Sanding/polishing gauge lenses

[Ptownkid]

anyone done it? Any tips, tools, products to recommend?

[mapleleaf]

rubbing compound.......nothing too too gritty like sand paper.....

[Ptownkid]

From what i've read, you are supposed to sand...but with water and grits in succession like 1000,1500,2000, and maybe 2500 then use a compound.

There are a multitude of plastic auto lense restoration kits, but some are pure crap and some are great...hoping to hear of one someone had success with.

On the topic of compound...any recommendations?

[Blackntan90]

P-town, go to Meguires website or call them, they have helped me in past. They will probably want to know what kind of plastic the lenses are made of- sorry, I have no idea myself.

[tg0824SSVGG]

you can also get a mild plastic polish from griots.com

[saltare inverts]

I used metal polishing compound found at Lowes. It is made to make aluminum look like chrome with a buffing pad attached to a cordless drill. I used it on gauges and car headlights, worked awesome and super fast.

[Ptownkid]

There's a 3m kit available that I am going to give a go...will post results.

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/3MAutomotive/Aftermarket/Products/Featured_Products/Headlight/

[Ptownkid]

Ok, this 3M kit works great!!! My lenses were really hazy and oxidized, and this did a wonderful job. The only change I made outside of their kit, was that I started with 220 grit quickly as there were some pretty heavy scratches around the edges that would have taken some effort with the 500 grit that comes in the kit as step one.

This honestly took 5-10 minutes max...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y36/Ptownkid/The%20Saltare%20project/sortnow171.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y36/Ptownkid/The%20Saltare%20project/sortnow173.jpg

[saltare inverts]

Looks awesome. Specially in the wood dash you have them mounted in.

[Blackntan90]

WOW! I am very impressed! Let us know how it stands up over the rest of the season.

[Ptownkid]

Yeah, i was seriously impressed, I was expecting far more elbow grease and far worse results. I'm sure you can tell from the picture, but most of my gauges are practically unreadable.

Since the kit has a very small package of polishing compound (it's meant to do a pair of headlights) I bought some of the meguair's plastx as well. I'll let you know how that goes.

As for the wood dash, it may not last too long...it looks great, but I am very tempted to remake the panels using faux carbon fiber panel and install white backgrounds in the gauges. I have a small cnc so the panels should be easy.

[mapleleaf]

Yeah, i was seriously impressed, I was expecting far more elbow grease and far worse results. I'm sure you can tell from the picture, but most of my gauges are practically unreadable.

Since the kit has a very small package of polishing compound (it's meant to do a pair of headlights) I bought some of the meguair's plastx as well. I'll let you know how that goes.

As for the wood dash, it may not last too long...it looks great, but I am very tempted to remake the panels using faux carbon fiber panel and install white backgrounds in the gauges. I have a small cnc so the panels should be easy.

Really did you have to bring up the CNC???? You may be asked to replace other dash panels as well!!!!! Gauges look great, you got that kit up here????

[Ptownkid]

Yeah, i don't mind doing some stuff for people here on the machine, I'm a pay it forward kinda guy. The machine itself is fairly small, working area of 20" x 13", but I've found creative ways to move larger objects and do things in stages.

I got the kit at Canadian tire my man, stock product at most locations.