Plastic Polish availability in Australia and some other questions

[oddglob]

Hi,

I recently took delivery of a new Mazda but I noticed that the clear cover on the instrument panel has fairly fine scratches along the bottom couple of inches, making it difficult to read the instruments when the sun reflects in those scratches. I guess this occured when the car was being cleaned at some stage prior to delivery, as they were there right from when I took delivery of the car.

Anyway, I have decided that since I would be prepared to spend a lot of time restoring the cover to near perfect condition, I won't be asking the dealer to fix it (I doubt they would make it much better anyway and there is no way they would spend hours fixing it like I would).

I am a Meguiars user from way back and used to have the old Plastic # 10 and # 17 products. I remember doing a similar fix to a car I had years ago and these products produced a first class result.

Unfortunately it looks like these products have disappeared off the Australian market, since the Australian website now only lists the Plast-X product.

I'd just like to confirm that the only plastic restoration product I can buy in Australia is the Plast-X product please?

Also, I just have a few questions on the product. I am trying to practice on a CD cover first, as I'd like to have the technique down pat before going to the real thing. It seems that the scratches on the instrument panel could possibly be a little too deep if I my practice CD cover is anything to go by (I made the scratches in the CD cover with 00 grade steel wool). I'm wondering if the scratches are too deep, whether I could remove them first with micromesh (going through the grades until I get to 12000) and then use the Meguiars product?

Also, can I use the Meguiars Microfibre towel (the gold colured thing) to both apply and remove Plast-X, as I feel I might achieve a much superior finish that way?

Thanks

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Plastic Polish availability in Australia and some other questions

Hi oddglob,

Welcome to Meguiar's Online!

PlastX is very different from M10 and M17, it contains a diminishing abrasive that will enable you to remove a wide spectrum of defects from most clear plastics. We use the word 'most' in the last sentence because when it comes to some plastics, they have a coating on them that if abraded will remove the coating and the plastic will not look the same where it's been cleaned and never will look the same again.

Also, some plastics are either very hard or very scratch-sensitive and don't lend themselves to being cleaned with any product that uses any kind of abrasive with the intended purpose of removing small particles of plastic in the effort to remove a defect and restore a smooth, clear, even optically clear surface.

Don't want to scare you from trying because sometimes you find yourself in a position where you're stuck between a rock and a hard place in that you can't live with the problem but there is no sure fire fix.

The reason I post all of the above is because we've had many tremendous success stories posted on this forum from our customers that use PlastX and a handful of people who have posted their problems when working on instrument gages and stereo/radio faces.

That said,

"You don't know what you can do until you try"


With plastic in the condition you describe, you are in a position where you can't make it any worse than it is even if what you try doesn't work. That is outside having the damaged piece replaced with a brand new component.

So if you want to try PlastX on your instrument gage plastic, then the best approach is to "Test in an inconspicuous area" first and if it works in this area the attempt to work on the rest of the plastic.

We're going to forward the link to this thread to Tom McDonald and Mike Pennington because I know both of these gentlemen have had experience both good and bad with these types of issues and if they have anything to add I'm sure they will chime in.

[Mike Pennington]

Re: Plastic Polish availability in Australia and some other questions

Mike hit the nail on the head. You really don't know until you try

Now that does sound odd, but you have no idea how deep they are until you begin.

With that said, one, two, maybe even 3 attempts with PlastX will remove them or at least minimize them dramatically. The important thing to remember is be careful with your applicator because that can instill scratches !!!! The yellow microfiber will be a great applicator and removal tool as well !!!

We have had great success with PlastX over and over, on clear plastics with no UV coating and we are confident if they can be removed by hand, then PlastX is your solution !!!

Just remember, be patient and take your time

Mike

[oddglob]

Re: Plastic Polish availability in Australia and some other questions

Thanks for the replies. OK, I will try just the Plast-X first to see how it goes.

I'm just wondering if there is some way to tell upfront whether the plastic is coated or not (other than trying in an inconspicuous area first).

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Plastic Polish availability in Australia and some other questions

Thanks for the replies. OK, I will try just the PlastX-X first to see how it goes.

I'm just wondering if there is some way to tell upfront whether the plastic is coated or not (other than trying in an inconspicuous area first).

Try to contact the manufacture, or some Representative of the manufacture... (good luck).

If this defect is on a brand new car, and it's the dealership's fault or it's how it was given to you, why don't you put the responsibility and liability on them? Print this thread out, (Landscape mode works best), and take it, the car and PlastX to the dealer and let them try, or let them get the answer for you?

It's a hassle yes, but so is replacing the plastic lens after the fact. Or just give it a go and see what happens.

[oddglob]

Re: Plastic Polish availability in Australia and some other questions

Hi Mike,

Well as I alluded to in my original post, I can't really see the car dealer devoting 4 hours of labour (maybe even more - I estimate this job would take me about 8 hours at least to do properly) or replacing an entire instrument panel cover on account of scratches all along the bottom inch or so of the cover. Not for a mass-produced, inexpensive Japanese car, anyway. There is absolutely no way in the world the dealership would do a better job than I could, so that really only leaves the replacement route. And even then, who is to say that the effort in replacing the panel might introduce more problems with the car (direct or indirect) or the replacement panel will just get scratched again during the installation. It would only take one, single wipe with a rag to remove a fingerprint and the damage is done all over again.

My gut instinct tells me that getting the dealer to do anything would be a last resort option - even if it means I would have to pay to get it replaced because I stuffed up trying to fix it myself. And I can't see any way the dealer would agree to replace it first up as it looks now. I've been there done that with car dealers over the years when it comes to scratched or dodgy paintwork. They just don't go fixing up things like that. Things have to be really bad before they will do anything under warranty when it comes to cosmetic issues. It ends up being far less hassle just to try it yourself and if you fail, then pay to have it done or just be content with whatever result you ended up with.

I also can't see a car dealer fixing a warranty item and accepting responsibility for it when using tools that I provided to them (in this case the "tools" being some Meguiar products). I certainly wouldn't do things that way if I ran the warranty department.

That said, if this was my previous car I would not have worried. The panel on this new car is angled in such a way that the sun can reflect directly on the plastic and back to my eyes - but only when the sun is at certain angles of course, whereas in my old car (a Ford built by Mazda as well), the panel angled downwards, so I never got the reflection issues with any scratches that might have existed.

Anyway...

It turns out that M10 and M17 are still available in Australia, at least from my local Autobahn (who had M10 but have to order M17 for me). I also bought some Plast-X today too, as well as the blue MF cloth (is the blue one better than the gold?).

My experimentation with CD covers has actually produced unsatisfactory results with both the Plast-X as well as a competing brand of plastic cleaner (which is also uses a "one part" approach). They may remove scratches, but despite the utmost care on my part and trying numerous methods / pressures / application and removal materials, both products ended up leaving their own scratches in the plastic. And I don't really know the "new" scratches were preferable to the "old" ones. I know that this result is consistent with some other posters who have reported problems when using Plast-X. At least the competitor's product did the same thing - and to the same degree as well. And I should say that I have no hard feelings towards the Plast-X product, since the Plast-X wasn't my preferred choice anyway and it is far cheaper than the two part M10/17 Mirror Glaze plastic products.

On the other hand, I did not have the above problem with the M10 polish. Whilst I don't have the M17 cleaner yet, I did try the polish and any residual scratching was very minor - it would be absolutely impossible to notice under normal driving conditions. I needed particular, strong lighting conditions and specific viewing angles in order to notice any polishing artifacts at all after using M10. This was achieved when using the blue MF cloth for both application and removal.

So at this stage, I will wait till I get the M17 and try another couple of CD covers first.

I'm still a bit concerned that the the scratches in the panel are a bit too deep for remedial work with M10 and M17, as they seem to be roughly the same depth I would get were I to scratch a CD cover with the finest grade of steel wool. I will still try an initial micromesh approach on a CD cover just to see what artifacts that particular restoration system will leave (the 12000 micromesh is incredibly fine but I have only ever used micromesh on wood and laquer before). If I did use micromesh it would be finished off by the M17 and M10.

As for asking Mazda about the existence of a coating on the panel, well I think the chances of getting a straight answer on that one are between Buckley's and none! It just seems to be a simple piece of ordinary acrylic to me.


EDIT: I did ring Mazda anyway. Whilst they were not certain, they believe the cover is ordinary, clear untreated plastic.

[oddglob]

Re: Plastic Polish availability in Australia and some other questions

Hi again,

I seem to be having much more success on my "trial runs" this morning using PlastX. The only difference between today and yesterday is that I am only working on a very small area at a time (about 3 cm x 2 cm) and I am using higher pressure (one finger, a bit higher than the pressure I would use to ring a door bell).

There are still some scratches from the process, but nothing like before. And certainly no nowhere near as bad as the original scratches I am trying to remove.

Is there a particular reason why this method would be working better than my original method? (the original was lighter pressure, but a bigger area at a time - around 12 cm x 12 cm).

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Plastic Polish availability in Australia and some other questions

Is there a particular reason why this method would be working better than my original method? (the original was lighter pressure, but a bigger area at a time - around 12 cm x 12 cm).

Yes, it's likely because the plastic is hard and doesn't lend itself well to being abraded easily. Just like working on hard clear coats, the harder the paint the smaller the area you work.

After you've done the heavy work, re-apply fresh product and re-polish with lighter pressure to remove any light scratches from the process, try going at a diagonal direction to the previous direction you moved your finger.

[oddglob]

Re: Plastic Polish availability in Australia and some other questions

Well I started on the car today, since I didn't really have anything to lose. The good news is that the cover is not coated - infact the plastic seems to behave similarly to the CD covers I was practicing on.

The bad news is that I got nowhere with the PlastX. I spent a few hours trying lots of different techniques but all I was left with were different scratches than before. (At least with the car I feel I am fairly free to experiment since the plastic isn't coated).

I then tried a non-Meguiars product that worked better than the Plast-X - both in removing the original scratches and not leaving too many new ones. But the job still looked pretty ordinary (light scratches and a slight lack of sheen), so I will wait until I get the M17 and have another go then.

So far the M10 polish works best, but of course it doesn't really do anything much to remove any of the underlying scratches. As I said earlier, I will try some micromesh on a CD cover when I get it. Perhaps I will get a better result by preparing the plastic with micromesh then moving to M17 followed by M10.