Re: [VAC] Trailer nose polish

[Roy Lashway <rlashway@xxxxxxxxxx>]

My guess is you have a deteriorating  "clearcoat" finish . This is a 
material originally  sprayed on raw aluminum to protect it.   It is 
common for your vintage trailer for  this finish to have dried and lost 
its flexibility which leads to  cracking and coming off. 
Generlly looks like your  trailer has skin cancer or something.  This is 
most common on the top portion of trailers.  Generally you cannot do much 
without first removing the existing clear coat which can be done with 
paint remover or sometimes with lacquer thinnger or lacquer stripper.  
After you get it cleaned up you can get some cans of clearcoat thru your 
nearest Airstream Dealer and spray it on.  If you cannot find the 
clearcoat then protect the aluminum from oxidation  with a good grade of 
auto polish. It is doubtful you can match up your front panels to match 
the rest but you can make it look much better.  On a more discouraging 
note you might have some corrosion of the aluminum due to the elements, 
salt air can be particularly bad,  but I would first look at the clear 
coat problem.  Hopefully others can speak to this that have actually done 
this.  I am repeating what I have read from others over the past couple 
years.

Roy Lashway