Re: [SilverStreak] POLISHING

["Tom Patterson" <tomp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

You can get the anodized finish off of your trailer, but it is a huge job.
I have seen the results where the anodized finish was taken off of a 19'
Streamline.  It was sanded off.  Polish will not take the finish off.  It
was done by Robert Madrigal in Whittier, California, who hired some
immigrant labor, I think, to do at least some of the rough work.  He had
done some of it himself, using acid along with the sandpaper, and his hands
showed the results.  The grit he used was a little coarse, and I forget just
what grit he should have used.  I can find out however, and let you know.  I
also have some pictures somewhere of his unit and will dig them out.  When I
find them I can put them up on the site.

The last I heard, he was going to have the unit polished next, so as to
remove the sanding marks.  I don't know if he did so or not, but can find
this out also, and probably have him arrange to send me some current
pictures if this was done.  Robert is not on the internet.

Several years ago, I ran across a shiny Silver Streak, and thought that it
had been manufactured that way, but Bob Ashby tells me that it had to have
been originally anodized.  I have pictures of that unit somewhere too, and
will look for them.

As you say, once the anodized finish is removed, the aluminum must be
periodically polished so as to remove the oxidization.  I do this more or
less yearly on my 22' Streamline, using a product called Zephyr Pro 40 which
is available in Houston from Rush Peterbilt on 610 near the Budweiser
brewery.  I have done this by hand in the past, but intend to try a polisher
next time.  I don't think the Houston climate is any different than other
climates in its effects, as what happens is that the aluminum oxidizes and
the resulting oxidization is very tight, so that the process can only occur
on the surface, and the metal does not oxidize all the way through the was
that iron rusts.

-Tom