Airplane wash/wax

Bill

Bill

Touchdown! Greaser!
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OK, now that we have our baby, we want to (sometime soon) wash her up and make her look good, so let's hear what you use and why?
 
I use Wash Wax All. The blue, regular strength for most of the plane and the red, heavy duty for the greasy belly.
 
Best stuff I've found in 30 years around airplanes is called "Wash-Wax All." It's a spray on, wipe off cleaner that works on any surface on the aircraft, including painted metal, plastic, and transparencies. You can get a kit for about $25 plus shipping that includes 1-qt spray bottles of both the standard and heavy-duty, a good cloth for wiping, and a bug-scrubber. You can get 1-gallon refills for about $25 each.

I used about 2/3 of a quart of the regular to for the first clean/polish of the entire surface of our Cheetah except the belly and underside of the wings. Since then, it's just leading edges every flight and the rest as needed. The regular is fine for all normal bug splats and ordinary oil/grease/dirt, as well as cleaning the rubber wing-fuselage gap seals leaving them clean, shiny, and pliable. I've only used heavy-duty stuff for under the fuselage where the oil really gets on and to debug the nose bowl where the engine heat really bakes on the bugs. After six months, we were still on our original quart of HD, and about 1 quart into the first gallon refill of the regular.

Call 1-800-WASH-WAX to locate the nearest distributor. They have a web site, too, with a dealer locator: http://www.washwax.com/
 
Once or twice a year I give the plane a good cleaning and use dawn dish soap to clean the belly. I then will wax it with a nice wax. In between I use Wash Wax all to touch things up and their version of the belly cleaner.
 
I use Fleet wash for the big airplane wash once/twice a year, CarbonX for the grease, PolyGlide for wax, all bought at Sportys.

In between (which means most of the time) I also use Wash-Wax-All. An absolute miracle product if you ask me. I'd probably do the whole plane with it, a la Ron Levy, if I didn't have the stuff I mentioned in inventory. Once that's all used up, it'll probably be W-W-A exclusively.
 
I don't know what others use, but my wife does all the plane washing at our hanger. She uses Gojo (original without pumice) to clean the belly and regular car wash solution for the rest of the plane. Then she waxes the plane completely twice a year both top and bottom.

When the weather is nice she wears a tight T-shirt and short shorts to wash the plane.

So, my recommendation is to get your wives to wash the plane, make sure they wear skimpy bathing suits.
 
Wash-Wax-All is the way to go. Good for the complete 'top to bottom' wash every once in a while as well as a quick 'knock the bugs off the leading edges' after the last flight of the day. Easy to use and gives great results.

I would also recommend "Plexus" for the windows.
 
I bought a Wash/Wax-all "kit" at a fly-in back in June. It has a belly wash, a degreaser, a regular cleaner, 4 lint free clothes, and a set of non-scratch 3M scrub pads, all in a big ziplock bag. I was a little dubious of the claims, but thought I'd give it a try to find out for myself. I have not been disappointed in the results.

The degreaser works well enough on the belly that I don't need to use the "belly wash" (which has the same smell and consistency of the citric acid cleaner my FBO uses on engines).

I have stopped washing the plane with water now. It's a lot more comfortable cleaning the plane in the hangar than on the ramp lately.

The trick is to wipe it off before it dries.
 
NC Pilot said:
I don't know what others use, but my wife does all the plane washing at our hanger. She uses Gojo (original without pumice) to clean the belly and regular car wash solution for the rest of the plane. Then she waxes the plane completely twice a year both top and bottom.

When the weather is nice she wears a tight T-shirt and short shorts to wash the plane.

So, my recommendation is to get your wives to wash the plane, make sure they wear skimpy bathing suits.
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Well, since I'm interested in an R182, I'd really like to see photos demonstrating how to properly wash it!:rofl::blowingkisses::yes:
 
NC Pilot said:
I don't know what others use, but my wife does all the plane washing at our hanger. She uses Gojo (original without pumice) to clean the belly and regular car wash solution for the rest of the plane. Then she waxes the plane completely twice a year both top and bottom.

When the weather is nice she wears a tight T-shirt and short shorts to wash the plane.

So, my recommendation is to get your wives to wash the plane, make sure they wear skimpy bathing suits.
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Grab a lawn chair and a six pack, relax and enjoy!
 
I use Carbon X and Polyglide from Sporty's. I tried Wash Wax All several times and I think the Carbon X and Polyglide is easier and better.
 
HPNFlyGirl said:
Mark is telling the truth. I HAVE seen Agatha out there washing his plane.
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Reminds you of that scene from, "Cool Hand Luke", huh? :D


Oh, I hope Agatha stopped reading the board. Yipe!
 
Ron Levy said:
You can get a kit for about $25 plus shipping
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When, 1972? :p

The kit now goes for ~$45+shipping.


flyersfan31 said:
I also use Wash-Wax-All. An absolute miracle product if you ask me.
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Steve said:
I have not been disappointed in the results.

I have stopped washing the plane with water now. It's a lot more comfortable cleaning the plane in the hangar than on the ramp lately.
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Based on glowing reviews here, I ordered the WWA starter kit, and hope our airplane will soon be glowing.
 
I go through 2 gals of blue and 1 of red WWA a year. As Ron said, cleans everything, plexi and all. If the bugs are really baked on, a little water and their areo-scrubber do the trick.
 
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