Originally Posted by
SafeAirOne
Hmm. I'm curious if you've driven it like this when the sun is at lower angles in the sky, especially up there where that could mean a few months straight. I imagine the glare off the bonnet and wings would get rather fatiguing after a while and affect your ability to see stuff.
That's why many larger/multi-engine aircraft have flat black paint on the otherwise-bright, shiny bits ahead and abeam the cockpit.
Of course, I always think in terms of a rover being a daily-driver, so that may not be an issue...
Indeed it is a daily driver, and has been thus for 25 years.
As to glare from the polished aluminum, I've actually had the paint off the hood for 6 years, and in that time I've never once gotten glare from the hood that's affected my sight. I think, perchance, that it is the angle of the hood that may make the difference. True that I haven't had the paint off the top of the front fenders during that same time, but I've driven it quite a bit in all different angles of the sun, including directly into a sunset and a sunrise, and it STILL does not cause a glare issue.
Thanks, Stomper, for that great hint about using Rain-X instead of wax !! I think I will try that immediately.
It's been about two months since I've "de-painted" the rover...and it still remains shiny. The only thing I need to periodically do is wipe it down maybe once a week with a towel to remove the watermarks left by rain drops and morning dew. I'll try that rain-x on it, hopefully no more watermarks !!!
As to oxidation issues that you bring up concerning salty air....as I've stated, six years ago I Initiated a sort of a "Birmabright" test...by taking the paint off the hood (a horizontal surface) and the rear door (a vertical surface), and polished both and then left them untreated to be driven in the elements ( including a lot salty air, as I am ALWAYS within a mile or so of the coast). That 6 year test showed no topical aluminum oxidation, even with the addition of salt-air. For what it's worth, I don't believe the Navy airframes were made from that same specific aluminum, magnesium and manganese alloy....as I've stated, I'm no metallurgist, but I posit that the addition of manganese to the alloy may indeed combat oxidation when salt is a catalyst. I do think, perhaps even by happenstance, the metallurgists at Birmabright, Ltd hit upon just an astounding combination of anti-oxidation properties. I wouldn't have taken the paint off the rest of the rover if those 6 year tests I performed weren't successful.
1970 Series IIA 88".,...the REAL Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
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