OK I've been seein alot of threads lately about restoring plastic. Here's write up I did when I restored the old plastic on my Blasty.
This is the Pimp Paulie Plastic Shine Rite System
First thing to do is clean it and spray it down with a wax and grease remover via a rechargeable spray can. It saves a ton of money in the long run by letting you buy the remover in quarts and gallons and recharging the can with compressed air from your air compressor.
I then used 'OOOO' steel wool not pressing hard and only going in a straight line. The key is repetition. Pressing hard to save time only gouges the plastic and leaves marks that are probably worse than the scratch you were trying to get out. As it loads up just blow it out or get a new piece. Then I go over the entire piece again in a circular motion. Again lightly, Only to break up the previous straight line marks. A small circular motion is better than a large one.
I blow off the piece with compressed air. Give it a good wipe down with sponge so it will be lint free. I like the round ones used for appling wax. We are ready to coat. The platic re-new by Petcar is pretty good stuff but also Future floor polish (best alternative), Orange glow, mop n glo all work good too. I've learned that a foam brush is the best applicator. Dip it in whatever product your using and apply. Experience will tell you how much to 'load up' on the brush. Too little will cause missed spots, too much will cause runs. Don't push down on the brush the product should just flow off of it, if not then you don't have enough on it. Try to only use long straight lines from one end to the other whenever possible to avoid start and stop marks and overlap brush marks. Try to get your coat on rather quick that helps to avoid brush marks too.
Finally don't try to go back and touch up spots that run or missed spots, it won't work and will smear whats there or cause lifting later. Think of coating as a one shot deal. Don't rush to get all the coats on. Let it dry thoroughly before your next coat. I like to use 3 to 6 coats. Too many coats will cause durability issues.
If you mess up don't worry just go over it with 'OOOO' steel wool and do over. If you have never done it before I suggest you learn on your smallest piece or another piece of plastic that's not as valuable to you.
This is for plastic that's not scratched or gouged real bad. For that your going to have to sand...
Here's a picture of everything I used for the tank. For roughly $20 not including the spray can you can do your whole bike-far less than the cost of even one piece of new plastic...PB
Before shots
After
This is the Pimp Paulie Plastic Shine Rite System
First thing to do is clean it and spray it down with a wax and grease remover via a rechargeable spray can. It saves a ton of money in the long run by letting you buy the remover in quarts and gallons and recharging the can with compressed air from your air compressor.
I then used 'OOOO' steel wool not pressing hard and only going in a straight line. The key is repetition. Pressing hard to save time only gouges the plastic and leaves marks that are probably worse than the scratch you were trying to get out. As it loads up just blow it out or get a new piece. Then I go over the entire piece again in a circular motion. Again lightly, Only to break up the previous straight line marks. A small circular motion is better than a large one.
I blow off the piece with compressed air. Give it a good wipe down with sponge so it will be lint free. I like the round ones used for appling wax. We are ready to coat. The platic re-new by Petcar is pretty good stuff but also Future floor polish (best alternative), Orange glow, mop n glo all work good too. I've learned that a foam brush is the best applicator. Dip it in whatever product your using and apply. Experience will tell you how much to 'load up' on the brush. Too little will cause missed spots, too much will cause runs. Don't push down on the brush the product should just flow off of it, if not then you don't have enough on it. Try to only use long straight lines from one end to the other whenever possible to avoid start and stop marks and overlap brush marks. Try to get your coat on rather quick that helps to avoid brush marks too.
Finally don't try to go back and touch up spots that run or missed spots, it won't work and will smear whats there or cause lifting later. Think of coating as a one shot deal. Don't rush to get all the coats on. Let it dry thoroughly before your next coat. I like to use 3 to 6 coats. Too many coats will cause durability issues.
If you mess up don't worry just go over it with 'OOOO' steel wool and do over. If you have never done it before I suggest you learn on your smallest piece or another piece of plastic that's not as valuable to you.
This is for plastic that's not scratched or gouged real bad. For that your going to have to sand...
Here's a picture of everything I used for the tank. For roughly $20 not including the spray can you can do your whole bike-far less than the cost of even one piece of new plastic...PB
Before shots
After
