thoughts on glossy plastic

[House of Wax]

I`m gonna detail my sled here in a couple days and wanted to get some opinions on what to do with the glossy plastic pieces. Here`s a pic of what I`m talking about:

http://natehelgerson.smugmug.com/Random/i-JXWrmnr/0/L/20150204_124155-L.jpg (http://natehelgerson.smugmug.com/Random/i-JXWrmnr/A)


Think there`s any way to polish any defects out? I`m worried that it may cause more issues than it fixes on plastic. Maybe the best best is just clean it and add some protection?

[Accumulator]

With the caveat that all plastics just might be very, very different...

I`ve polished out the glossy black plastics on Audis, GMs, and probably others I`m not remembering. Trick was always to *not* use something with very "sharp" nondiminishing abrasives such as M205. I also had bad results with ZAIO.

[Stokdgs]

I can make clear bra`s look better with menzerna polishes, a medium to soft pad, some moisture, and lower speeds on a Makita 9227C..

If you are going to try to make your plastics good again, why not coat them after to help keep the scratches down, and protect the cleaned up plastic underneath..
Dan F

[House of Wax]

If you are going to try to make your plastics good again, why not coat them after to help keep the scratches down, and protect the cleaned up plastic underneath..
Dan F

That`s the plan

[House of Wax]

Maybe I`ll give HD Speed a shot with a soft pad first

[bswombaugh]

I agree with Accumulator. I have had some good success on some of the plastics with Meguiars Ultimate Polish which is virtually the consumer version of M205.

[Setec Astronomy]

I agree with Accumulator. I have had some good success on some of the plastics with Meguiars Ultimate Polish which is virtually the consumer version of M205.

Yeah, except that`s the opposite of what Accumulator recommended.

[bswombaugh]

Yeah, except that`s the opposite of what Accumulator recommended.

Sorry ! I misinterpreted what Accumulator recommended. That being said; I personally have had success on GM and some other domestics with UP and a soft pad with these type of plastics. I am sure there are enough variations in plastic type, finish, etc and pad choice that there are exceptions where one combination would work and another would not. I am in no way suggesting that UP will work on everything all the time. Obviously; Accumulator knows his stuff and I am not going to refute his findings. Its one of those deals where you may have to try some different products and techniques to find the perfect combination for the substrate that you are working on.

[Accumulator]

See how experiences differ!

I polished the black plastic "D" pillars of my OBS Tahoe with M205. Looked great. I let it sit for a few days, planning to strip the TSO if they didn`t dissipate. Well, they did dissipate to some extent and the plastic looked terrible. Part of it was a "dried out" look (OK, makes sense but this doesn`t happen with my other polishes) and it also had some *VERY* light hazing that was easiest to see under the SunGun. My guess is that 1) the oils and that plastic just weren`t compatible, 2) the oils did a bit of concealing (of the hazing), and 3) the hazing came from the "sharp", but very fine, abrasives being a bit too much for that particular plastic.

So a different situation could very easily give totally different results.

My bad experience with ZAIO was on the black plastic part of the `00 A8`s sideview mirrors. The mild abrasives scoured up that surface something awful and I had to repolish them (quite a bit) with a different product that I normally wouldn`t have considered milder than the ZAIO.

Seems like one of those tricky things where a seemingly sensible approach can sometimes bite you, or NOT as bswombaugh`s experiences show. So IMO it`s not a right/wrong situation, just a "you never know until you do it" one.