Washing and Waxing My Trailer

You could consider this revisiting a past product review today, since I washed and waxed my horse trailer last weekend with Aero Cosmetics again. Reminder and perhaps also a guilt trip, you're supposed to wax your horse trailer 1-2x a year, especially if any part of your trailer is fiberglass (many roofs and some trailer skins are). You do not want that stuff to oxidize and turn chalky!

As a reminder, Wash Wax All is a waterless spray all-in-one wash and wax product originally developed for the airline industry since, you know, sending a plane through a car wash is logistically challenging. It's safe for all surfaces you'd encounter in the average plane/vehicle/trailer and biodegradable.

I let my Shadow go a little longer between washes than I like to this time, so I had some legit black streaks, which Aero Cosmetics will tell you isn't something Wash Wax All will be able to remove alone. Wash Wax All is more of a light duty surface cleaner and UV protectant than a stain remover.

Before on the right, after on the left. I have to move my mom's donkey from Illinois to Tennessee later this week and I decided I couldn't stand looking at this bug spattered nose for 12 hours.

So this year, I also tried Wash All Degreaser, which is their recommended product for black streaks, and I also used the Aero Scrubber more broadly on the entire trailer (rather than just on the ghosted trailer decals I originally bought it for).

Shown: Aero Scrubber (it comes with a handle but I prefer to use it as a sponge) and Wash All Degreaser. The Aero Scrubber is like a very gentle Brillo pad. Tough enough to take bugs off of your paint but it doesn't leave scratches or swirl marks.

Working in sections, I would first spray Wash All Degreaser, then use the lightly damp Aero Scrubber to agitate it. This removed all the grit and bugs from the paint.

Next, I would take a dry-ish microfiber rag and wipe that section down to remove the debris the Aero Scrubber lifted. When Wash All Degreaser is used by itself, the rag is supposed to be totally dry and you're supposed to wipe the Wash All off before it dries, but because I was following it up with Wash Wax All, I found it didn't really matter if the rag got progressively a little less dry. I did switch it out fairly often though.

Next I would spray that same section down with the Wash Wax All from my original post, and finally I would take an actually dry rag and vigorously rub that section in circles until it was dry.

Like any wax product, vigorous rubbing helps it bind to the vehicle and gives you that smooth, touchable, glossy look. And boy was it glossy and touchable. I couldn't stop rubbing my hands over the finished sections, which were straight-from-the-factory smooth.

Before/in progress

After

The combination of the Aero Scrubber really getting the road grit off of the paint and the Wash Wax All left the trailer surface feeling like I'd taken a clay bar to it (which is a time consuming process in which auto detailers use a firm piece of clay to lift grit and other surface contaminants that don't come off with normal vehicle washing).

This was about the level of black streaks all over the trailer before I started. Not horrible, but not something that would come off with a light wash.

 

Every last black streak is gone, and it looks new despite being four years old.

This process doesn't take less time than washing alone, but it takes WAY less time than washing and waxing does. It took me 3 hours start to finish, and that was taking my time and obsessing over it. Doing a coat of paste wax would take longer than that by itself! 

There are some cases where you will need a proper coat of paste wax, but if you keep up with it, something like Wash Wax All is all you should need.

My audience was bored