Polish for plastic lights

Discussion in 'General Motoring' started by Mike Y, Oct 12, 2007.

  1. Mike Y

    Mike Marlow Guest

    Actually, you'd want the clear to be applied to as smooth a surface as
    possible. Underlying scratches get magnified (or at least to the eye they
    appear more exaggerated) by clear coat. The clear should adhere just fine
    to a glass smooth surface. The difference here between what a polish does
    and what clear does is that the polish fills the fine scratches with an
    opaque substance that hides them. Over time it washes out and the scratches
    seem to re-appear. With clear, you'd fill them with a clear substance which
    would hold up to washes and wear much longer, but would show those
    scratches. You can see this in re-paints on cars often. If the primer was
    not sanded with a fine enough paper, or if it was used as a filling primer
    and subsequently shrinks some, you'll see scratches in the underlying
    primer, through the clear coat.
     
    Mike Marlow, Oct 14, 2007
    #21
  2. Mike Y

    Mike Y Guest

    A friend told me he found some stuff at Wal-Mart and did the lenses
    on his Voyager. Worked well, but took a LONG time. He said he
    pulled the light off and spent a whole night of TV just rubbing away.
    But they came out pretty darn good.

    Anyway, I found this stuff called PlastX at Wal-Mart and I'm going
    to give it a try. Probably on the Intrepid first, since that's the worst
    of the two cars. In reading the bottle it says there's an 'oil' in the
    stuff that soaks in as well as a polishing agent.
     
    Mike Y, Oct 16, 2007
    #22
  3. Mike Y

    Brent Guest


    If any of you have a marine/boat store around, try using '210 Plastic
    Polisher' There is a paste, '210 plus' for the deep scratches and the
    spray to polish it. Stuff is fantastic and a little goes a long way.
    Headlights get it bad here in Florida

    b
     
    Brent, Oct 16, 2007
    #23
  4. Mike Y

    larryk Guest

    I've had pretty good success with the PlastX on my 2000 Intrepid headlights,
    which were getting fairly cloudy. You'll need to apply it every couple of
    weeks, but it did make a difference.

    YMMV, or course.
     
    larryk, Oct 18, 2007
    #24
  5. Toothpaste will work..
     
    William S. Hubbard, Nov 10, 2007
    #25
  6. Mike Y

    Bill Putney Guest

    For very light hazing. Anything more than that, and it would take you
    many hours to get one headlight polished out. Sometimes sandpaper is
    literally necessary to get it done in anything close to reasonable time.

    Bill Putney
    (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
    address with the letter 'x')
     
    Bill Putney, Nov 10, 2007
    #26
  7. Mike Y

    L.G.R. Guest

    Mechanical buffing will tend to overheat and melt the plastic. Go by hand
    with a 1200 black emery paper wet.
    L.G.R.
     
    L.G.R., Nov 10, 2007
    #27
  8. Mike Y

    Mike Marlow Guest

    Properly used, a buffer won't harm the plastic. It is a tool though that
    requires more than just pulling the trigger and laying it into the
    workpiece. For those not needing, nor wanting to master a buffer, those
    fairly cheap home quality buffers available at Sears, Wal-Mart, etc. do just
    fine. They don't spin fast enough to generate that much heat. You can
    indeed burn through clear coat with one, but you really have to stay on a
    point for a while to do so. They'd be fine for even the most inexperienced
    to use without damaging the lens.
     
    Mike Marlow, Nov 10, 2007
    #28
  9. Mike Y

    CLK Guest

    The polish at WalMart works perfectly - even for a non-mechanical guy like
    me. My headlights look like brand new.
     
    CLK, Nov 10, 2007
    #29
  10. Mike Y

    L.G.R. Guest

    If you say so.
    L.G.R.
     
    L.G.R., Nov 10, 2007
    #30
  11. Mike Y

    Mike Marlow Guest

    I polish them with my buffer all of the time. I use a real auto body buffer
    and not one of those cheap ones I mentioned in my post. Never melted or
    damaged a single lens.
     
    Mike Marlow, Nov 11, 2007
    #31
  12. Mike Y

    L.G.R. Guest

    Thanks. I will try that nex time.
    L.G.R.
     
    L.G.R., Nov 11, 2007
    #32
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