Musings about Mothering the Cladding

[E-ZooZoo One]

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

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!

[Joe_Black]

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

[geshaw30]

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.
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GM FOODS

[deermagnet]

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!

[Ruflyf]

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.

[Chopper]

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 ***.

[creeg]

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.

[geshaw30]

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

[Anita]

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

[Joe_Black]

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.

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.

[Anita]

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.

[Ldub]

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.

[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. 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.

[erland]

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?

[E-ZooZoo One]

All you Mothers people!

Hey Joe, who are you calling “Mothers” ???

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…)

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…

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.