73-87chevytrucks.com
73-87 Chevy _ GMC Trucks => Body, Glass & Paint => Topic started by: JJSZABO on September 08, 2008, 08:50:35 am
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Hey guys.
Had some time on my hands last Saturday during tropical storm Hanna, so I decided to restore the tail lights. I bought these taillights at the junk yard for 5 bucks. They were in sad shape with dull scratched plastic lenses. I wanted to use these taillights because I wanted the stainless steel trim rings.
I started with buffing the stainless steel rings with my cotton buffer on my 8 inch bench grinder. Then I wet sanded the plastic lenses with 1000 grit, then 1500 grit and finally 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper. I then started to buff the lenses with Prests Ultra cutting cream and my Makita buffer with a black wool pad. Then switched to Presta's 1500 Polish with a green wool pad on the Makita and then finally Presta swirl remover with a blue foam pad and this is the results:
The lens on the right is what I started with and the lens on the left is after this process (sort of a before and after). The lighting wasn't very good but the lens on the left looks BRAND NEW. Look at the light deflection.
(http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o317/jjsabol/IM001479.jpg)
If you decide to do this, REMEMBER - 2 to 3 quarter sized blobs of Presta 1500 will do an ENTIRE full size pickup hood, so a little Presta goes a long way. I used a small drop of Presta and spread it with my fingers before I started to buff.
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Looks good. The guy from Permatex came in and gave me a bunch of free samples. Their headlight restoration kit works good too
http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com/(wixnvoibnsl4nvq5wafo422z)/productdetails.aspx?sku=8199515&source=GoogleBase
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I've never used that kit before.
I have the Presta on hand to color sand and buff the truck when I get it finished - so I thought i'de give it a try on the tail lights and it worked.
I am going to color sand the truck to kill the orange peel I have and then buff it. After the truck, I have my daughters 93 Toyota Celica paint to bring back to life.
I never used Presta before - but I like it.
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great work. i was going to replace mine but I'll try that first. looks great!
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If they are not scratched to bad just a good cleaning and Pledge furniture polish works good too.
But those look good.
I have buffed them before with a heavy cut, then step up to medium, then to a polish.
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Meguiar's makes a pretty nice product called Plast-X that is a clear plastic cleaner and polish. I bought this stuff last year at local auto parts store for $6 and it cleaned up my taillights real nice on my '77. I used it by hand with a terry cloth on the outside and inside of my lens and it is crystal clear now.
Here is the link
http://www.meguiars.com/estore/product_list.cfm?sectionname=Consumer%20(Meguiar's%20Brand)>Clear%20Plastic%20Care§ionID=15101
Here is a link of the before and after results of someone else
http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showpost.php?s=f10e0529623b2d77599c9828b045d046&p=27023&postcount=3
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Meguiar's makes a pretty nice product called Plast-X that is a clear plastic cleaner and polish. I bought this stuff last year at local auto parts store for $6 and it cleaned up my taillights real nice on my '77. I used it by hand with a terry cloth on the outside and inside of my lens and it is crystal clear now.
Here is the link
http://www.meguiars.com/estore/product_list.cfm?sectionname=Consumer%20(Meguiar's%20Brand)>Clear%20Plastic%20Care§ionID=15101
Here is a link of the before and after results of someone else
http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showpost.php?s=f10e0529623b2d77599c9828b045d046&p=27023&postcount=3
Yeah, that Meguiar's Plast-X product really works well. I used it recently on the plastic headlight lenses on my wife's Nissan Altima (was cleaning and detailing the car to sell it) and it worked great!
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I have the Meguiar's Plast-X and it is good stuff. But as bad as those lenses were, deep scratches, Plast-X would not have been able to touch them.