First timer Wash and Wax

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GrahamC

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Graham
Hey all,

I responded to an ad looking for someone to detail their Piper Saratoga. I figured "how hard can it be to detail an airplane?" Well I got the job today, and now I need to actually figure out how to detail a Piper Saratoga by tomorrow morning. I figure that the washing part can't be very different from washing a car, but I'm a little nervous about the waxing/detailing part.

Does anyone have any experience in this? Any tips? Any and all advice would be appreciated. I'm a pretty clever guy, but I also like to cover all my bases and learn as much about a topic as I can before i jump into a job.
 
1. There's more to wash and more to wax than there is on a car.

2. Don't scrub the windows with the wash mitt.

3. Wings make fairly slippery surfaces to set your beer on and create more cleanup work when they spill.

4. If you own a large van, you might consider offering to transport five or six of your local high school fundraiser car wash girls to the airport and compensate them for their time (yeah the guy parked next to me actually did that once.)

5. An extra thick coat of caranuba wax on the leading edges of the wings can make them hella bug proof.
 
Whatever you do, never use windex or any other glass cleaner on the windscreen and windows of an airplane, it will harm them. Use only a plexi glass cleaner and micro fiber towel.

The belly will be greasy. Buy a tub of gojo hand cleaner. The white stuff WITHOUT abrasive. Get a wad of paper towels and smear this stuff all over the greasy areas of the belly. Let it soak in.

Wash the rest of the exterior with an automotive car soap and sponge. Don't use anything like simple green (harsh degreasers in this eat at the aluminum). Later you can dry and wax this like you would any car, with an automotive wax.

Once the wings, fuselage etc are clean, take your bucket of soapy water + sponge and wash the belly, getting all the gojo off. With it will come the grease.
 
Yeah cleaning the underbelly is a real pain in the ass. It's sort of like washing an unruly dog that rolled himself in axle grease.
 
GrahamC said:
Hey all,

I responded to an ad looking for someone to detail their Piper Saratoga..
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OK, Everyone is talking about bathing the exterior.

Did the person providing the ad spec what he wants/expects?

Detailing frequently includes doing the interior --- usually a much bigger problem that just washing the outside
 
My Advice is to hire someone to do this. I spent 12 hours Degreasing and Washing and Waxing a plane a few years ago. I will never do that again!!!
 
Doing the job correctly is more a labor of love.
 
Expect to spend all day working on it. I buy cheap white towels at Kmart, I think there's two dozen in a bundle. Terry cloth, all cotton. Even using Aerocosmetics Wash & Wax, I generally spread it out over several days and use 3-4 towels.
 
hopefully you are paid by the hour (and the materials are provided)
 
Sac Arrow said:
1. There's more to wash and more to wax than there is on a car.

2. Don't scrub the windows with the wash mitt.

3. Wings make fairly slippery surfaces to set your beer on and create more cleanup work when they spill.

4. If you own a large van, you might consider offering to transport five or six of your local high school fundraiser car wash girls to the airport and compensate them for their time (yeah the guy parked next to me actually did that once.)

5. An extra thick coat of caranuba wax on the leading edges of the wings can make them hella bug proof.
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LOL. The picture I get is someone in a 76' Chevy van trying to entice 5 high school girls to get in it. :rofl:

To OP. it's going to take all day. I use the Meguires Wax, the type you squeeze on.

DO NOT USE the standard turtle wax. If you do and cover too much of an area, plan on 3-4 days. A toothbrush works well to get the wax around the rivets.
 
bartmc said:
LOL. The picture I get is someone in a 76' Chevy van trying to entice 5 high school girls to get in it. :rofl:
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Might want to ask Kent how to pull that off. Though it was a '76 182...
 
I don't know about others, but I do not allow pressure washers on my plane.

It will blow through some crevices and stuff. I don't even use a spray nozzle on a hose. Keep it very low pressure if you wash and rinse.

Just thought I'd throw that out there.
 
You should also check with the airport you are washing at. One of our local airports has banned all use of water to clean aircraft because all the storm drains go directly in to the creeks. They also banned fueling operations near the drains, which sucks if that's where your tie down is.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Dave Theisen said:
You should also check with the airport you are washing at. One of our local airports has banned all use of water to clean aircraft because all the storm drains go directly in to the creeks. They also banned fueling operations near the drains, which sucks if that's where your tie down is.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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Have they banned flying in the rain as well?
 
Sac Arrow said:
1. There's more to wash and more to wax than there is on a car.



2. Don't scrub the windows with the wash mitt.



3. Wings make fairly slippery surfaces to set your beer on and create more cleanup work when they spill.



4. If you own a large van, you might consider offering to transport five or six of your local high school fundraiser car wash girls to the airport and compensate them for their time (yeah the guy parked next to me actually did that once.)



5. An extra thick coat of caranuba wax on the leading edges of the wings can make them hella bug proof.
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#4 sounds like a great way to end up with cops at the scene. LOL.

"Hey girls? Want to make some money? Get in the van."
 
denverpilot said:
#4 sounds like a great way to end up with cops at the scene. LOL.

"Hey girls? Want to make some money? Get in the van."
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The thought did cross my mind! I'm not sure how he pulled it off, but he did.
 
Things you'll want:

A step-stool and a short ladder. Unless you play center on a basketball team.

Cheap safety goggles, or big eyeglasses. When you're under the plane, dirty water will drip in your eyes. Something to clean your glasses.

A creeper. Not mandatory, but if you've got one, it will make it more pleasant under the plane. Otherwise, some big sheets of cardboard are good to spare your knees and clothes when you're under the plane -- an unfolded carton from a bicycle or appliance would be good.

A radio.

A chair to sit on, when you want to rest.

After you're done, please post back here and tell us about your experience. I'd like to hear.
 
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Sounds like you might have gotten this job under false pretenses. Hopefully I'm wrong, and the owner is not expecting someone who knows what they're doing...
 
Here's another vote for Aerocosmetics WASH WAX-ALL. It's really good stuff.

HR
 
Well, it went well. He did not expect any prior experience and had all the supplies I needed to finish the job. The owner was really nice and we had some good conversation about politics, gun ownership, and film (I'll save that story for the spin zone.)

I spent the first couple hours taking rags damp with AvGas to the underside of the fuselage. It worked surprisingly well at removing oil and dirt from the undercarriage. After the AvGas application, I used dry disposable paper towels to remove any residue. (A Creeper would have been nice, especially one with an angled headrest- my neck was sore for the next couple days from holding it up.)

After that, we worked together to wash the rest of the fuselage. I washed the plane as the owner rinsed it.

After the plane was washed, we pushed it back into the hanger and waxed the leading edges of the wings, stabilator and vertical stab.

To finish, I polished and waxed the forward facing portion of the cowling and polished the prop spinner.

It took a total of 4.5 hours and I got paid 50 bucks. It's maybe less than I expected to get for a one-time job from a Saratoga owner whose winter residence is at a private fly-in, but I'm not picky, and given my lack of experience, this broke college student is more than happy having the 50 bucks he wouldn't have had otherwise.
 
Avgas is unsafe to use as a degreaser. Its fumes have too low a flash point and burns hurt.

Use a product that is designed for cleaning bellies.
 
That's why you don't smoke and wash at the same time. My entire family has been using gasoline to clean things since before my dad was born, and no one has ever gotten burned.

I however wouldn't use avgas because of the dye in it. I had some nice blue stained wheel pants on my last plane.
 
Glad it worked out, Graham.

Maybe now you can post a note in the airport offering your services to other owners.

I thought you were going to wax the whole plane. That would have been a lot more hours.
 
EdFred said:
That's why you don't smoke and wash at the same time. My entire family has been using gasoline to clean things since before my dad was born, and no one has ever gotten burned.

I however wouldn't use avgas because of the dye in it. I had some nice blue stained wheel pants on my last plane.
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That just shows your family's ignorance and blind luck.
 
kgruber said:
That just shows your family's ignorance and blind luck.
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At some point it ceases to be luck. Though the uneducated may still refer to it as luck when they don't have the knowledge on how to properly handle materials.
 
kgruber said:
Avgas is unsafe to use as a degreaser. Its fumes have too low a flash point and burns hurt.

Use a product that is designed for cleaning bellies.
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You'd really get excited when you see me put gasoline in one of those hand pump chemical sprayers which I then use to spray onto the engine to degrease it. Nothing like spraying super vaporized gasoline...

It makes EdFred's comment seem incredibly safe :)
 
EdFred said:
At some point it ceases to be luck. Though the uneducated may still refer to it as luck when they don't have the knowledge on how to properly handle materials.
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That logic sounds kind of like saying, "I can fly this trip without a fuel stop even though it's close to the range of the airplane because I've always made it before."

While I would agree that proper handling of any chemical solvent is important, I'm not sure that anecdotal experience is a sufficient counter argument to a scientific data point about the risk. Aside from the risk of fire, gasoline really isn't the best substance in the world to breathe, be absorbed through the skin, or wash off into the ground. While there are methods that the "educated" might use to properly mitigate all of those risks, that seems like quite an effort when alternative substances which carry fewer risks may be utilized.


JKG
 
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jesse said:
You'd really get excited when you see me put gasoline in one of those hand pump chemical sprayers which I then use to spray onto the engine to degrease it. Nothing like spraying super vaporized gasoline...

It makes EdFred's comment seem incredibly safe :)
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I used to share a hangar with a guy who used gasoline in a sprayer to degrease. I told him that I'd save my aircraft and then call 911 when (not if) he caught on fire.

There are many safer products to use for cleaning. If you've ever been on fire perhaps you'd understand. Also need to think about breathing the crap...
 
JGoodish said:
That logic sounds kind of like saying, "I can fly this trip without a fuel stop even though it's close to the range of the airplane because I've always made it before."

While I would agree that proper handling of any chemical solvent is important, I'm not sure that anecdotal experience is a sufficient counter argument to a scientific data point about the risk. Aside from the risk of fire, gasoline really isn't the best substance in the world to breath, be absorbed through the skin, or wash off into the ground. While there are methods that the "educated" might use to properly mitigate all of those risks, that seems like quite an effort when alternative substances which carry fewer risks may be utilized.


JKG
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Nah it's more like taxiing to the fuel pumps and not putting on your seat belt. Oh no, rolling slowing than I can run is so dangerous! Plus gasoline is always around, and cheaper per gallon.
 
Clark1961 said:
I used to share a hangar with a guy who used gasoline in a sprayer to degrease. I told him that I'd save my aircraft and then call 911 when (not if) he caught on fire.

There are many safer products to use for cleaning. If you've ever been on fire perhaps you'd understand. Also need to think about breathing the crap...
Click to expand...

I used kerosene initially and it's just too damn expensive IMO and leaves an oily residue behind that I don't like. As to putting other aircraft at risk when I do it the airplane is nowhere near a building or other airplane. I also wore my full face helmet and armored motorcycle jacket last time. Given the limited quantity of fuel I think you'd actually fair pretty well.

We all pick and choose what we consider to be acceptable risk.
 
I will say, that I was a little surprised to hear that the owner used straight AvGas to clean his plane. I wasn't one to argue, though, and he seemed fairly confident in what he was doing.
I certainly wished I had a pair of safety goggles, but seeing as I didn't, i just had to make sure that my face wasn't directly under the portion of the belly that I was cleaning.

Leaving aside any potential health/safety hazards that accompany using AvGas as a cleaner, It worked very well! I don't know if i would necessarily jump to use it as a first choice in the future, but for the job at hand it was great.

As far as any issues with color- I was using it on the belly of the airplane which was a Navy Blue. I didn't notice any of the color rubbing off, and I didn't notice any color being left behind on the inside wheel wells (which were white) when I wiped those clean either.
 
In Tyler a guy was stripping some wood floors in a house with something flammable and forgot to turn off the gas water heater pilot. Burned down the house and killed him. Gas can kill you, be careful.
 
AvGas shouldn't leave a stain unless it is left to sit on the surface for a prolonged period of time. Even then, some batches of AvGas seem to contain more dye than others.

WD-40 will also work to remove the oil on the belly. In my opinion, the idea shouldn't be to remove all traces of oil, but to clean the accumulated oil and dirt. Generally speaking, where oil is, corrosion isn't.

I now use Wash Wax All from Aero Cosmetics to clean the belly, which works well to remove both oil and exhaust residue, and leaves a slightly slippery surface behind.


JKG
 
Sac Arrow said:
...4. If you own a large van, you might consider offering to transport five or six of your local high school fundraiser car wash girls to the airport and compensate them for their time (yeah the guy parked next to me actually did that once.)
...
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:hairraise: Did the chaperone have the 9 and 1 already pre-dialed on the phone?
 
I've used Goop hand cleaner to get the belly clean before. It is basically like playing with a tub of lard. Emulsifies the existing grease and wipes off. You do have to rinse afterward and make sure it isn't in cracks, crevices and especially not plugging drain holes. Also don't be dumb and buy the kind with pumice in it for abrasiveness. LOL.
 
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