Video Transcript for “How to Clean & Maintain Your New Airstream | Pete’s RV Quick Tips (Airstream Edition)”
Randy: Hey guys, Randy with Pete’s RV TV here today. Today, I’m going to talk with you a little bit about some of the products and procedures, recommended to take care of your Airstream camper. So, as you guys well know, Airstreams are built completely differently than any other coach out there. So, if you’ve owned another RV in the past, forget everything you knew about washing that on the exterior and let us show you how to do it on your new Airstream. So, on an Airstream, they are made of aluminum on the exterior and Airstream has actually had Alcoa apply a special coating to the outside of that aluminum to prevent oxidation. So, we need to treat that coating much like the clear coat finish on our car.
So, the first thing that we’re going to do when we go ahead and wash our Airstream is we’re going to rinse the entire coach to get as much dirt and debris off of the coach before we start the wash process and this’ll help keep scratching down. The second thing we’re going to want to do is identify where the grain is in the aluminum and every metal has a grain in it, and we can kind of see it if we zoom in close here. Josh, I don’t know if you can zoom in here and see that the grain of this unit runs this way, and that’s going to be very typical for the Airstream to run from front to back. So that’s the way we’re going to want to wash this. The reason we wouldn’t want to wash it up and down is if there is something on the wash brush, or on the mitt, it may cause a scratch that we’ll be able to see, but if we go with the grain of the metal it will really, cut that down.
So, when I wash an Airstream a couple of the things that [00:00:30] I like to use is either a microfiber sponge or a wash mitt. You can also use a very, very soft bristle brush to get some of the high spots with a wand on it. Okay, so after we’ve washed the camper with a mild soap and water solution and we’ve let it air dry, it’s time to wax the camper. What the wax is going to do is it is going to protect the finish that we have put on at the manufacturer, during the manufacturing process. That clear coat finish, kind of like our car. So one of the products that we use here at the dealership is we use this Meguiars. [00:01:00] I don’t know if Josh can zoom in on this. It says it’s clear coat safe, so this is a great thing to protect the outside of our Airstream. Now, make sure that we do it in the shade. We don’t want to do it in direct sunlight. That will hinder the process and make it a lot more work for us as well.
And one of my tricks is,[00:01:30] I like to do a little bit at a time, so I’ll do it in segments. I may not do the whole camper all in one day, just because there’s a lot of real estate on these campers. All right. So the next thing we want to talk about is our Zip Dee awning. Now Airstream has done it for us again. They have provided us with an awning that is unlike any other awning in the RV world. Most RV awnings are vinyl, so if you own any RV awning cleaner that you have used in the past, throw it away. We don’t want to use that. We also don’t want to use any detergents. All we’re going to want to use on our Zip Dee awning is just water, just good clean water. So, spray the awning down with good clean water. Now, the fabric on this awning will inhibit mold growth. Where mold and mildew come into play on these awnings is if the awning is left dirty and put away. So just wash the awning down with good clean water. You can do it during the rinse process of this, and then let it air dry.
Zip Dee also offers a paste that we can use if you get any real bad stains on there and that’s the preferred method for cleaning this awning on those bad case products. All right. Now for the interior. Now the interior of an Airstream, we’re going to use a lot of products that we may even have in our house and a lot of products that we use in the house. So, like when [00:02:00] I am cleaning the aluminum walls, or something like that, or any surface, the wood, the countertops, Pledge works really great. It’s going to give us a shine, it’s going to clean, it’s going to protect, so just use a good a Pledge. I like using a microfiber cloth, especially when I’m doing the aluminum on the inside just to keep scratches down. And just like the outside, we’re going to want to go with the grain, so identify the grain on the inside of your coach, and that’s the way we’re going to want to wipe.
Make sure that we do turn the rag over too, especially when your product is new. There may be some metal filings, or construction debris, or what we call shakedown in the unit and we just, want to make sure we don’t, scratch, the walls inside the unit. So our orange Pledge here. the other thing that we’re going to use is, we can use this regular household sponges with a mild soap and water solution, or even a, 409 multi-surface cleaner. That’ll work on most surfaces inside of our Airstream. when [00:02:30] I talk about light duty soap, just a little bit of Dawn dish washing liquid or anything like that. That can be done on most, areas inside the coach as well. When we do the floor, [00:03:30] I do recommend taking and sweeping the entire floor first, and we can use a mild soap and water solution, or we can use a Swiffer.
It doesn’t need to be anything aggressive. sometimes if we have something a little bit, harder to get off on a laminated surface, countertop, or maybe even some woodwork, we can make a paste. We’ll take a little bit of [00:04:00] 409 and a little bit of baking soda, put it in a cup, mix it up until we get a paste, and then we’d use one of our sponges, a little bit of warm water. [00:04:30] I don’t want to … Let the product do the work for us. Don’t get aggressive and push down on it and that’s when we may start marring the surface, things like that. If we have an issue with, say, like the curtain we have here in the kitchen, we can take just a regular dry eraser that we would have. if you’ve got kids, I’m sure they’ve got one of these kicking around or everybody’s owned one in his past, make sure it’s good and clean. You haven’t erased (laughs), something black on a piece of paper. And then we would just wipe the surface of, the shade right there.
Lysol is another one that is talked about a lot when we talk about Airstreams. That can do most anything in the bathroom area. It can do your glass, toilet bowl. It can do the shower walls and things like that. So, just a lot of common sense. light duty products, try a light duty mix before we start to get aggressive with things, and that’s going to keep the inside of your Airstream nice and clean, lasting a long time, and looking great in the future. So anyway, thanks for watching Pete’s RV TV with Randy today. We’re going to be, doing a lot more quick tips for you on this product so we love to see you guys come in. And remember, your adventure starts here.
The video of this presentation by Pete’s RV Center is available here
