Polish that hazy instrument cluster

[QuaiChangKane]

Thought I'd pass this along....


I have a cheap wall clock in my garage, and had gotten some overspray on it, presumably from carb cleaner, some time back. The overspray had etched the plastic, so there were a bunch of spots on the face (lens) of the clock. I used some 2000-grit wet/dry paper to sand the etching out, and Mother's Billet Polish to buff the resulting haze out.


I was surpised at how clear the lens came - very, very minor swirling if at all. I only spent about 15 minutes polishing the clock lens, and I was expecting a bunch of swirling. Should be an excellent way to polish up your sunfaded or otherwise hazy plastic guage lenses, or any other clear plastic items you might have.

Not to mention, it's great for final or maintenance-polishing your stripped aluminum parts, like the name says.

$5 or $6 bucks at the local auto parts store, IIRC. I know it's hard to take the plunge to try a polishing creme on irreplaceable parts, so I thought I'd share my experience to be the sacrificial lamb. I think it would work well on your car's hazy headlight lenses, as well...?






-Q!

[catbed]

popular mechanics had an article not too long ago about clearing up your headlights. ill post it as it will work for gauges and headlights if anyone is interested.

[psyguy]

popular mechanics had an article not too long ago about clearing up your headlights. ill post it as it will work for gauges and headlights if anyone is interested.

i d be interested as i need to do that on my car
i used a car cut/polish paste before with seemingly great results on plastic headlight lenses, but the result didnt last too long, maybe only a year before it started looking all worn and yellow again

[Dogma]

i d be interested as i need to do that on my car
i used a car cut/polish paste before with seemingly great results on plastic headlight lenses, but the result didnt last too long, maybe only a year before it started looking all worn and yellow again

Same deal on my Grand Prix. I'd love to know how to clear that up. They looked new when I got the car (used) only a year ago.

[Matchless]

I have read that there is a special clearcoat that has to be put on the plastic lenses after buffing them, to provide UV protection otherwise they will yellow again. There are suppliers that provide a full kit for restoring plastic light lenses and people in the states that do that for a living in addition to fixing windshield chips at the secondhand car lots.
This may depend on the type of lens as not all go yellow. You will only know after a while though!

[catbed]

here ya go.

[bwringer]

If it's just a car headlight, sometimes it just ain't worth the trouble.

New headlight assemblies for many cars are surprisingly inexpensive:

http://headlightwarehouse.com

I've ordered from these folks many times and always been happy.

[Zooks]

I've got to get me one of those 'Chef's Choice Sharpening Stations'.

(not)

LOL

[hp1000s]

I used one of those Mother's polishing-balls in my cordless drill, w/ 3M Finesse-it product...15 minutes per lens on my Ford Ranger and they looked dramatically better. Maybe not as nice and long lasting as the PM procedure but night visibility was much better.

[Misterj1953]

Acetone.

Polishing compound.

Armor-all.

Repeat as necesarry.

No problem.

[GQROD]

Just a note to put in my 2 cents, Wal-mart sells a kit for clearing the plastic headlamps. It sells for $19.97 and IT DOES WORK, it contains 1000 grit to 2500 grit sandpaper, however it also contains two very important things, a rubbing compund (not as thick as a polishing compound) and the most important thing a PLASTIC SEALER. i used it on my ten year old cars headlamps which were very cloudy with great results for the $19.97 i spent. HOWEVER in hindsight i would have gone with 800 grit first wet and dry sandpaper or even 600 as there is a slight ghost image of the old hazing. I am though very happy with it as the lights for this car a 1997 dodge avenger are not cheap at $ 175.00 each not including bulbs. If they are sold out talk to the department manager for automotive and they CAN ORDER IT !! it may take three weeks though for them to recieve it. Be friendly and they can order anything on their shelves in bulk for you. The kit comes in a silver and blue tin foil bag. I will post the name as soon as i can find it. Hope this helps! if you use the chemicals sparingly you can get two cars done with the amount of ingredients in the kit!
Rod

[PAULYBOY]

A shop here in town does these. He finally gave up his secret on the radio last winter. He uses Abralon pads, which come in much finer grit than sandpaper and are foam backed so they will work wetsanding much better. as a final buff, he buffs them out with the cheapest TOOTHPASTE he can find. He charges about 150 for all 4 corners of a car. Toothpaste! Hah! I tried it on a 93 Lincoln Continental at work one day. Yep! we even splurged and used fresh, minty Crest. It still worked.