Restoring Tail Lights with paint overspray
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Rockstar
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Joined: Feb 2009
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From: I'm on a boat! in Shreveport, La
Restoring Tail Lights with paint overspray A while back my 21 year old tail lights developed cracks and eventually the reverse lenses just fell out of them.
I never was able to find any at the junk yard but their parts department said they had some in stock that they pulled that were in good shape, kicker was that i couldn't see them unless I bought them (I let them know how fucked up of a policy that was), so I took the risk because I was desperate.
They brought up a pair that had bubbles from having bulbs with too much wattage in them and had spiderwebbed cracks as well. **** me right?
So I've dealt with that till now.
The other day I found some in pristine condition, no cracks or warping, but they had a layer of mildew or dust from what I could tell.
I pay a fairly cheap price on them thinking I could save them.
Turns out, it is extremely fine grey overspray, probably from the parts yard workers when they checked the car in.
After discussing it with a buddy, the best solution we could come up with was to wet sand with 2000 grit and polish.
Is there any other way to save these, possibly chemically without eating into the plastic? Or is a physical buff out the only way?
Other options I will consider if necessary are VHT or clearcoat.
I never was able to find any at the junk yard but their parts department said they had some in stock that they pulled that were in good shape, kicker was that i couldn't see them unless I bought them (I let them know how fucked up of a policy that was), so I took the risk because I was desperate.
They brought up a pair that had bubbles from having bulbs with too much wattage in them and had spiderwebbed cracks as well. **** me right?
So I've dealt with that till now.
The other day I found some in pristine condition, no cracks or warping, but they had a layer of mildew or dust from what I could tell.
I pay a fairly cheap price on them thinking I could save them.
Turns out, it is extremely fine grey overspray, probably from the parts yard workers when they checked the car in.
After discussing it with a buddy, the best solution we could come up with was to wet sand with 2000 grit and polish.
Is there any other way to save these, possibly chemically without eating into the plastic? Or is a physical buff out the only way?
Other options I will consider if necessary are VHT or clearcoat.
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 34,647
Likes: 2,573
From: Schiller Park, ILL Member: #317
I wouldn't start with wet sanding, that probably won't be necessary if it's just a light layer of overspray. I'd first start with a plastic cleaner/rubbing compound (3M makes a good one), if that cleans them up then a follow-up treatment of plastic polish would finish them nicely. If that's not aggressive enough, then some glass polish should do the trick, followed by the plastic cleaner and then the plastic polish for final swirl removal.
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I had a BUNCH of to thin to remove plasti-dip all over my tail lights, I took the old orange buffing pad from a old 3m headlight restore kit and used my cordless drill and Meguiars PlastX to polish away and eventually it all came off. I would start there, I've also read of guys removing the VHT nightshades stuff by wiping them with a rag with a small amount of gasoline, but I don't know how that might effect the plastic so I wouldn't do it personally.
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Launching!
Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 237
Likes: 2
x5 on the clay. Takes away light overspray with ease. Actually used clay a few days after I finished spray-bombing my Berger panel. Took all of the roughness away and it has a smooth and professional finish to it.