Cladding Conditioning/Protection

[omegavx]

I know there are a couple of posts on the club vmag forum about some good products to use on the body cladding. My question is, has anyone found either of these products at a retail auto store? I'd like to do this today or tomorrow if possible so I'd rather pick it up instead of ordering online.

Meguiar's Gold Class Endurance or the High Gloss
http://www.meguiars.com/product_showroom/showproducts_template.cfm?SrcLine=CW

American Shine Super Shine
http://www.americanshine.com/info.html

Forum Reference: http://club.vmag.com/ubb/Forum39/HTML/000391.html

Or if you all use somthing else besides these, that you've found at a retail auto chain, that works really well please provide info.

[andy454]

I really like Mothers back to black. I took several coates, but now it seems to last for months. Son of a gun is good, but it seems to wash off easily.

[AlaskaVX]

:thumbup: I second the Mothers back to black, after your second application you won't go back to son of a gun. Son of a gun only lasts a few days, compared to the month to two months that the back to black lasts.

[Heraclid]

Ok, I'm definitely willing to try Back-to-Black if it's really that good, but I thought there was a reason to avoid it (alcohol in it or something that makes the plastic brittle?).

[johnnyapollo]

I've bought Meguiar's Endurance at Pep Boys. It works well, however if you let it sit for about a month without reapplying, the cladding get's dull, with streaking at the cladding screws.

Discovered this while out on vacation (truck was in the carport, but I drove it through rain a few days before washing).

Once I reapplied, it was good as new and the shine lasts a long time (I've got three weeks and it still looked great).

-- John

[omegavx]

I found Meguiar's High Gloss and it works wonders. When I got my vx it looked pretty bad, the cladding was unconditioned, not sure if the previous owner conditioned it at all, and it would always keep water spots.

I shoulda taken a before and after, because now the cladding looks brand new, except for some scratches, but the color is 100 times better.

I bought 2 containers of it and turns out I only used about 1/6 of a bottle on all the cladding + tires, so it should last me pretty long. It does take about an hour to do the entire truck, but its time well spent.

[AlaskaVX]

When I used Mothers Back to Black it took 95% of the sctratches out. I used like half a bottle (used lots on the bad scratches) but it worked wonders. JFYI

[grober02]

Does anyone know how the back-to-black holds up in rain? I currently use Turtle 2001, and all it takes is one good rain, and the cladding is back to dull...

[andy454]

After you have several good coats on back to black will last for over a month even with multiple washings. Make sure the cladding is out of the sun and cool to the touch or you will get some streaking.

[Raque Thomas]

grober - I applied it once (took about an hour), and after the first rain it was blotchy and unacceptable to me. Also, after I applied it, dirt went to it like a magnet. You couldn't see the dirt, but if you brushed up against it, there was black sooty-looking dirt all over it even though the car itself was clean. Not having the time to redo the back-to-black, I went back to Amor-all. I plan to give the back-to-black one more shot since there were some good comments here about it - but not pleased at all on my first apllication.

[Navigator]

Is what I use, the deep color and shine last a long time, but it eventually washes off. Dosen't run as much as water based products. Smells good too :D

[omegavx]

If you havn't already tried Meguiar's Gold Class Endurance or the High Gloss, then I'd suggest trying it. I spent about an hour applying it with an applicator spong. It took about 5 minutes to dry and as soon as I ran my hand accross it, it was very smooth not oily. Water just bubbles up and runs off, like you just put wax or protectant on paint or somthing. So far its only been in one ran and that only lasted for about a minute. But the thing I am really impressed with is that now most of the dead bug's and their guts come off with just a simple whip, you dont really need to use water or anything they just dry wipe off.

I also like the way you apply it, instead of spraying it on you wipe it on and can select how much you want to actually apply on each "coat". One thing I did was wipe it on in alternating simi-circle's, kinda like you do when you plaster drywall. I think it helped to prevent any type of streaking or over application and left just enough to soak into the body.

Just my 2 cents.