How to wax GelCoat

Treat it just like paint;  I like Mother's products....reasonably priced and they work great.  Here's a website on how to detail your baby:

http://www.mothers.com/03_how/03_how_00.html

Meguiars makes a line of boat polishes and waxes...specifically meant for gel coat.

http://www.meguiars.com/en/marine/products/

But now that I found Surf City Speed Demon (Carl's recommendation) I may never wax again!

I have a serious jones for P21S wax.  I have never had better results for less effort with anything else.  Guru Reports did a comparison test some years back, and P21S came out on top by a significant margin over all waxes, beaten only by a thin margin (and not unanimous among the judges) by Zaino synthetic.

Thx to all for the recommendations - is Surf City Speed Demon the name of the product?

Lane turned me on to P21s---it's not easy getting my ivory paint to shine like the dark colors but this wax does a very good job of it----best I've found.

Not cheap but worth evert penny.

Yes. Surf City is the manufacturer. Speed Demon is their detailer spray.

This is the thread Carl started:

https://www.speedsterowners.com...uirt-detailing-juice

The guy up to who said treat is like paint is incorrect. Gel coat should be treated like gel coat not paint. They are very different. Your gel coat is much more like a boat then a car. You want to use marine products. 3M in my opinion makes the best. For heavy oxidation Use this 3 step process. For minor oxidation and just wanting to bring the shine out of otherwise good gelcoat skip step one and go right to step 2. It takes TIME I spent about 15-20 hours getting my gelcoat back but it was REALLY bad its not perfect but darn close. Step 1. Start with 3m imperial compound with an electric buffer with a compounding disc, Step 2. Use 3M finesse it II, with polishing disc, Step 3. Finally hand wax with 3M ultra performance paste wax. The gel coat is about 10 times thicker then any paint clear coat so if you have heavy oxidation do not be afraid to be rough with it during the compounding steps, it will get everything out. With these 3 steps I got a pretty much what everyone said was a completely ruined gel coat to look basically brand new. There were stickers on the car hiding new looking gel coat underneath and I was able to get it so you cannot see where the stickers were. This is a great kit right here,( http://www.jamestowndistributo...e=Boat+Polishing+Kit ) I didn't buy it cause I had a local marine place and also own my own polisher already. Do NOT skimp on the pads. They are not cheap but get the 3M compounding pad (white) for step one and the polishing pad (yellow) for step 2. Here is a before of the gel coat, that is NOT the full after, that is after a few hours of hand compounding, with the extra 15 hours or so the car looks like new I will post the real after pics next week. Hope this helps. That website has videos as well..

Tony

OK, I am the guy who said "treat it like paint" and I stand corrected.  Tony is absolutley correct - It's fiberglass, just like a boat and nobody knows fiberglass like boat people.  Let me also say that I used to live about 15 minutes from Jamestown Distributors when I lived in Rhode Island and they are a terrific, long-standing, family-owned company.  When I had a sailboat on Narragansett Bay I dumped a Boatload of money into Jamestown Distributors, everything I bought was top quality and the people on their phone line really know their product line AND they are not afraid to offer helpful suggestions on proper products to use.  In fact, I just rode my bike near their warehouse, just this morning, in Bristol, RI.  

Anyway, that kit link is a great, all-around kit to get your car from ho-hum to WOW! In short order.  It takes time and elbow grease, but it will look like new when you're done and cost a whole lot less than having a body shop do it.  

Thanks for a much more helpful post than my original one!

What a transformation

How does one determine if it's gel coat or paint?

The obvious difference between gel coat and paint is the body manufacture process.

The mixing of resins and catalyst  - methyl ethyl ketone peroxide etc. - creates the finished body in what is loosely described as gel coat or raw fiberglass unpainted. Gel coat is an actual fibre glass  based paint.

The paint is then added to the prepared mould with release added for the gel coat body.

So simply gel coat is the raw unpainted finish of the body. When described as a body in gel coat we are describing a raw unpainted body in fibre glass based paint.

The condition of the mould has a lot to do with cars left in gel coat. Good moulds, new and maintained moulds release out out a good body That can be left in the gel coat - this is the usual boat finish...

These gel coat good bodies often only need a rub back with 1200 paper on the release mould lines.

New owners will often leave the car in gel coat to save the paint costs. But gel coat colours are usually limited to black, red, greens, white etc. although the gel coat can be coloured using pastes.

Gel coating -resin painting fibre glass based paint protects the fibre glass from breaking down.

There are a number of by resin and glass manufacturers that cover this in detail.

cheers.. 

Good info Tony! I use the 3M Perfect It products with foam pads and have great results. It is also a 3 step product and the pad colors correspond to the compounds and polishes colors so it makes it easy for the novice and even easier for the pro's. (white pad - white compound, gray pad - gray polish and blue pad for blue micro polish)

Gelcoating a mold makes it much easier for the fabricator to remove the product from the mold and also protects the mold from styrene migration in the laminating resins. If the mold is nice and shiny, the finished part will be nice and shiny and can look as good as a professionally painted part. Of course if there are any defects in the mold, they are going to show up on the finished part and will require refinishing for a class A finish. I gelcoat every part that I make and keep the finish on all of my molds in pristine condition which makes a much nicer part and keeps me from having to spend additional labor on finishing afterwards.

Pretty amusing...Carl asked how to tell if an existing finish is gel coat or paint...and got an excellent explanation of how gel coat is applied.

In an attempt to actually answer Carl, I searched a number of boat and RV forums. Found three instance where the exact same thing happened. Writer asks how to tell the difference...gets great input on what gelcoat is, or how to paint over it...but doesn't actually get an answer. Car guys, boat guys, all the same mentality!

Gelcoat can buff out pretty glossy. But paint has a "deeper" look to it. I think a lot of us can usually tell just by looking at the finish. But...

I found two methods of determining if a finish is gelcoat. I didn't like either one of them, both are destructive, so would have to be done in a hidden area.

1. Pour some T0008 (surface prep) on a scrap of rag and put it against the hull, then tape saran wrap over it. Let it sit for an hour. If the paint lifts it's one part. If not it's two part or gelcoat.  Is there any orange peel? If it is totally perfectly peel free it is probably gel.

2. Scratch the surface. Gelcoat is usually thicker than paint. If you scratch it  If it chips off in flakes, it is probably paint. If it just scratches it probably gelcoat.

Guilty as charged.

Good answer.... ruin it and you'll find out....

Nevertheless - looks like Carl got his answer.

No guilt.

And it's sad that all those boat owners are out there trying to ruin their finish!

PMossberg

My  apologies if my answer and the answers and comments from others above did not meet your expectations. I am glad you found it amusing.

- "how do you determine if is gel coat or paint" - 

Mmmmm yes sadly, I did miss the clear identification process between paint and gel coat - as I was distracted. Perhaps I can blame long term exposure to M.E.K.P..

Guilty also....

But why even consider testing when it is easily identified.

Paints capability is fill and cover.

Remove a blinker or stop light -the body is usually painted after part/trim fit up - as paint finds it way into drilled holes and where the body is drilled or cut. The high fill, primers and paint covers the edges and the penetrations, and even fills if a number of coats are applied.

Also look under body folds as paint will fan out here - often seen as over spray on trimmed, carpeted and covered panels. This is very obvious behind door trims or in storage areas behind trims.

It should soon become obvious if painted.

PMossberg...

Many thanks for your 'on target' clarification. I do have the gel coat surface...Now I realize why I can't buff out a deep, deep, depth in the black.  

I wish I could remember who said that "Coy sarcasam is the defence mechanism of a juvenile ego" 

i thought all replicas were fiberglass but had paint applied.

See Gerd, you learned something new.