Thomas,

I’d use the hardest wax . Good furniture or floor wax. Real floor wax.

It’s quite good. I’ve seen it used out here on the west coast on bright finished aluminum ( yes, back to aluminum :-) ) on boats. Does a good job and easily re applied.

I’ve used it on bright finished doo dads on my van and it lasts longer than you’d imagine.

You want a thin layer. Just like doing furniture.

The hinge thing makes me wonder if someone talented in fabric could make a zip on gaiter to cover the mechanism but no get caught up in the gubbins.

Alistair 

> On Jul 7, 2021, at 8:17 AM, Thomas Casal <thomas.casal@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> Thanks everyone for your input.
> Alistair, I have waxoyl cavity wax and hard wax. I'm guessing the cavity wax would be best for this application unless you'd recommend a different brand all together. What do you feel is the better option wax, paint or both paint then wax? I feel like the paint will need some type of lubricant on it so it doesn't turn to dust as well. You aren't feeling a silicone type lubricant in this application?I'm sure nothing is a perfect solution.
> 
>> On Wed, Jul 7, 2021 at 9:51 AM Alistair Bell <albell@shaw.ca> wrote:
>> Thomas,
>> 
>> Aluminum dust? The hinges are steel, with electroplated galvanized coating ( zinc) . The hinge bolts steel too.
>> But I do agree that the dust is from the mechanism rubbing.  If you don’t want to paint the hinges, try some hard car wax.
>> 
>> Alistair 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> > On Jul 6, 2021, at 2:26 PM, Thomas Casal <thomas.casal@gmail.com> wrote:
>> > 
>> > That’s what I thought it was but it looks so black. Anyway to stop creating
>> > the aluminum powder?
>> > 
>> >> On Tue, Jul 6, 2021 at 1:25 PM <stuartmacm@gmail.com> wrote:
>> >> That's mostly aluminum powder from the hinge wearing, and likely can't be
>> >> cleaned off, since it's so fine and embedded in the fibers.  No way for
>> >> much "dirt" to get up there.
>> >> Stuart
>> >> -----Original Message-----
>> >> From: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com> On Behalf Of
>> >> Thomas Casal
>> >> Sent: Tuesday, July 6, 2021 7:23 AM
>> >> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>> >> Subject: Pop top canvas hinge dirt
>> >> Hey volks,
>> >> What do you guys do to prevent the hinge dust from soiling your pop top
>> >> canvas? I have a few year old canvas and it looks terrible with that hinge
>> >> dirt on it. I don’t even know if an upholstery cleaner will clean it. Peace
>> >> Tom
>>