Im looking for the best way to restore the tail lights on my 85 Z. There not too bad, just a few scratches. So what i was thinking was to sand them down a little bit and wax them. I also want to get the molded letters and numbers off of them. So my question is... would 220 grit sand paper be too rough? I have some laying around and i would like to use that if possible.

 

Is the 220 you have wet sand paper? If not then don't even think of using is, it will gum up like crazy, 220 is too rough to begin with imo instead go to the store and buy an assortment pack of wet sandpaper, it should at a minimum have 320,600,1500 grit sheets. Start with 320 and sand the whole thing smooth, then move up to 600 then 1500 and then buy some polishing compound of some sort, i strongly recomend mothers mag polish, it's cheap and it works. That should take the 1500 grit scratches out is you take your time and really work at it (or if you have a buffer it shouldn't take long) then as a final coat i always like to use some nufinish to seal it all up. Don't waste your money on one of those cheap 30 dollar kits, they're such a joke.

 

Cool, thanks for the info. I think im going to do that when i get a little bit of extra cash that i can play with. Im going to re paint the separation lines back to flat black too.

 

220 grit would be way to rough. I probably wouldn't start with anything lower than 800 grit if there is really something that needs to be cleaned, like hazing. Best bet is to wet sand with 1000-1500 grit and buff them out. If there really isn't too much wrong with them though, don't go nuts, try just giving them a good buff and see how they look. When I was detailing I don't think we ever used anything lower than 1000 grit on headlights/tails.

 

Dans:

if you do it, throw in some before and after pics for us guys! i have been eyeballing mine lately, and was considering doing the same thing. i was just thinking of just only using 1,000 grit until my imperfections are gone, then use 1500, and polish.

 

theres numerous ways, as said above.

then after sanding theres this 3,2,1 polish kit you can buy online, i used it on my headlights and cleaned them up pretty nice.

you can use the headlight restorer for the taillights, Meguiars sells a kit with a pad that goes into a drill.

or if you have a bench buffer you can take the lights off and use that. i plan on doing that with my tail lights.

 

Will do. Like i said though there not too bad, just a few spots that are bugging me. And i really don't like the molded numbers/letters on them. I personally think they look tons better with out them.

 

yeah, mine arent too bad also, there is a scuff on it (that is livable), and looks like some sort of overspray on the center phoenix (how blue paint got on it i dont know, there is no blue on my car anywhere haha). that will come off no prob. but mine are just dull looking and that is the biggest thing that bugs me.

i'll probably have time to get around to mine within the next few weeks, (after i acquire buffer) i'll post up some pics

 

Same here. Gotta get the funds figured out, but when i do I'll post pics and a step-by-step.

 

I`ll just add my $.02...

I agree you are better starting higher, at like 1000 or so or whatever, unless your scratches are really bad. I mean, I only use 1000 to take out bad orange peel. I also use just a little bit of dish detergent in the water while sanding. If it were me, I would go up to at least 1500 before buffing. I like 3M rubbing compound after sanding, followed by meguires swirl and haze remover. I would also use Krylon semi-gloss black on the seperation lines...goes on nice, and is super cheap.

 

Alright. Thanks for the info.

 

I've used the fine scratch remover/ headlight restorer on tail lights and it turns out fairly well. my before you buy a ton of sand paper

 

as far as sandpaper what i've used was

400:600:800;1000:1500:2000

 

Scuff 'em up and clear 'em. Good as new.