any oxidisation to my
untrained eye. I imagine a quick polish followed by a wax would be
sufficient, so the Meguiars marine products are looking good:
http://www.meguiars.com.au/product_2...&subcat=Marine
Care&subsubcat=Polish

Thanks, Bernie.

PS: I'm in Australia where car care products like NuFinish and
Meguiars are readily available, but WxBlock is NOT!

On Sep 26, 6:56*pm, Bernie wrote:
Hello folks,
it's annual time and we plan to give our LS1-f a bit of a buff and
polish. A product called NuFinish was recommended, however a quick
Google search finds that it contains silicon and I understand that
this is not a good thing should any future repairs be required. Is
this correct, or is silicon getting a bad rap?

Our club has used a Meguiars marine product called M4516 High Gloss
Polish, I am led to believe that this contains no silicon but have yet
to confirm that.
Seehttp://www.meguiars.com.au/productdetail_2006.php?seq=9&category=SPEC...

Can anyone speak with authority on this subject? Any other products
that I should know about? The gel coat is in good condition, it was
machine buffed last year and shows little if any oxidisation to my
untrained eye. I imagine a quick polish followed by a wax would be
sufficient, so the Meguiars marine products are looking good:http://www.meguiars.com.au/product_2...ECIALTY&subcat...
Care&subsubcat=Polish

Thanks, Bernie.

PS: *I'm in Australia where car care products like NuFinish and
Meguiars are readily available, but WxBlock is NOT!

Williams Soaring has turned a lot of us local pilots onto Mequiars
Deep Crystal System Carnauba Wax. This wax is extremely easy to buff
off, even smells nice. WxBlock in comparison is a lot more work to get
off. The idea is Mequiars Deep Crystal is so little work to buff of
compared to other waxes you are more likely to apply it regularly.
Prior to Mequiars I was using Griot's Garage Best of Show Carnuba Wax,
it is probably the best looking pure Carnuba wax I know of (I've used
it on my Porsche a lot, but switched to Mequiars for that as well) but
is a lot more work to buff off.

As for silicones, modern paints and additives make this less of a
hassle. While I try to avoid silicone products on my glider finish (PU
on my ASH-26E) it is pretty unavoidable and any refinisher is going to
have to assume the existing finish is contaminated with silicone.
Still I avoid polishes that are blatantly full of silicone.

BTW the canopy cleaners like Plexus, Brillianize, Pledge (or Mr. Sheen
to you folks down under) are loaded with silicone and just spraying
that stuff on the canopy is going to leave silicon droplets all over
the glider. Using a rag you wipe that stuff on a canopy with to wipe
the glider finish is going to leave it all over the glider. It is
insidious stuff. But like I said refinishers have little choice but to
assume it is everywhere and do surface prep accordingly. (If you
really want to **** a refinisher off go spray some of that stuff in
their shop near a job being prepared for spraying).

Darryl

Many years ago, we contacted a company called "Mothers" about a
product they advertised as "Pure carnuba wax." When we opened the can,
it was soft, and they confirmed it was loaded with silicone and
polymers, but the wax was indeed 100% carnuba.

We explained our needs and some time later, they contacted us with the
news they were now making a product that fits our needs.

It is indeed 100% pure carnuba wax, with a very small amount of non-
harmful polymer to allow it to be applied by hand or machine.

You can purchase it from our web site for $22.95. www.eglider.org

I am convinced waxing your glider is extremely important to protect
the surface. We do our Duo Discus by hand twice a year.

This product may be sold by your local gliderport, and we urge you to
support your local gliderport whenever possible during these
difficult financial times.

Tom Knauff

For the record, when applied correctly Wx/Block is the easiest of all
products to buff out and remove. The gloss level is not dependent on
applying more "elbow grease" i.e., rubbing harder. Wx/Block contains
no silcone and has the highest level of UV inhibition of any wax
prodcut on the market. Carnuba-based products will create a gloss, but
contain virtually no UV inhibitors.

Bob Lacovara
Wx/Block


Williams Soaring has turned a lot of us local pilots onto Mequiars
Deep Crystal System Carnauba Wax. This wax is extremely easy to buff
off, even smells nice. WxBlock in comparison is a lot more work to get
off.

On Sep 26, 7:32*pm, Darryl Ramm wrote:
On Sep 26, 6:56*pm, Bernie wrote:



Hello folks,
it's annual time and we plan to give our LS1-f a bit of a buff and
polish. A product called NuFinish was recommended, however a quick
Google search finds that it contains silicon and I understand that
this is not a good thing should any future repairs be required. Is
this correct, or is silicon getting a bad rap?

Our club has used a Meguiars marine product called M4516 High Gloss
Polish, I am led to believe that this contains no silicon but have yet
to confirm that.
Seehttp://www.meguiars.com.au/productdetail_2006.php?seq=9&category=SPEC...

Can anyone speak with authority on this subject? Any other products
that I should know about? The gel coat is in good condition, it was
machine buffed last year and shows little if any oxidisation to my
untrained eye. I imagine a quick polish followed by a wax would be
sufficient, so the Meguiars marine products are looking good:http://www..meguiars.com.au/product_...ECIALTY&subcat...
Care&subsubcat=Polish

Thanks, Bernie.

PS: *I'm in Australia where car care products like NuFinish and
Meguiars are readily available, but WxBlock is NOT!

Williams Soaring has turned a lot of us local pilots onto Mequiars
Deep Crystal System Carnauba Wax. This wax is extremely easy to buff
off, even smells nice. WxBlock in comparison is a lot more work to get
off. The idea is Mequiars Deep Crystal is so little work to buff of
compared to other waxes you are more likely to apply it regularly.
Prior to Mequiars I was using Griot's Garage Best of Show Carnuba Wax,
it is probably the best looking pure Carnuba wax I know of (I've used
it on my Porsche a lot, but switched to Mequiars for that as well) but
is a lot more work to buff off.

As for silicones, modern paints and additives make this less of a
hassle. While I try to avoid silicone products on my glider finish (PU
on my ASH-26E) it is pretty unavoidable and any refinisher is going to
have to assume the existing finish is contaminated with silicone.
Still I avoid polishes that are blatantly full of silicone.

BTW the canopy cleaners like Plexus, Brillianize, Pledge (or Mr. Sheen
to you folks down under) are loaded with silicone and just spraying
that stuff on the canopy is going to leave silicon droplets all over
the glider. Using a rag you wipe that stuff on a canopy with to wipe
the glider finish is going to leave it all over the glider. It is
insidious stuff. But like I said refinishers have little choice but to
assume it is everywhere and do surface prep accordingly. (If you
really want to **** a refinisher off go spray some of that stuff in
their shop near a job being prepared for spraying).

Darryl

BTW a clarification Mequiars Deep Crystal System Carnauba Wax does
appear to contain silcione (http://www.householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/
cgi-bin/household/brands?tbl=brands&id=13006001&query=deep
+crystal&searchas=TblBrands). That may help in how relatively easy it
is to buff out (I mean wipe off once dry, no really buffing). Still
lots of people using it and no apparent refinish problems.

Darryl

Starbrite Marine Polish with FTPE is very good. It's designed for gel
coat to be put in water (boat). It was recommended to me by Dave
Nelson after he did some refinishing work. Rub on, wipe off, shiny.
John Cochrane

On Sep 27, 8:39*am, John Cochrane
wrote:
Starbrite Marine Polish with FTPE is very good. It's designed for gel
coat to be put in water (boat). It was recommended to me by Dave
Nelson after he did some refinishing work. Rub on, wipe off, shiny.
John Cochrane

And from the MSDS (http://www.sunworld.net.au/starbrite/msds.html, I
could only find the OZ one) that also seems to contain silicone. Maybe
relaying as much that silicone worry is a non-issue if people who do
glider refinishing are happy to use it themselves as with the Star
Brite or the Mequiars wax. Still you won't see me cleaning bugs off my
glider with Pledge any time soon.

Presumably the Star Brite is really a polish not just a plain wax. But
maybe for use on gelcoat a bit if hand polish is a good thing.

Darryl

Darryl Ramm wrote:

On Sep 27, 8:39*am, John Cochrane
wrote:
Starbrite Marine Polish with FTPE is very good. It's designed for gel
coat to be put in water (boat). It was recommended to me by Dave
Nelson after he did some refinishing work. Rub on, wipe off, shiny.
John Cochrane

And from the MSDS (http://www.sunworld.net.au/starbrite/msds.html, I
could only find the OZ one) that also seems to contain silicone. Maybe
relaying as much that silicone worry is a non-issue if people who do
glider refinishing are happy to use it themselves as with the Star
Brite or the Mequiars wax. Still you won't see me cleaning bugs off my
glider with Pledge any time soon.

Presumably the Star Brite is really a polish not just a plain wax. But
maybe for use on gelcoat a bit if hand polish is a good thing.

Darryl

Maybe it has other brand names, but I use Carlack (or PolyLack because
it has a sailplane on the label). Easy to use and silicone free as far
as I know.

At 20:56 27 September 2009, Gilbert Smith wrote:
Darryl Ramm wrote:

On Sep 27, 8:39*am, John Cochrane
wrote:
Starbrite Marine Polish with FTPE is very good. It's designed for
gel
coat to be put in water (boat). It was recommended to me by Dave
Nelson after he did some refinishing work. Rub on, wipe off, shiny.
John Cochrane

And from the MSDS (http://www.sunworld.net.au/starbrite/msds.html, I
could only find the OZ one) that also seems to contain silicone. Maybe
relaying as much that silicone worry is a non-issue if people who do
glider refinishing are happy to use it themselves as with the Star
Brite or the Mequiars wax. Still you won't see me cleaning bugs off my
glider with Pledge any time soon.

Presumably the Star Brite is really a polish not just a plain wax. But
maybe for use on gelcoat a bit if hand polish is a good thing.

Darryl

Maybe it has other brand names, but I use Carlack (or PolyLack because
it has a sailplane on the label). Easy to use and silicone free as far
as I know.


Carlack cuts a little while Polylack doesn't

descriptions from product search on this site:
http://www.afeonline.com/

(virus msg when trying to use tinyurl)

On Sep 27, 1:56*pm, Gilbert Smith wrote:
[snip]
Maybe it has other brand names, but I use Carlack (or PolyLack because
it has a sailplane on the label). Easy to use and silicone free as far
as I know.

Well Polylack seems to claim no silicon and Carlack does contains
silicone at least that is clearly warned on the AFE Online web site.
So if that is what you are worried about which one of the two you use
seems to be pretty significant. So back to the argument of is really
an issue or not?...

Darryl