oxidation removal from plastic

**guild4evr** · 05-09-2009, 01:17 PM

Hello all,

Posing a question about what people suggest as to removing oxidation from areas of a car that are plastic rather than metal. I have a makita and a flex and I would be very timid to high speed on plastic. For paint correction I have Meguiar`s 105 and SystemOne. Those are the "heavy guns" at least. (LC Pads and purple wool pads) Many other products at my disposal. The car is a 97 Del Sol red. The red is now pink in areas under certain lighting...

Take care all,

Tom

**Legacy** · 05-09-2009, 02:24 PM

I`m confused, are you trying to correct the faded plastic parts or your paint?

**guild4evr** · 05-09-2009, 04:03 PM

For clarification, the plastic is painted the same as the rest of the vehicle, factory painted with clear coat over that. It is similar to how a typical bumper of a car is usually made of plastic or a urathane but painted in the same manner.

**imported_Dave1** · 05-09-2009, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by guild4evr

For clarification, the plastic is painted the same as the rest of the vehicle, factory painted with clear coat over that. It is similar to how a typical bumper of a car is usually made of plastic or a urathane but painted in the same manner.

cool car.....

Are you talking about the front nose section or real bumper area.....?

**guild4evr** · 05-09-2009, 06:03 PM

Thanks for the pic! I tried loading one but I couldn`t get it to work. part of the oxidation is on the pillars above the gas cap lid and then also the trim that goes between those two pillars and some oxidation on the removable top.

Much help and advice from everyone apreciated! if the weather is good then we are "restoring" it on Tuesday

thanks

**Legacy** · 05-09-2009, 06:38 PM

Treat it the same as your paint, but a little less aggressive. It would be no difference than polishing a plastic bumper.

**charlesaferg** · 05-09-2009, 07:23 PM

Originally Posted by Legacy99

Treat it the same as your paint, but a little less aggressive. It would be no difference than polishing a plastic bumper.

Not quite, but close.

Be extremely careful while watching the heat buildup. Plastic panels don`t dissipate heat nearly as quickly as metal panels, and they will have a tendency to melt through or cut too quickly, cutting right through the coating. I have found that on older asian cars with painted plastic, it`s single stage. If your pads are coing off red, it`s single stage. Be careful, as the paint is most likely excessively soft as well.

Just be watchful, and you`ll be fine. Because it`s softer, you won`t necessarily require harsh correction methods, DAs and softer pads are well suited for this purpose. For example, PC7424 or Flex 3401 with white has your maximum density pad, going all the way down to perhaps a black pad for correction.

After correction, keep a strong LSP coat on those parts from then on, as they tend to fade and oxidize rather quickly.

Examples..

Before;

After;

Before;

After;

This was severe enough to require such measures, but the vast majority of the time it is definitely not required.

**guild4evr** · 05-09-2009, 09:38 PM

Thanks Charles that helped a lot. I went out to the car and found out that the side mirrors (that are going pink like the SER) are definately single stage paint. I couldn`t be positive about anything else on the car.. it seems like the rest of the car has clear coat because I didn`t see any dramatic color transfering to my microfiber. I was using SystemOne because that is all I had on hand.

The weather looks good for Tuesday so the plan is on to restore this thing.

I`ll be using the flex. Hopefully all the imperfections and scratches will come out without needing the Makita. my LSP I plan on using Glare Professional Polish as my sealer.

Have a great weekend!