Black streaks

Hello, in the spring I Tcut and waxed my 2006 Symbol. However the black streaks that had appeared below the black roof trim, black side panels and to some extent the rubber window trim are beginning to re- appear. Washing will not shift them.
How do others deal with this? Is there a "Black Streak remover"? or do I have to Tcut and re-wax again when the existing finish ( apart from the streaks ) is still in good order.
Any advice welcome.
Thanks
David

One year after spending some time touring in Eastern Europe the weather had been baking hot in most countries i'd been in and the van roof, in particular the front, got absolutely filthy. Eventually in Poland i spotted an open style vehicle wash so ran my van in. Cleaning the dirt off the metal bodywork was no problem but the dirt had baked on the grp roof and i couldn't shift that at all.

I ended up paying a mobile valeter to come out and sort it when i got home. Not cheap but they do a good job and have the right equipment. Depending how serious your 'black streaks' are, that's an option worth looking at.

Try meths - denatured alcohol.

Frank

Even the best wax will be gone or fading after six months, the only answer to prevent black streaks is to wax the van regularly or have a specialist coating put on. Never wash a waxed van with anything that removes grease, washing up liquid is one culprit, only use a specialist shampoo.
Our van has several coats of wax built up on it now (meguiars) and was last done in July but washed it today and even that had faint black streaks appearing near the roof.

My neighbour has a Lunar Motorhome, body and roof made in normal caravan construction I.e. metal panels and roof. Not a black steak to be seen and it hasn't moved for 3 months. Is it grp roofs that are the problem.

I read somewhere that the black streaks are carbon black leaching out of the plastic / rubber compounds.
This could be the reason that they are so difficult to remove with soap and water as Carbon black is made from oil, which is waterproof.

Frank

Paulmold wrote:My neighbour has a Lunar Motorhome, body and roof made in normal caravan construction I.e. metal panels and roof. Not a black steak to be seen and it hasn't moved for 3 months. Is it grp roofs that are the problem.

Without doubt. Dirty marks on metal bodywork are one thing, the same on grp is quite another and as i found, mine had "baked" on from the heat to such an extent not even a jet wash would remove it. The mobile valeting chap who sorted it used a mild abrasive first to break it up, then washed it off before using a polish specifically for grp. He used a buffer to get a final finish but as he explained, even with those you have to know what your'e doing otherwise you can leave 'burn' marks in the grp.

Having all the right gear helps...you can't just clamber up and stand on top of a grp roof!

'Black-streaks' are the bain of my life, & i'm really sick of them, & every year its a days work, frame up, then clambering about trying to sort it,  BUT, I feel a lot of it is where its parked up & the area.
I live on the outside edge of an estate with an open field right next to me, the prevailing wind hits us direct, so much so that a 6' high x 180' long wall we had put up 30 years ago now leans over around a foot at the top!!
On top of that, there is also a constantly-busy main road at the back, so there must be a lot of windblown & vehicle-blown 'airborne-crud' on my patch!!
The MH used to be parked-up on that side of the property, & that & other cars parked there got dusty, mucky, streaky within a couple of weeks.
I started parking the MH on the front drive, much further away & now although it still gets streaky, it takes a lot longer & isn't so bad.
A guy on the other side of the estate, ( away from wind & the road ) has a MH & it always appears to stay clean!!
Another indicator for me is that i'm always wet scrub-brushing out that orrid 'green-algae stuff that resembles miniature broccoli from crevices on windows etc.  That HAS to be airborne surly.

Frank, that is my understanding as well, I am certainly no scientist though!

Where you are parked (moored!) has a huge effect on black streaks, most of my detailing has been with GRP boats and I have often seen vessels that are clean on one side and streaked with gunge on the other. In many years I have never found an answer to stopping this happening, building up several layers of wax helps and  done properly the streaks, dead flies, traffic film etc should  rub off with little effort. Problem is this is time consuming, hard work and nearly impossible if your van is stored in a field somewhere.  Meguiars and Collinite seem to be amongst the best for performance and appearance but each to his own. I usually wax the whole van three times a year but do it one section at a time so whenever I have half hour spare another panel gets done.

There are GRP sealants available,' A glaze' is typical but even that needs renewing annually,not cheap but they do work, make sure the van is perfect before putting it on though or you will seal the dirt in!
Otherwise if anyone finds a permanent solution to stop GRP fading or getting dirty let me know and I will buy shares in it....

Check out:-  marineaglaze.com/aglaze-marine-sealant

I just thought I would add my trials and tribulations over a number of years with this problem. I cleaned the Broadway last week and waxed with Farecla paste, using it for the first time after

 recommendations on this forum. I found it easy to use and liked the "beading". When I looked this weekend black streaks had appeared at the back across the upper section where the reversing camera is 

fixed. I tried washing with shampoo but it did not remove the streaks, I have also used Care-avan shampoo in the past which they claim removes black streaks but save your money it isn't IMHO as good as 

the Halford,s car shampoo I use on a regular basis. I have also tried Fenwick's black streak remover but that wasn't a success. I also have an old caravan which was covered in black streaks. When I saw

 Frank's post about using meths I tried it on the caravan, it did remove the surface marks but I could still see faint lines. I decided to use something I  hadn't used for some time "Silky", which you put on 

with a damp cloth and then buff off. I know it works but it is quite hard work and time consuming, but it removed the dirt and lines which had been on for some time. I agree with "Modelman" about dirt being

 airborne and  have noticed more of it now a number of neighbours are using wood burning stoves.

My conclusion is that there is no easy way to prevent or remove streaks despite some of the claims made on this forum. The marks arise from a variety of materials, the major ones being aluminium, 

mastic, rubber seals and the air. Until someone comes up with a miracle product it will have to be hard work and drinking the meths.

David

I have been using Auto Glym Engine and Machine Cleaner for 15 years on my boat. Spray on wipe off, always clears streaks ( polish so re apply). Boat is at Harwich next to Container Port so lots of heavy oil exhaust fumes.

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Thanks for the replies people, what a friendly lot you are.
I am sure Boxerman is right about the origin of the black streaks. I have no problem with the GRP (apart from green mould! ) it is just the van sides.
I will try the meths, and the Autoglym engine cleaner as a last resort. I am sure that will work.
Thanks again
Best wishes
David

I'm a bit confused now, thought I had it sorted in my head, but cyclo has said that he has waxed his m/h with Farecla Paste.........I thought this was the stuff used before waxing ? Is the paste itself a wax?

Sorry if I have caused confusion. The full description is G3 super gloss paste wax.

David

Farecla G3 is a cutting compound, normally applied with a slow speed foam mop. Bodyshops use it after flatting out any specs of dirt in fresh paint. It's fine to use this , but with caution as of course it is removing paint!

My Symphony too had streaks coming off the black trims and the roof was green too. To rectify this, I used diluted TFR ( traffic film remover,  used on curtain side trucks for example) to clean the green off and then I used a 3m Clay valeting bar to clean the paintwork and smooth it, then G3 with a white foam mop head, and then a carnuba wax to seal it. 

On-going cleans are done with a wash-wax detergent, designed for cars, and that was purchased in a 5 ltr vessel, from Euro car spares. 

This work took me nigh on a day, but the van looked very nice afterward, and did for many months after, until I sold it. No more issues with streaking either. I also used the clay bar on all the windows, except the windscreen,which also removed most of the tree/hedge branch marks too

Don't however use any other detergent unless its designed for cars as it will soon strip the wax off and you are back to square one! And I wouldn't use T cut at all because it contains ammonia ( it used to anyway) which will bleach black plastics.

Agree with everything you say Dougrdf except Farecla seem to have added a G3 super gloss paste wax to the range, as referred above, why on earth they didn't call it something else is beyond me, very confusing!

Sorry for being a prophet of doom, but like the common cold virus, black streaks are here to stay.

It's been a long time since I suffered black streaks on a caravan we used to own but from memory , white spirit was a good product to remove them and a coat of wax to the areas where the white spirit was used.