Polish Tail Lenses

[GTP091]

Does anybody have any good proven ideas on how to polish the lenses on tail lights?? I removed the colored inserts and filled/sanded, then painted the housing inside years ago. Looks great with LEDs but the lenses themselves have years of washing scratches on them and look dull. I'd like to polish them up but don't know where to start to make them look new again. I've seen clear plastic that has been polished to new again but have no idea how it was done. I'd imagine very fine sandpaper and plastic don't mix well. maybe a rotary buffer and special rubbing compound??

 

Mike

[RobertISaar]

for the MC, i used fine sandpaper and then clearcoated them... seems to have held up well, even though when the clear was going on, it looked like it was going to cloud.

[3.1cutlass]

for the MC, i used fine sandpaper and then clearcoated them... seems to have held up well, even though when the clear was going on, it looked like it was going to cloud.

I saw on trucks a few weeks ago they just used the headlight kit you can buy from the parts store and it worked very well.

[LukeZ34]

A light to medium compound and a DA or rotary polisher with a medium cut pad will work wonders on lenses. Just be sure to seal them with a good sealant or wax after wards.

[GTP091]

I do have a 10" orbital polisher. Maybe I can try polishing with a light cutting compound and the proper pad. I do have a spare I can do a test run with first. I tried using a clear coat on my instrument cluster years ago with poor results it looked ok but was slightly rough to the touch.

[alec_b]

I usually wet-sand lenses with 1000-2000 grit by hand, then use a medium grit rubbing compound with an orbital and then step down to the headlight-restore-in-a-bottle (which is really just super fine compound) and a fresh pad on the orbital. After all that if you want to clear them you could or just use a good wax to seal them up.

[Grand Moff Joseph]

A light to medium compound and a DA or rotary polisher with a medium cut pad will work wonders on lenses. Just be sure to seal them with a good sealant or wax after wards.

 

What he said!

[ss427]

You only need to sand if you have deep scratches (something you can catch a fingernail in). Otherwise just wash with soap/water, dry, and have at it with a buffer and some compound or plastic polish. You can do the same with a cloudy dash lens, only a slightly different procedure. I'll do a writeup on that one of these days.

[Garrett Powered]

urethane clearcoat. is the best I have seen. almost too shiny though.