Help w/Plastic!!

[Calais]

The tail lights on my mother's Volvo 850 turbo wagon is HEAVILY oxidized and scratched.

I began by wetsanding with 1000 grit 3M paper, hardly put a dent. I figured that the scratches may just be amplified by chalked up plastic dust and decided to go ahead with 2000 grit and some M105 on the wool pad that comes with the headlight kit. The M105 did very little other than put a shine on the surface, it is still not clear. Because I was a little frustrated, I foolishly jumped to the most aggressive method I could think of: ~200 grit sandpaper (for wood) it scuffed the surface pretty bad and took a lot of passion just to get out the scratches.

I fixed the scuffing with 1000 and 2000 grit wetsanding and went ahead with M105 again. The light is more clear than it was when I started but only marginally; many of the scratches are gone but the plastic feels dry and brittle no matter what I do.

I may go at it again with some more paper tomorrow, maybe picking up some 500-600 grit for a more aggressive approach (than the 1000 grit). I may have to continue with the extremely aggressive 200 grit if necessary. This isn't paint wetsanding and I have got plenty to work with on these light. Any advice?

[Nappers]

Re: Help w/Plastic!!

Just keep working them!

Check this out from Joe - AKA: Superior Shine

PlastX -vs- Tail Lights

[Eddie6th]

Re: Help w/Plastic!!

Try 600. Cut across the scratches and not with them. See if it does it. Work your way up to 2000. You should be okay with the headlight kit...PlastX and pad. The plastic being that hard,would be very difficult by hand to remove the sanding marks.

If your doing it on the car,remember to mask off surrounding areas to protect the paint.

[Calais]

Re: Help w/Plastic!!

Just keep working them!

Check this out from Joe - AKA: Superior Shine

PlastX -vs- Tail Lights

Okay, this thread is very helpful. Thank you.

[Calais]

Re: Help w/Plastic!!

Does anyone know how aggressive M105 is versus ScratchX?

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Help w/Plastic!!

M105 is a huge jump up in aggressiveness over ScratchX 2.0. Of course, you method of application is going to play a role as well - M105 on a wool pad with a rotary buffer gives more & faster cut than M105 by hand, for example.

If you have a D/A polisher you might want to give that a go after your sanding process.

[Calais]

Re: Help w/Plastic!!

M105 is a huge jump up in aggressiveness over ScratchX 2.0. Of course, you method of application is going to play a role as well - M105 on a wool pad with a rotary buffer gives more & faster cut than M105 by hand, for example.

If you have a D/A polisher you might want to give that a go after your sanding process.

I meant PlastX, sorry about the typo. I tried M105 on a burgundy cutting pad with my G110 and got less than stellar results (yesterday).

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Help w/Plastic!!

If you've sanded with 200 grit and managed to correct that with subsequent passes of 1000 and 2000 grit, and even did M105 on a W7207 cutting pad with a G110 and the lights still don't look good they may simply be too far gone to restore. That is some seriously aggressive cutting/correcting you've done there. Do you have any pictures of these tails?

[Calais]

Re: Help w/Plastic!!

If you've sanded with 200 grit and managed to correct that with subsequent passes of 1000 and 2000 grit, and even did M105 on a W7207 cutting pad with a G110 and the lights still don't look good they may simply be too far gone to restore. That is some seriously aggressive cutting/correcting you've done there. Do you have any pictures of these tails?

I have a couple of pictures but they really do not convey how ravaged they are. I will try to take more and try again with some horrendously aggressive sandpaper followed by 1000>2000 and M105. If that doesn't do it I am willl just give up all together.

I also might add that when I was going at it with the cutting pad and M105 my G110 was on the dreaded speed of 6.