Soap Scum / Film On Trailers

[shawn_shawn]

I Have Recently Been Hired To Clean A Large Fleet Of Trailers (painted Black) They Appear To Have A Soap Build Up On Them Which Looks Like Severe Vertical Streaking And Film.

We Tried To Brush One Trailer As A Test (3x) And The Streaks And Film Remain.

I Am Using An Alakine "brushless Soap" When Washing. This Soap Has Been Excellent For Other Trailers Except For These.

Could The Streaks & Film Be Coming From Dirt, Etc. On The Roofs Of The Trailers ???? There Are Some Newer Trailers Which Are Starting To Show Signs That They Will Look Like The Others Soon!!!

I Would Appreciate Any Suggestions!!!

Shawn Nihen
Northeast Cleaning & Maintenance
25 East Bertsch St.
Lansford, Pa 18232

[Scott Stone]

There are a few possibilities, but my guess is that you will need to two step them a couple of times to get it all evened out. SOmetimes those streaks are dirt and such from the roofs, or drip gutters. You can also try something like gutter zap on them, or something similar to get teh streaks off.

[squirtgun]

Originally Posted by Scott Stone

There are a few possibilities, but my guess is that you will need to two step them a couple of times to get it all evened out. SOmetimes those streaks are dirt and such from the roofs, or drip gutters. You can also try something like gutter zap on them, or something similar to get teh streaks off.

Scott you and I need to talk about 2 stepping in bad way.I'm really starting to hate white transit buses.They just aren't as clean as I want them and I know they can be.

[Scott Stone]

Are they Fiberglass? You have my number. Just don't call on Sunday.

[jgoral76]

I just posted a thred on trailers and while the one's I did were white I had fantasic results using gutter zap, feel free to call me for more nfo

[STAN]

I had a truck the other day needed cleaning.
It had been sitting about 4 months and had been washed with a SH based cleaner befor let to sit. Well the person who washed did not rince well enough and the weather had taken the soap and caused runs all over especially on the windows.
I tried 2-step and brushing and the truck still looked terrible so i tried a trick used on house windows when soap streaks happen. I used rinse aid to brush the truck and it came out really good. The winshield still requied polish in a couple of places but not the whole winshield and the pant no longer had a heavy streak and oxidised look.

[M Hinderliter]

Shawn,
What you describe sounds like saop build up or hard water streaks. The reason your alkaline based soap does nothing is because it will not react with the film. You need an acidic based product to break the film. As Scott described two stepping will remove it because the acid will bond with the deposits (build up). The nice thing about two stepping is it nuetralizes the acid after it has been applied, stopping any unwanted corrosion.

You don't have to two step. I have also used soap scum removers as well to get it off. Usually, they have a mild acidic base to them.

Good Luck Shawn and I hope this helps.

[shawn_shawn]

the soap is from afco #5271 "one-shot"

it contains caustic soda,sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide.

i haven't used a brush in months while using this soap!!!

shawn nihen
northeast cleaning & maintenance
lansford, pa