OKay, I just got my tail lights painted to look like JDMs and they look great. However now that they are done up I would like to get rid of all of the scratches and imperfections on the tail lights, both the black outer surrounding and the lense itself. I was thinking of wet sanding and polishing, but I am not sure if the lense is tinted and if that will get screwed up during the process. Also any tips on grit to be used in the beginning would be great cause I need to get the scratches out first. Also any tips on which polishes work best and any other tips would be much appreciated.

 

In because I am also very interested in this subject.

 

You will find sanding them not the best method. Use grit on cotton cloth. You can get grit in many sizes. I recommend starting with 1200 and getting finer once all the original scratches are gone. Change the cotton cloth when you go finer and wash thoroughly between steps. You have to be excessive with cleanliness. Use alcohol (methyl, isoproyl, or best - ethanol) as a lubricant, not water. The problem with polishing plastic, is it's very easy to overheat small sections, which then "craze". The alcohol helps to prevent this. Polish slowly as well. You would think circular motions are best, but this is not the case. You want to polish in long smooth horizontal motions (parallel to ground when assy. mounted on car).

This is something I have to do to the centre part on my car, now that I have new 99 spec. taillamp assys.

 

I am not sure if grit is any different than sand paper but if I start with 1200 grit I am never going to get any scratches out am I? Once you are in the 1000s you are just basically polishing the plastic, not removing any real scratches, or am I wrong on this?

 

If you want the best job so they look like new, than you should got to a body shop, let them buff the lights with they're buffing stuff.

I had my car buffed complete and the lights had so many scratches, after they where done the lights looked like brand new.

If you only do the lights they should do it for very cheap, how ever is well worth it.

 

Lightly sand them with wet dry 1600 grit paper then buff using a standard hand held buffer using 3m "fill and glaze" Its pink..

Shouldn't take more than 30 min per light and they will look new. I have done several sets & never had any problems doing it that way.

 

will it make the black surround on the lights look new? you can tell mine are faded......