I restored the parking lights from my Camaro today. Here's what was needed:

-sandpaper (600 grit, 1000, 1500, 2000)
-Drill
-Soft buff wheel
-Emery, Tripoli, White rouge
-Blue Magic aluminum polish (or any other alum. polish)
-A good wax (I used Meguiars Gold Class)

First sand the plastic with 600wet, under running water. Repeat with 1000, 1500, and 2000 grits (wetsanding). You must wetsand otherwise the plastic clogs up the sandpaper, and leaves a dull finish to the plastic. After that its time to buff. Buff them with the Emery compound first, then wipe off excess. Then buff with Tripoli compound, etc etc. Repeat with the white rouge.

Then you can use a rag and polish them with the aluminum polish, I experimented and it takes out alot of fine scratches. Finally when you're done, wax the plastic with a good name brand wax to protect it, it also gets rid of some very fine scratches. Here are the results

Before-




To this...



I have yet to try any true "plastic polishing" compounds, but from what I hear they work pretty good. Although Tripoli compound is recommended for buffing plastics.

 

wow that came out real good.. thanks for sharing your work

 

you got great results, and not to upset you or anything..

but i did mine by wet sanding with 1000 grit, and then used alum polish.... results came out outstanding....

sand paper and the polishing compounds are cheap, but i just did mine with what i had and it came out excelent...



so anyone worried about foobaring your headlights by polishing too much, you may be able to just sand and finish polish..... its pretty much foolproof... jsut dont use a electric sander, lol....

 

I agree with ya completely man. Work with what ya got. Honestly, I found out how to polish plastic completely by accident and experimenting! These are just the steps which I have found work best.

One tip - Don't keep the drill in the same spot at high speed for too long, heat will build up. Just move it around slowly and you'll be fine.

 

That process looks like it worked well...BUT...there is a little easier way that could give similar if not better results.

Try plastic polishing compound from eastwood. All you need is a polishing wheel and the compound.

Here are the results from polishing my 3rd brake light on my other car....

 

I'm going to have to try it on my Tail lights...

THANKS for the info!

 

Just like polishing paint but easier.

 

Looks great!


I really don't see why you would use aluminum polish after, it is much more abrasive then rouge. Rouge should have gotten the fine scatches out.


Anyway, who cares, they look great

 

Wow, that looks great.

 

You just sved me money! I was gonna go buy new front lights because they look like yours did in the before pics! I want to leave work now and try it now! Thanks for the info! I will post before and afters when I get done but it might be a day or so.

 

Where can I get plastic polish (Advance/Autozone/Napa)?

 

You can get it from the Eastwood Company. Here's a direct link:

Plastic Compound

I just did my rear lenses w/ it...and some sand paper...I tell ya, like lookin' in a mirror!

 

Oh yeah, and Plastic Polish/Wax...pic up some Mothers Plastic Polish. It works great! So far, only place I saw it was at Murrays Auto. I'm sure you could order it. It's like $6 a bottle. I heard Meguiars PlastX is good too, but, I could only find that in little pouches at Autozone.

 

I used the blue compound from eastwood.

 

That's the stuff!!

 

Nice! I have to try that on the taillights on my Tahoe!!


Ken

 

I used Mothers on my 86 third brake light cover. Matches my black paint now!

I can't make heads or tails of joshp's picture... which way is up???

 

What all these guys said will work great.

I have yet to use some of the Eastwood plastic polish, I'm thinking about asking for some for Christmas.

 

I'll post pics of the job I did w/ my lenses...Maybe sometime tonight or tomorrow.

 

On the discussion of plastics...has anyone used any of these techniques on Lexan T-tops and did it work? The Meguiar's Plastic Kit did not remove any of the inperfections.

 

LoL...up is up. It's the 3rd brake light from my high rise spolier on my 95 TA....here is the tail lights of my 88 TA that have been polished with Eastwood Plastic polishing compound (blue stuff)...

 

Ah, ok, now I see! Not too familiar with 4th gen cars yet.

 

Josh,

That looks great (did you also polish your filler panel)

I need to do this to my tail lights also

 

For people who are looking for some plastic polish/cleaner locally, I picked mine up at Advance Auto Parts about a year ago... It was located in the marine section (where all the small batteries are and everything).. Two separate products, Meguiers Clear Plastic Polish and Clear Plastic Cleaner... Worked great when I polished the plastic behind the instrument bezel to remove fine scratches (how they got there I have no idea but Meguiers took em out)...

 

When using a buffing wheel on plastic, be sure to move the piece around a lot and do not apply a lot of pressure, or you'll damage your part....Ask me how I know

 

I'll post pics as soon as my DISPUTE w/ the host company is over...bastards! lol

 

Sure did.

Also, kind of off subject, but could you downsize your signature picture by about 150-200 pixels? I would appreciate it.

-Josh

 

I just used Blue Magic plastic polish found at many local auto parts stores. The difference that I think I found between using this and the compounds you guys are talking about using (with the drill and all that) is that I have to polish my plastic every once in a while (like paint). It seems like the way you guys are doing it will last longer. I have no pics, but I did it all by hand with a cloth. It seems like the results were fairly similar too.

-Jesse

 

With the drill and buff wheel, you can get into the finer crevises that a rag just can't reach. I mean, the wheel actually "digs" into the lense and gets out those little imperfections. The compound is like EXTREMELY small sand paper (in my opinion), and w/ high speeds, takes out ALL scratches and marks. I would HIGHLY recommend this method, as opposed to hand buffing.

 

......I don't own a drill. Otherwise I would use the buffing wheel!

-Jesse

 

Check small automotive/hardware stores. I got a 1/2" 3600rpm Impact Drill that is PERFECT for buffing small plastics, etc. w/. And the best part is, it was only $3!

 

At the most $20 at Walmart! I am doing my lights tonight so I will have pics up tomorrow or monday unless I screw em up then I will hide my shame from all of you!!!

 

$3 You need to pick one up for me bro

 

NICE!!!! im going to have to try that....

 

LOL I have been meening to do that

 

Heres mine....

My Cardomain site

 

Its amazing how much better they look for the small amount of work that it took. I also found a great cleaner to remove the scum that builds up inside the lights after 11 years of abuse and dirty water! Its called Greased Lightning...just put some in let it sit for a minute then shake it like its your.....uh.....well just shake it and its spotless!

 

i know this is a old thread but when you polished your park lights di you take the lens out? or did you just polish the outside? thanks for any help
Corey

 

I took the parking lights out of the car but that was it. I didnt seperate them or anything from the housing. Th main thing was getting a high strength cleaner inside the housing and letting it sit for a while to get rid of the scum inside.

 

"....Ask me how I know", ditto on the screw up. Make sure you don't allow much heat to build up.

 

thanks for the info! What do you guys recommend to let sit on the inside though to remove the "scum"?

 

I used Greased Lightning, not diluted at all. I let it sit for 15 minutes each light. It was great. Check out my link to my Cardomain site to see before and after.

Before and after