Polishing plastic

[Anonymous]

Thought I had a great idea the other day.
The sides of my airbox look terrible, gray and weather worn. Figured if I get off the top layer and back to new material they'd shine like new.
So I wet sanded it with 220 and then used some polishing compound I had sitting around.
They cleaned up pretty nice but not to the level I'd hoped.

So did I quit too early or maybe not use the right method?
Is it even possible to restore that look of "brand new" to plastic?

Afraid if I paint it it'll just get tore up putting it back in the frame. It's a pretty tight fit.

 

[Doze]

Anytime you are polishing on plastic you need to remember that it is a much softer material than metal or even a urethane paint finish. For best results you should start out with about 1000 grit wet or dry paper (using it wet) and move on up to 1500 and then 2000 grit, after removing the scratches from the previous grit. When you've done that you can polish, starting with a medium compound the moving to a fine one and finally use a plastic conditioner.
Doze.

 

[Anonymous]

Anytime you are polishing on plastic you need to remember that it is a much softer material than metal or even a urethane paint finish. For best results you should start out with about 1000 grit wet or dry paper (using it wet) and move on up to 1500 and then 2000 grit, after removing the scratches from the previous grit. When you've done that you can polish, starting with a medium compound the moving to a fine one and finally use a plastic conditioner.
Doze.

Don
I have a chrysler van and the headlight on one side has a lense that is getting a bit rough and clody looking. It seems that in order to replace it i will have to mortgage my house. Is there a elbow grease type fix for getting the lense clear again??

 

[moto_dan]

Anytime you are polishing on plastic you need to remember that it is a much softer material than metal or even a urethane paint finish. For best results you should start out with about 1000 grit wet or dry paper (using it wet) and move on up to 1500 and then 2000 grit, after removing the scratches from the previous grit. When you've done that you can polish, starting with a medium compound the moving to a fine one and finally use a plastic conditioner.
Doze.

Don
I have a chrysler van and the headlight on one side has a lense that is getting a bit rough and clody looking. It seems that in order to replace it i will have to mortgage my house. Is there a elbow grease type fix for getting the lense clear again??

I'm not Don but, try one of the Novus plastic polishing products. I've used the #2 on plastic(supposed to be clear) headlight covers with good results. It is also a good product to polish up face shields and wind shields. Here's a link http://www.noscratch.com/novus/

 

[Doze]

Scotty, if your van lense is just getting hazy with no severe scratches in it, what Dan suggests is a good idea. Meguires also has a very good plastic cleaner/polish. If you are actually trying to remove scratches from the lense, then follow the instructions in my previous post. :wink:
Doze.

 

[Anonymous]

Scotty, if your van lense is just getting hazy with no severe scratches in it, what Dan suggests is a good idea. Meguires also has a very good plastic cleaner/polish. If you are actually trying to remove scratches from the lense, then follow the instructions in my previous post. :wink:
Doze.

I have a 2 part system and am rubbibg my hands off there is alittle improvement but still rough to the feel and not clear. any suggestions--could i use some sort of buffing device on it or somethng else.????

 

[moto_dan]

Scotty, if your van lense is just getting hazy with no severe scratches in it, what Dan suggests is a good idea. Meguires also has a very good plastic cleaner/polish. If you are actually trying to remove scratches from the lense, then follow the instructions in my previous post. :wink:
Doze.

I have a 2 part system and am rubbibg my hands off there is alittle improvement but still rough to the feel and not clear. any suggestions--could i use some sort of buffing device on it or somethng else.????

What are you using? You can buff out plastic with a buffing wheel and different compounds, but exercise care. Some plastics have a coating for extra protection and using abrasives will remove this coating. Again I used Novus #2 on my Ford Van Plastic Headlight lens cover and it cleared it up as new.

 

[Anonymous]

Scotty, if your van lense is just getting hazy with no severe scratches in it, what Dan suggests is a good idea. Meguires also has a very good plastic cleaner/polish. If you are actually trying to remove scratches from the lense, then follow the instructions in my previous post. :wink:
Doze.

I have a 2 part system and am rubbibg my hands off there is alittle improvement but still rough to the feel and not clear. any suggestions--could i use some sort of buffing device on it or somethng else.????

What are you using? You can buff out plastic with a buffing wheel and different compounds, but exercise care. Some plastics have a coating for extra protection and using abrasives will remove this coating. Again I used Novus #2 on my Ford Van Plastic Headlight lens cover and it cleared it up as new.

I have meguires and i would like to be sure i can use a polishing wheel

 

[Anonymous]

plastic polishing

plastic polishing

You can use a wheel, but make sure you don't use one more than 1800 rpm, and use NO pressure, just a light gental touch, it will melt the plastic otherwise (I did that experimenting with different stuff). I would recommend a canton flannel wheel, and a plastic buffing compound, you should be able to find that though Harbor Freight tools, or Eastwood.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Slopoke,
I saw a topic a while back on how to clearup those hazy windscreens. their method supposedly worked well, may work on you lens if you havnt solved it yet, Youll need to search the old files.
Stimp

 

[Keith Winter]

Polishing plastic

Just thought I would submit what I did on my 78 GS 1000 tail light lens. It was scratched, faded and looked like it had been cleaned with steel wool. I wet sanded it with 600 then went to 1000 and finally 1500 grit. After that I sprayed a coat of clear laquer on it, and it look's like brand new. That was 2 years ago and it still looks like new. Since then I have done alot of plastic, including the yellowed chrome trim around the tail light, the same way with perfect result's. Don't try face sheild's though it won't work!

 

[Anonymous]

I've got a biker mate who swears by this stuff.

http://www.plexusplasticcleaner.com/plexus.html

http://www.plexusplasticcleaner.com/cyclef.html


Kim

 

[terrybird]

"Don't try face shield's though it won't work! "

What will?

 

[Dark Jedi]

"Don't try face shield's though it won't work! "

What will?

A new sheild. :?

Been there, done that. Nothing ever worked enough to make it useable. Your vision is the last thing you want obscured on a bike.

 

[Anonymous]

"Don't try face shield's though it won't work! "

What will?

Do you mean Plexus doesn't work on face shields? My friend reckons it's terrific on shields, especially for clearing rain. Is his experience better than most?

Kim

 

[Anonymous]

In regards to my Tachometer/Speedometer unit....what if I wanted to make the black plastic part look new? Would all I'd have to do is cover it with the appropriate black paint? Or would I have to go through this whole plastic sanding routine?

Rudi
1980 GS1100E

 

[crag antler]

Re: Polishing plastic

Thought I had a great idea the other day.
The sides of my airbox look terrible, gray and weather worn. Figured if I get off the top layer and back to new material they'd shine like new.
So I wet sanded it with 220 and then used some polishing compound I had sitting around.
They cleaned up pretty nice but not to the level I'd hoped.

So did I quit too early or maybe not use the right method?
Is it even possible to restore that look of "brand new" to plastic?

Afraid if I paint it it'll just get tore up putting it back in the frame. It's a pretty tight fit.

I had the exact problem on my airbox.
Over a few weeks, I found that just by applying cleaner wax(Mequires) and a little elbow grease the color has really come back. A little fingernail scrapping to get the old grey color off and some Armor-All and now they look new.

Rudi, for the gauge covers try ArmorAll and patience. You should see an improvement over time.

 

[Anonymous]

Doug,

I don't suppose you could send some pics of your work? I'd really like to see how it turned out.

Thanks!

Rudi
1980 GS1100E

rudi_anger@yahoo.com

 

[crag antler]

I'll go out to the barn and get you a few pics.

 

[crag antler]

Here a before and after look:
Before

After

A little better then it was. Still have to do a little more polishing to it.
As you can see, I was able to get the grey scaling off 8)