Need advice on using Flagship Premium cleaner / wax

[Deeman]

After researching the heck out of this site and others I have decided to use the Flagship Premium Wax / Cleaner. Mike has mentioned in the product introduction thread for this stuff that the cleaner in this wax/cleaner is more aggressive than the #50 cleaner – which is great and was the deciding point for me to select this product since the boat does have light oxidation.

I am having a hard time finding users with any real experience with this product and have some questions which are:

1. Is a wool pad on a variable speed rotarty a good choice?
2. I was planning to apply with the wool and remove by hand with a MF
3. I am guessing to keep the speed slow – 1,500 rpm – sound right
4. How do I deal with vinyl graphics? Do I have to cover them or try to avoid using the rotary on them?
5. How many applications? One or two?

Thanks!

[cmrvdetail]

I did a motorhome with #50 with rotary speed 5.5 did real good. Took off by hand easy. The back had heavy ox and didn't work so well. Over all happy. No where in area Carries flagship anything. Used it in past and love it. do.small area and you'll find good speed for you. the good thing is you won't hurt it with this product. I used foam wool may be too abrasive. Black.

[Murr1525]

Re: Need advice on using Flagship Premium cleaner / wax

1. Yeah, I think foam would be a better starting point.

4. Yeah, the rotary could peel up an edge. Best to just wipe over by hand if wanted.

5. Well, if you needed better cleaning, then 2 applications would help (or a stronger product of course). If you want better protection, you would want to use a regular wax after.

[Deeman]

Re: Need advice on using Flagship Premium cleaner / wax

Well, as a follow-up the wool applicator on a rotary is NOT the ideal starting point. Even with a liberal application onto either the boat or the pad, the wool pad immediately dried out and would not cooperate. A foam pad on the rotary seemed to be a bit better but not ideal. I tired between 1,000 and 3,000 rpms and it really did not make a difference. I then tried some cheap Bass Pro shop rubbing compound on a foam pad with a rotary and it applied and came off great. Frustrated, I tried the Flagship Cleaner/Wax by wand, and while it took some elbow grease it worked just fine. The surface was somewhat cool. The Flagship stuff did come off nice and easy with a MF on the sections I did by hand.

There is hope, I just need to experiment some more. The Flagship stuff is very thick – especially compared to the Bass Pro compound.

[Murr1525]

Re: Need advice on using Flagship Premium cleaner / wax

How did it go if you used the BP Compound and then the Cleaner/Wax?

[Poki]

Re: Need advice on using Flagship Premium cleaner / wax

I have used this cleaner/wax on my motorhome with good results. I used the DA, yellow foam pad on speed 4. Be sure to wipe off the residue BEFORE it drys....like the instructions say. Then I topped with Flagship Prem. Wax. Let that one dry to a haze befor removing....I used MF towels and removed both products by hand

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Need advice on using Flagship Premium cleaner / wax

A picture of the "before" condition of the boat would help here as some folks define "light oxidation" differently than others do. But any cleaner wax is generally fairly mild, especially when compared to a compound. A wool pad for applying any cleaner wax is usually not a good idea since you're mixing an extremely aggressive pad with a very, very mild liquid. The same would hold true on the opposite end of the scale: you wouldn't use a powerful compound with a very soft foam finishing pad because you'd greatly compromise the ability of the compound to do it's job.

Now, we're not surprised to see you getting better correction with the Bass Pro rubbing compound because it's designed to be a real cutting product, not a wax. Especially with the hardness of gel coat, a cleaner wax is going to be best used as a routine maintenance type product rather than for any real correction. Using it regularly will help to prevent the slow accumulation of oxidation since it will be routinely cleaning the surface. But once that oxidation really sets in (and again, this happens in degrees and some people will define "light", "medium" and "heavy" a bit differently) you generally need something a bit more aggressive as an initial step.

While rotary application is perfectly acceptable for this product, sticking with a foam polishing pad or finer should yield the best result, and DA application is most likely going to be better still.

[xplodn]

Re: Need advice on using Flagship Premium cleaner / wax

Do most people go right to the cleaner wax every time even if gel coat is in good shape? I am in the process of using a rotary on mine to remove moderate oxidation and it looks great after.... What about next time though? I am almost out of wax should my next bottle be the same flagship wax or should I get the cleaner wax?

Trailer sits outside and is in the AZ desert- it clearly takes a beating.