AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2019 - 95

A CLOSE INSPECTION identifies archival swirls from previous polishing of the Vans RV-12-
all of which can be eliminated by the paint restoration process.

"People are skeptical," he admits. "It
sounds snake-oily, but it works. It lowers
maintenance time and provides protection. Even new paint can be improved
because we can remove much of the light
swirling that you get when polishing new
paint." The process is not a solution for
deep scratches or eroded paint.
A pilot and classic Bonanza owner,
Zarifkar eventually formed a company,

easy work of removing exhaust stains, a
common problem on turboprops. The
price doesn't include his travel and
related expenses. Travel costs can be
split if there's more than one airplane on
a field. There is no travel cost for airplanes
coming to him at any of the Minneapolis
reliever airports.
After studying the chemical properties
of numerous products, Zarifkar settled on a

The coating deepens the gloss even more and
makes the surface unbelievably smooth and
slippery-and adds UV protection.
Aviana Aircraft Detailing, and began
detailing airplanes full time. A typical
job for a four-place single starts at about
$2,900. Single-engine turboprops are in
the low $3,000 range. The coating makes

product line from Gtechniq, which is available only to professional detailers.
The process begins with paint restoration, which includes a low-water wash.
The no-rinse solution is diluted 256-to-1

and uses only a few ounces to clean a whole
airplane. A citrus-based degreaser worked
wonders on the Bonanza's belly. Next up is
paint correction, where Zarifkar uses a lowspeed buffer and a light polish to remove
oxidation-again a tiny amount of solution
is needed, one spritz of polish on the buffer every few minutes. The restoration does
an amazing job of bringing back the gloss.
Stubborn areas may need a somewhat more
aggressive approach. On my Bonanza, the
paint around the lower windshield frame
was particularly flat and took a lot of extra
work. The belly also presented its own challenges, especially just aft of the exhaust
stacks. Three decades and thousands of
flight hours of hot exhaust really does a
number on the paint finish. The results,
however, were impressive. Those two spots
didn't end up with the same depth of gloss
as the rest of the airframe, but there was significant and noticeable improvement.
Each step is followed by a careful rubdown and further examination using the
high-intensity light to ferret out any swirls,
especially those left over from previous
polishings.
The final step is application of the
ceramic coating, which comes in a very
small bottle. In total, an airplane the size of a
Bonanza will need only about 75 to 100 milliliters-less than three ounces. The coating
is wiped on, allowed to dry for a few minutes, and then wiped off.
The coating deepens the gloss even
more and makes the surface unbelievably smooth and slippery-and adds UV
protection. I've had to rethink some preflight procedures: carefully putting the fuel
strainer down on the wing; same with the oil
dipstick when adding oil. Otherwise, they'd
slide right off.
The RV-12 is similarly slippery and
remarkably glossy.
Six months later and 75 or so flight
hours after the work, both airplanes still
look terrific. I've ditched all the other cleaners and polishes I used before, especially to
remove bugs from the leading edges. After
flights, I use a spray bottle with water or
the highly diluted no-rinse spray to wipe
the bugs off. Occasionally I need a spritz of
the citrus cleaner for a tough spot and to
remove the belly grease.
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2019

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