Musings about Mothering the Cladding

Well, I do believe I’ve been properly & officially hazed, and am finally a full-fledged member of the club now. :razzgray:

In all my years of vehicle ownership, I have NEVER undertaken a body-maintenance/upkeep project that was so labor intensive -- I’m beat!

After (I don’t know how many) hours, Kathy asked me if I was ever going to finish making-out with the VX. -- I was beginning to wonder myself.



Mother’s Back-to-Black should come with a warning label… something along the lines of:

CAUTION: Use of this product by individuals with obsessive-compulsive tendencies has been known to cause a rift in the space time continuum. – If you experience a profound sensation of time loss, you should seek professional help immediately (* unless you own an Isuzu VehiCROSS, in which case this phenomenon is perfectly normal -- Use at your own risk).


I’ll tell ya one thing though – I can’t wait for the former owner to see it now…
He’ll probably experience a major case of seller’s remorse, `cause it looks ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! :bwgy:

All you Mothers people! Simple and easy is the way of the cladding with Meguiars Endurance Gold.

As usual Joe is right again-

Simplicity at its finest. Beats everything I've tried and gives your cladding that grape smell that any self respecting body shop would kill for.
________
GM FOODS

Yep, you guys are right about the Meguiar's. I've been using it for about four years now. I've seen too many posts about the Back-to-black taking hours to get it right. Sometimes it takes a whole bottle or more! A bottle of Meguiar's lasts me at least a year. I do a first class job and it takes me no more than 25 minutes. That includes going over it quick with a dry paper towel to smooth out any wet or dry spots. The name as it appears on the bottle is Meguiar's Gold Class Endurance High Gloss Long Lasting Tire Gel, aka 'grape juice'. I put in on with a dry rag. A little goes a long way. As long as I don't drive in the rain, it cleans up real nice and quick with damp paper towels. I love that stuff!

Meguiars exterior trim detailer has worked very well for me, although it is a lil difficult to find it in stores. Only place I can get it locally is O'Reileys automotive. Excellent product though

Sorry bout the double post, but i thought it was this thread I was posting the first time when actually it was a dif one.

Meguires sells the trim detailer on their website. The only place to get it these days. Like 2.50 a bottle, does all the cladding maybe 4or5 times per. Best I've found but still a pain in the ***.

So what Im hearing is that the "Meguiar's Gold Class Endurance High Gloss Long Lasting Tire Gel" should be used on the cladding, even though its tire gel?

Just making sure, dont want to mess anything up.

yup Creeg...tire stuff on cladding. Trust us ("we're your tax dollars at work".."we're from the government and we're here to help you"..etc).
________
Health Shop

Zainos tire gel is also excellent on cladding - and it goes on easily without second or third passes.

Anita, is the Zaino product similar to the Meguiars? I've been thinking off giving the stuff a spin as johnnyapollo uses it and has about the best looking VX I've ever seen. At least when he's not slacking. :p

When I ran a restoration shop we did a lot of detailing for our customers as well as for some local dealerships so I'm extremely picky about what kind of products I use. Ever since then it's been mostly commercial 3M stuff, with the Meguiars for cladding/tires and Lexol leather products for seats.

http://www.zainostore.com/Merchant2/...ory_Code=Zaino

Im not sure about the comparison with Meguiars since I havent tried it. I have used Mother back to black, turtlewax something-thousand, and a zymol product. Zainos goes on better than any product I have used (one swipe and its even throughout). I still havent found a product that doesnt streak when rained on, but it seems to streak the least of the products I have used. It doesnt attract dirt and dust and leaves a nice semi-gloss.

I just bought a new product I found at my local (not a big chain) parts store called Wizards black renew. They claim it will remove wax residue too. Initial tests (just a bit applied w/ my finger) look good, we'll see how it does when it gets warm enough to do the whole car.
Anyone here have any experience w/ this brand?
After I get it applied & it's been rained on a couple times, I'll post results

Ldub.

All this endless labor and product searches are in the past for me,Best thing i ever had done to my VX was rhino spraying the cladding. Now all i do is wash the VX and speed dry! Cladding looks brand new and better than it was from the factory to begin with!.It also brings out the white of the body cuz the rhino is actually black "not grayish black" It cost around $500.00 ,i know pretty high however,If i had to do it over i would pay 3 times that much knowing the results i have gotten.

Did they spray it on the truck or did the cladding have to be removed? i have a great source for a liner dealer but not sure of the outcome can you post pics?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Joe_Black

All you Mothers people!

---

Hey Joe, who are you calling “Mothers” ??? :p :laughing:

Seriously - I searched through dozens and dozens of threads trying to find something that other VXers had used on their cladding with satisfactory results. --- Maybe I should have searched more, but I never saw any mention of Maguire’s Gold or Zaino until now.

(and I sure wish that I had…)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ldub

I just bought a new product I found at my local (not a big chain) parts store called Wizards black renew.

[ -snip- ]

After I get it applied & it's been rained on a couple times, I'll post results

---

A COUPLE OF TIMES ???

It rained last night for the first time since I applied the Mother’s…
Admittedly, it rained pretty hard, almost all night – but I was reeeeeeeeeeeeeally disappointed when I went out this morning and saw several places where the run-off had removed the Mother’s completely.

I guess I figured, with it being a polymer-based solution, that it would repel the water (better than it did anyhow) instead of washing off so easily – and that it would take a pass through the car wash before I would have to re-apply. (HA! - was I ever wrong!) --- Fortunately it looks like I can get-by just doing a bunch of touch-ups – but still.

Short-term:
It looks like I’ll be trying one of the above-listed products next time…

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lashsquat

All this endless labor and product searches are in the past for me,Best thing i ever had done to my VX was rhino spraying the cladding.

---

Long-term:
I intend to do exactly that - preferably sooner rather than later.

I’m certainly no fan of all of that work - especially if the applications are going to be so short-lived, and apparently require re-application so frequently.


Thanks for the suggestions everyone! --- You can officially remove me from the ‘Mother’s people’ list.

I have pictures post on here under my profile of the rhino covered cladding,
The shop took the cladding off to spray, "took about 2 hours" I dont think iwould recommend spraying while on the vehicross.

Hey guys and gals, one day my neighbor was watching me apply some stuff to my cladding when he wheeled his cart over. (he is a professonal detailer on the side). One of the products he pulled out of his cart was a product called "bumper care" by Auto Glym. It is only provided in detail shops and regular stores do not carry it. This stuff is especially made for our cladding. Goes on easy, takes about 10min to wipe on and only needs a little... Does not give it a fake shinny look but a deep semi gray look if u know what I mean. Even the local Isuzu dealer was impressed with the "new" look that this gives. After washing, no streaking is observed. I like the Ziano products, but after my neighbors cart of goodies, I now travel 15mi to buy my detail supplies... This Autoglym brand is a product of Letchworth, England

Mel

I still think I'm gonna rhino line mine. We did this to the brush guard of our "grass rig" (firetruck used to fight field fires) after 2 years of driving it through seasonal burning cornstalks and brush it still looks great. no fading, no visible scraps or marring. I'm sold!!!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ironman pilot

...One of the products he pulled out of his cart was a product called "bumper care" by Auto Glym. It is only provided in detail shops and regular stores do not carry it. This stuff is especially made for our cladding. Goes on easy, takes about 10min to wipe on and only needs a little... Does not give it a fake shinny look but a deep semi gray look if u know what I mean. Even the local Isuzu dealer was impressed with the "new" look that this gives. After washing, no streaking is observed...

---

Mel, that sounds like great stuff - thanks for the recommendation!

I just searched Autoglym…
LINK > Products > Retail Ranges > Retail Car Care > Quick Selector > Bumper Care

(They also have another plastic revitalization/protection-related product called Bumper Black)


After a bit more poking around I found a US distributor:

Radiant Auto Supply
P.O. Box 723
Brentwood, TN 37024

800-247-GLYM (4596)


I’ll be calling that number soon (probably today during my lunch break).

no matter how it's sliced, this cladding thing is a pain.Paint it, Rhino line it, or rub silicone on it..........I'm pretty sure they're your choices.

Does anyone else make anything like the Rhino Lining? I like the idea of it, but its not a uniform color: I want something as durable as a Rhino Lining but in solid black or solid grey, if it exists.

Take a look at Line-X ;)

I saw some stuff in a can at the local "Fleet/Farm" supply, supposed to be for pickup truck beds...hmmm, some masking tape & a paint roller... ;)
OK, probably NOT, Ldub

OK – given that the runoff from a heavy rain storm is capable of removing Mother’s Back-to-Black (at least partly, in the form of innumerable drip lines)…

Can anyone tell me how many trips through the local automated pressure wash it will take to put me back to square one?


After a brief attempt at doing some touching-up, I very quickly encountered the dirt magnet effect… I’ve decided I’m better off starting from scratch with something else (something that preferably doesn’t grab dust and road debris like flypaper!)

While I was out there dabbing-on more Mother’s (amid a fair amount of grumbling and cussing), the thought occurred to me that I should count my blessings that I hadn’t driven through a field of dandelions! --- I couldn’t help but laugh when I pictured my cladding covered in hundreds-of-thousands of those little white ‘parachutists’, looking like an angora sweater.


For the time being, I guess I’ll see if I can find one of the (locally available) alternatives.
(I got busy yesterday and didn’t have time to call about the Autoglym)

a friend of mine with a wrangler said he uses stuff from this site on his fenders, from what ive seen on his jeep, it works pretty well

http://www.autogeek.net/trim-molding.html

I don't know if there is any difference among the Meguiura's line-up of products, but the the #42 Professional Line Rubber Treatment goes on the cladding very evenly and lasts through several rain episodes and/or washings (with water only) and still looks great. It makes Mother's look weak by comparison.

One other thing I was thinking about with Rhino Lining and Line-X: they have no-skid surfaces, which to me means, basically, that they have a rough surface, making for potentially more wind resistance than the bare cladding (and potentially using more fuel)

Since the cladding already has a slightly rough surface, I dont know how much MORE wind resistance (and fuel usage) it would add. Anyone have any experience with that, or can make an educated guess?

Caring for the cladding is only as hard as you want it to be. I've never had an issue with Meguiars Endurance streaking in rain, then again I wipe all the cladding down with a clean old t-shirt about an hour after applying.

Here's a simple and easy way to get nasty cladding back to good:

Find a good shady area, preferably a car port, to wash the cladding. Use soft, clean cotton towels to wash the cladding with A mild mixture of Dawn liquid dishwashing detergent. This will get any grease, oil or was off the cladding. Once that's done, rinse very well. You can even drive down to the local self-service car wash and use the pressure washer about 3 - 4 inches from the cladding surface. You'll see what I mean if you do this. Then dry with some more cotton towels and if you have a super leaf blower use that to help get the water out of the crevices. Then go do something else for a while to allow the VX to thoroughly dry.

Come back and use a rectangular cotton applicator pad to start applying the Endurance Gold. Keep the pad liberally damp with the product and use smooth even wipes to apply. The edge of the applicator is good for getting into the nooks and crannies. Go do something else for about an hour when done, then come back with a clean old t-shirt and wipe all the excess off the cladding. This really makes the difference when using the Meguiars product.

That's it, your done for a few months or until you can't stand it anymore. :p

Don't leave behind any residue, buff the cladding dry after use. I must admit, in the begining I used to use it like tire shine and leave a shiny layer behind that would collect dust and streak when wet. It wasn't until I read the bottle that I learned that this stuf is meant to remove the crud from your cladding that makes it look faded. You need to let this stuff work its way in for a few hours then buff it dry with clean terry towels. I go thru several towels as to avoid redistributing crud. The results will not collect dust or streak when wet and last for months.

For those with streaks you are 90% done, just buff it with some clean towels. :luck:

Also avoid machine car washes. The additives tend to whiten the cladding. Use only plain water to clean your VX or any car for that matter :work: