I have read all that I can find on these forums about how to clean and then coat the aluminum floors and now I have a question that I really hope someone can help me with. We recently purchased (last weekend) a 2001 aluminum trailer. We pulled the mats and followed Gard's instructions about using muriatic acid to etch and stop the corrosion. There are a few pits but nothing scary (yay!). Now we are kinda standing in the trailer looking at each other not sure what to do! After flooding the floor and cleaning using the instructions, I guess I expected to see a super-clean floor, just not shiny, and with several pits...but I don't. Instead, there's some discoloration - nothing like before - but it's not "clean" in my opinion...but then maybe I don't know what I'm looking at. We are unsure of what to do next. How do you know when it's ready to be coated? Do we repeat the acid etch? How much is too much? What should the floor look like before we coat? I've read some other posts that indicate that if you seal in the corrosion, you are making things much worse. Anyone have any ideas....or better yet, pictures of what my floor should look like AFTER it's etched and ready to be coated? Thanks very much!Robin
Posted 2011-03-02 5:26 PM (#131029 - in reply to #131025) Subject: RE: Preparing to Coat our Aluminum Floor
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 402 Location: Valentine, NE
Gard is the expert on this and I am sure he will help.
We just did ours last fall, and our's did clean up but really didn't shine up like a polished finish. But our trailer was just a year old and that might have something to do with it. I put acid on ours 2x to just make really sure. It seems that the acid bubbled where the floor had some issues on the first coat, but nothing on the 2nd coat, but I can't remember for sure. I spent a lot of time rinsing it to make sure we had all the acid out. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. So far, the floor looks great.
Posted 2011-03-02 6:19 PM (#131033 - in reply to #131029) Subject: RE: Preparing to Coat our Aluminum Floor
Regular
Posts: 68 Location: West Tennessee
Yes, Gard is the bomb when it comes to this and I anxiously await his answer! LOL I went out and looked at it in the light today after I got home. It's milky looking, but I don't guess I would really call it "dirty." When you flooded the floors, did they look milky or chalky when they dried? I'm thinking that's how I'd describe ours. We've only done the acid 1 time at this point. I wanted to check to see what the recommendation was to do it twice. That may be the answer.... How many coats of the bedliner did you use? Ours is a 4H. Did you use the Duplicoat (or the stuff Gard mentioned)? Thanks!!!!Robin
Posted 2011-03-02 10:28 PM (#131049 - in reply to #131025) Subject: RE: Preparing to Coat our Aluminum Floor
Expert
Posts: 5870 Location: western PA
The flooring will not come out bright and shiny after the muriatic acid wash. If you added enough acid and scrubbed the flooring adequately, you will end up with a colour that is even across the flooring. It may be milky, or a whitish silver and flat in appearance. If there are light and dark areas, a second etching may be necessary. As was stated, when the bubbling stops, most of the contaminants are eliminated.
Duplicolor has a newer bed liner product that has been on the market a year or so. It's called "Bed Armor" and has Kevlar in its mix. The base material has been changed to a water based polyurethane, and it's the first cold applied bed liner material, that has been advertised as suitable for use on wood products. It has a high elasticity and elongation factor, and should hold up well in temperature extremes with high flooring expansion and contractions. I have not seen it at Walmart, but it is sold through various auto parts stores in our area. Herculiner is similar to the old Duplicolor, and I've seen it advertised through TSC. Some of our members have used this product with success.
Posted 2011-03-03 7:57 AM (#131061 - in reply to #131049) Subject: RE: Preparing to Coat our Aluminum Floor
Regular
Posts: 68 Location: West Tennessee
Gard - Thank you, thank you!!! That's exactly what we needed to know! It sounds like one more time with the acid and we should be good to go. There's a bit of discoloration (not much) and the floor, for the most part, does look like you describe.I am going to price-compare the Bed Armour and the Herculiner and see if there's much difference. Thank you, again, so much for the information! We are very excited to have found this trailer and while it's 10 years old, is in great shape...we intend to keep it that way!Robin
Posted 2011-03-03 10:09 AM (#131072 - in reply to #131025) Subject: RE: Preparing to Coat our Aluminum Floor
Elite Veteran
Posts: 681 Location: Corpus Christi, Texas
Oops! Tried to edit original post and took longer than 3 minutes..I did my BP trailer last summer following Gard's instructions. My floor came out a flat gray color with some variations and haziness to it.. I reapplied the muriatic acid several times to be sure the floor was liner ready.. Due to being unable to find the duplicolor, I used the herculiner to coat my floors and have had no problems as yet.. I replaced my original mats on top and my floor (to me) looks beautiful.. Good luck! The hardest part is getting started.
Preparing to Coat our Aluminum Floor
