i have a set of 82-84 trans am louver taillights.

they look great when i clean them up with windex especially in the black areas.

but as soon as it drys their back to dull faded.

would those headlight kits help or some kind of compound any ideas?


something that will last alil bit?

 

I've used Meguiar's PlastX polish on my tailights and they look pretty good. I did mine by hand, I'm sure you can get alot better results if you use a buffer with light pressure and a bit of patience...do a quick search, i'm pretty sure I've seen a few threads that covered this, step by step

 

A good wax enhanced polish does the trick

 

Went sand with 1000 sandin papaer and reclear em.

 

 

Yep wetsand and use some clear on them, mine look nice like that for a good 7 years before I had to do it again and it just lost the wet look, still was nice. [cheap 99cent walmart clear] went from badly milky look to better then new.

Before


After

 

If you don't want to clear them, hit them with some 1000 grit wet, 1200 grit wet, 1500 grit wet, and then 2000 grit wet. You will then need to polish them. There are several brands of plastic polish out there, but Mothers is probably the best. I've run my orbital buffer over them with a wool pad and the plastic polish with quite good results. I've also cleared them before after 1200 grit wet-sanding with good results. It just depends on what you prefer.

 

I've got an 83 T/A so I am interested in seeing your results! Post up when you get em' polished.

 

paint them body car....

 

huh?

Id wetsand with 1200 grit minimum. then clear coat. Should look great.

 

Mothers cleaner will work the best! It's for plastic and dash boards! Looks new all the time after use. Look for the spray bottle of mothers cleaner!!

 

I use mothers also. Works better than McGuires IMO. I've tried both.

 

1000 grit wet sanding, 1200 grit wet and then use Flitz polish (Ace carrys it) on a cotton rag with some elbow grease.



Thats about halfway done. The right side is how I got it, the left side is after one round with the Flitz. For some reason I cant find the final pics but it came out glass smooth and glossy. In my experience clear coat can yellow and its just hiding imperfections by filling in rough spots that can be smoothed out with a little more work. You can also finish the process by buffing the lights with plastic buffing compound on a soft flannel buffing wheel, just do it at low speed as it can easily overheat and warp the plastic.

P.S. Flitz polish works on all types of materials, I have used it to finish buffed aluminum parts with great results. Works great on dull paint too!

 

I recently bought a really nice set of 91-92 TA taillights. Before installing them I'd like to wet-sand and clear them. My reason for clear coat is for UV protection and not having to re-polish later on. Any recommendations on clear coat?

 

I just use mother's car car spray. It soaks into plastic, stays shinny for days. And is easy to apply.