Polishing Plastic Center Reflector.

[fastbacker]

My "Porsche" center reflector got something spilled on it. Maybe some solvent. The finish in that place looks kind of cloudy and isn't as smooth as the rest of the reflector. Is there a product that is like rubbing compound but used for plastic?

Thanks-
Craig Backer

[dweymer]

look for headlight polish:

http://www.************/shop.asp

search PN: PH-DIY
No idea how it works.

[Dan in Pasadena]

I did mine after I had a full windows out, new rubber respray.

Save yourself a LOT of effort and frustration at the results if you do it by hand. Go to Harbor Freight and buy a buffing wheel to put on your home bench grinder. If you don't have a bench grinder they're only $20 at HF! The buffing wheel and a stick of compound for plastic (make SURE you get the one for plastic) will only run you $10-12.

Go EASY, low pressure. Strong light to look at the panel at an angle so you can see if the scratches are going away. STOP as soon as they're gone. I did a full restore on mine including repaint of the black letters, repair of the reflective paint in back (+/-), re-glue of one of the mounts, then finished up with the polishing I am describing. Good luck and post pictures of your results, Dan

P.S. This is the only picture I have of my plastic polishing efforts to date. Can't find the ones of my 911, but you get the idea. These were cloudy and mildly scratched before. Near perfect after (If I do say so myself!)

[NY65912]

Craig,

there is a product called Novus plastic polish. I bought mine from Grainer but I know Performance Prods sells it as well. Use a terry rags and do by hand, three stages. Plastic looks like new!

Good Luck,

Mike

[jtfreels]

Not sure if this will help, mine had something on it, wax build up maybe, I tried a bit of Mothers "Back to Black" and it clean it up with no side effects.

[Phil Y]

Meguiar's #17, Plastic Cleaner, and #10, Plastic Polish, have worked very well for all things plastic. I "shaved" my Miata lenses, removing raised manufacturer's marks (which hold polish and dirt) by light sanding, followed by 400, 600, 800 grit sandpaper. Then two step Meguiar's and voila--as new polished surface. Liked the clean look so well, I did the 911 with good results. The products also worked on a Miata soft rear window and on my wife's Nissan headlights with great results. Made for use by hand. Widely available. Good luck!

[fastbacker]

Originally posted by dweymer
look for headlight polish:

http://www.************/shop.asp

search PN: PH-DIY
No idea how it works.

I bought this product. It uses two different polishing discs - one finer than the other.

I followed the directions but after using the coarser disc I noticed it dug gauges into the plastic. The finer disc helped smooth them out but over all, it's f'ed up.

If you are to use this product, I would reccomend against the coarser disc.

[jorian]

+1 on the novus product. We use this in the sign business for plexi and lexan. Works very well and comes in varying grits. Novus scratch remover would be my recommendation. Might help your pool game too!

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

There's a product called Micro-Mesh that is widely used in the aircraft bidness to polish out scratched Plexiglas windscreens, which is what airplanes have, not glass. When you're talkin' an inch-thich Lear windshield, that is a five-digit part, in dollars, so we need something to restore it if necessary. Micro-Mesh is a graduated series of different-grit fabric-backed wet-and-dry sandpaper, running from, as I remember, 1200-grit to 6000, and then you finish the job with jeweler's rouge.

[scottb]

Plus-1 for Micro Mesh. I've used it, and it works.

The trick is to go slow, and be sure you use a sanding block of some sort. Don't just use your hand, or the finish will be wavy. For something with a curve to it, you might try one of those flexible sanding blocks sold at Home Depot....the kind where you can insert the sandpaper from the Micro Mesh kit.

Here's a link to a bunch of different plastic restoration products, including Micro Mesh.

http://aircraftspruce.com/menus/cs/windshieldrestoration.html

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.

Scott

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

And Scott knows Plexiglas, if he flies a -47. I do love fling-wing...

[scottb]

How do you think I found out that using Micro Mesh without a sanding block is not a good thing?