haste
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2005
- Messages
- 8,016
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you can get rubbing compound anywhere pretty cheap
I'm going to restore one of the headlights on my jetta this weekend, and I'll try and remember to report on the results. I'll be using the method I used when I worked at a watch repair shop to restore the domed plastic glass on old Rolex and Omega watches; using increasingly fine grained sand paper, and finishing with a rag and brasso. You start with around 400 grit sandpaper (more or less, you don't want sand grains so large as to cause scratches themselves, but large enough to take out the big scratches), move to 600, 800, and 1000, each until you've removed the successively smaller scratches from the previous. Then get a smooth rag (we always used a smooth, lintless jewelry polishing rag, but I'm going to use an old cotton t-shirt), apply brasso, and buff. The faster you buff, up to a point, the smoother a more shiny the plastic will become.
Long story short, if you have sandpaper and brasso, you may not have to spend the $$ on this.
Stuff works great. Although it starts to get hazy again after a year. Next time I'll redo it but maybe get a clear coat painted on it.
Toothpaste anyone?
I just use a good quality car cleaner/polish and it does the same job, you just need to use a bit of elbow grease. sandpaper is likely overkill, if i was going that route i would likely start around 600 grit and go up to 2000 grit then compound.
It is the plastic iteself degrading, you are just removing the oxidation.
F-that.
Get yourself some Meguiars PlastX, and a paper towel. Takes 30 seconds and works great. I swear by the stuff. Its like 5% of the work, and looks about 80% as good compared to if you sanded it yourself.
Seeing as how my headlights re-fog up every 3-4 months, using PlastX is so much easier.
http://www.meguiarsdirect.com/product_detail.do?q=4596