Brett

Wow! Lots of possibilities, thanks.... I actually have used the 3M stuff on cars before, but was concerned about using a rotary buffer around all those rivets. I'm going to have to mull this over a bit, and perhaps try the least aggressive stuff first. If they don't produce good results with reasonable time & effort, I can always get more aggressive. Like I said, I HOPE to be able to repaint in a year or two anyway, so I really just want to eliminate the chalkiness and keep the metal protected until then. Not expecting miracles. I'll probably tackle this sometime in the next couple of weeks, and I'll report back with results. And before & after pics, assuming I don't forget to take them like I usually do...

I have both orbital and two-speed rotary automotive buffers. The two-speed works wonders on a good coat of urethane; can really bring out the shine in paint and remove orange peel. But I'm terrified of using it on my Mooney!. As Bonal suggested, I'll try the orbital with Meguire's combo wax.

So that's two votes for Meguire's... I've never used the two-in-one wax/cleaners, but I've had good luck with their products on cars, so I'll give it a try on the Mooney. On sober reflection I agree the Scotchbrite is overkill... While we're on the subject of paint; any opinions on the pros and cons of single-stage versus base/clear? I've painted a few cars (amateur-level only) and become fond of PPG base/clear, but the local paint-shop guy advocates single-stage. I have a pet peeve of sorts about not wanting a ridge between colors, and am concerned about achieving that with single stage. Thoughts?

Hi all, I'm looking for opinions on the best way to nurse my old paint until I can do a re-paint. I've got a 1980 201 with the original paint, although the accent colors were painted over at some point.. The plane is tied down in central Florida (yes, I'd love to keep it in a hanger but they seem to be unavailable in the area), and the white has become chalky. I'd like to repaint in a year or two, but my priority right now is getting a GPS in the panel, as I'd like to start my instrument training with it in place. I've thought about just giving it a thorough scrubbing with soap and water (using a Scotchbrite pad, perhaps?), and then waxing it. Anyone see a problem with this? Could the Scotchbrite do more harm than good? I assume there's not a major risk of the wax residue resulting in fish-eyes in the new paint, since it will need to be stripped...? Anyone got any tips or tricks for dealing with failing paint? Thanks, Brett.

Just spoke with the guy who will eventually be repainting the Mooney for me. His recommendation was to put something like, "Gear removed, disassembled and media blasted. Primed with [primer name & number] and powder coated with [PC name & number] and reinstalled." Unless I hear differently from Mooney, I'm going with that.

I have a partial answer: according the a rep from the Orland FSDO, if the manufacturer approves the process, the FAA is fine with it (no surprise there...). I did talk to a quality control guy from Mooney who said the process was fine and shouldn't even require recalculating W&B or anything. What he couldn't tell me was exactly what to put in the log. I assume something along the line of, "Gear removed and powder coated in accordance with xxx", but I don't know what xxx is yet. He transferred me to someone in tech support who supposedly could answer that, but again I got a machine. When I get a final answer I'll post an update. Of course, if someone who's already done it can answer that, I'd really appreciate it!

Actually, he's my mechanic and was posting on my behalf. I'm a low-time pilot and new to aircraft ownership: this 201 is my first airplane. I'm having work done anyway and asked him to remove the gear so I could get it powder-coated (I plan to have the whole thing repainted early next year). He raised what I thought was a valid concern: is powder coating of the gear on my Mooney safe & legal, and if so, what are the paperwork requirements? He and I are both trying to answer those questions (I left voicemail & email messages with Mooney; don't have a response yet), and that's why he posted the question. Neither of is slamming the process; quite the contrary... I WANT to get the powder coating done. We're just trying to understand if it can be done legally and how to do it right. By the way, the PT6 is because he does work on turbines...