I am trying to improve the appearance of the engine bay in my 87 IROC. First thing is I want to make the air filter housing look better. I had to replace my original with a used one, and have spent some time cleaning off glue from stickers and embedded grime.

It looks clean now, but dull. Is there a way to polish it and restore it to like new appearance? Any tips for polishing plastic?

 

how do you polish tail lights.....?

 

use armor all...works wonders....also ever wondered "is there a easier way to clean door jams?" use glass cleaner...im not sure ft it harms the paint..but mine from a year ago still hasnt harmed the paint...try it..espically try the armor on the plactic stuff "hey it works inside why not outside"

 

Hey man, just wondering what did you use to clean off the sticker glue?? I have some on my air filter housing as well and i'd like to clean it off this summer...

 

use wd-40 and some paper towels to get off sticker glue

 

wd-40??? really?? I woulda never thought of using that....

 

its not the easiest thing todo..the smell starts gettin to u (depends on if u are gettin alot off or just a little) and its time consuming....it works for gettin tint off too

 

Lighter fluid can also be used. It will not harm paint but it will break down glue and you can wipe the glue off when done. Also, for polishing plastic, you could also try wax. It worked for me.

 

i got something funny i thought id add..tonight i was out cruzin in my maro...some guy that goes to my skool tried to race me....ok stop light racing...but h drives a toyota paseo..lol that is the saddest car ive ever seen.....HAHHAHA ...ok that was way off topic but its still funny stuff

 

Armor All is a dust magnet...don't want that on the outside of my car let alond the engine bay. As for plastic you can buff it with that 3M swirl mark remover makes all the hazyness go away. They sell this plastic polish at my local Pep Boys can't remember the name though, I haven't used it be from reading the bottle it seems like it does the trick.

 

In Australia, Meguires make something called Detail Polish. It does wonders on plastic and lasts several weeks. Easy to apply. Also, try metholated spirits on the decals.

 

Guys do yourself a favor and steer clear of Armour All. Don't use it anywhere. You can use the cleaner, but not the conditioner. Amour All contains water and over time it actually dies out your plastic pieces. Its just stuff that leaves a shiney residue fro the time being. It may even draw moisture out of the plastic (not sure) Ask people who used it and their dashes crack!

Stick with Black Magic Products. I still have my original dash and it is a plyable as the day it was made. Black Magic has plasticizers (sp) that actually give your dash back what the sun and heat bakes out. It also has a UV protectant. The thick silicone formula is great for keeping your weather stripping and trim in great shape. I have t-tops with original weather stripping and no leaks.

Ok on topic. On my tailights, I had some serious uneveness to remove & some serious scratches, so I used sandpaper. I tried the light 1000-to 2000 grits at first, but it did not get out the scratches I was going for, so I got more aggressive and worked my way back out. This was inside a lens, so power buffing was not possible. If you use a buffer, you have to be careful not to generate too much heat with the buffer or you will melt the plastic. I did mine by hand with rubbing compound then polishing, then Scratch out, then the final glaze they use on cars when buffing out paint. Each step removed more and more of the haze till it was gone and shiney again. Again mine had a very severe problem. Most do not need that aggressive of cutting.

In most cases, you can simply use a polishing compound, or a scratch remover. I think 3m makes a product just for removing scratches in plastic. You only go as harsh as you need to to remove the blemish. Too aggressive and you will make a bigger mess. Plastic is like polishing metal. As much as you can do with liquid compounds the better.

 

go to home depot and get goo-begone.

cuts the sticker glue in a heartbeat

 

I have some Goo-Gone and its one of the best products on the face of the earth to remove ANY adhesive(sp) but yeah its great cost about $5 at home depot or lowes or w/e you got around you.

 

No, glass cleaner wont harm your paint, it is just a good spirit cleaner.

Use it as your "get out of jail free" card. if your not sure what to use, use glass cleaner, just avoid textured surfaces like dash pads, unless your going to dress them with something else, otherwise they could look dull.

 

i tried using glass cleaner on my paint one day on my old camaro, the spot i did looked really good because the paint was dull from not being washed for a long time, but it would be to hard to do over the whole car

 

To polish plastic use "mothers" stage 1. It is a precleaner and does wonder for removing years of caked on dirt and sun fade.

 

I once used car wax on my taillights. They looked shiny and it didn't harm the taillights.

 

87Kevroc....like Jeffsbluez... said try mothers precleaner/polish. I just used it on my filter box a few months back and it still looks great. The more you use it the brighter it gets.

 

Works great on the tailights too!

 

Trying to get the glue and grime off I resorted to sandpaper (600), which worked to clean it up, but scratched it, causing the dull finish.

Thanks for the tips, I think I'll try the Mother's first and see how that works.

 

The Mother's stage I did the trick. I suppose it's really intended for paint, but did a really good job on plastic. Looks 100% better. Thanks again.

 

True... it does work wonders! But man, it's not the greatest on those foil-type AAA bumper stickers!!! Previous owner had that on the back bumper.... what an idiot

 

SIMPLE GREEN! IT CURES ALL!