Has any one had any luck restoring a tailight lens ? The ones on my 64 Merc are a bit faded from constant exposure to the Nevada sun, and a couple have chips in the raised edge surrounding the lens.---Not bad chips just not perfect . I would put up a picture but the car is still in Nevada till we get time to go bring it up here. Is there any way known to build up small details in some kind of red liquid plastic, perhaps epoxy with dye in it to repair ornamental plastic? I wonder if some type of polish or perhaps one of those headlight cover "restore" snake oil kits they sell on TV would help? I was going to say "witch oil" till I realized that snakes don't retain lawyers about defamation! New ones would cost a fortune if you could even find them , I saw one '64 Mercury lens sell on E bay for 199.00 $ and the car has SIX of them.!
Recasting a lens can be rewarding and it can be a PITA. Many casting resins have an unacceptable rate of shrinkage and others are not UV stable. If you choose to go this route then do your homework first. I have found that most lenses can be rejuvenated with a light sanding and a coat of automotive clear coat. Small chips can be filled with epoxy and sanded flush prior to the application of the clearcoat.
I use the rustolem crystal clear enamel on headlights and it fills the lite scratches and improves the light that comes out. Ive heard atf works on taillights but i havent tried it yet. Ive also buffed some and had some luck but have destroyed some stuff. I use stainless steal buffing stuff for the plastics.
What a great idea! Thanks Richard! I don't know why I missed this idea on my own, I have used alumilite to cast all sorts of stuff for my model train and model car building! Just goes to show how badly we compatmentalize our life and thinking.
Charle -- Junkyard --- Both good ideas. I probably will use a combination of all three ideas presented so far . Thanks.
I've buffed out lenses before. They were broken so first I had to glue them back together with super glue gel. Then I wet-sanded them with 300 up to around 600 grit sand paper prior to buffing. I used a bench buffer with stainless polishing compounds to buff them up. Just go slow and watch out for heat. I was a kid at the time and didn't have much cash so I thought I'd just go for it. If I wrecked them I'd have to buy new ones.
To clear up haziness and light scratches, try a product by Meguiar called PlastX, available at Walmart, Autozone, etc. It's made for restoring clear plastic headlights. It goes on like chrome cleaner, just use a cloth and rub in it. A clean cloth buffs it out. It worked well to clean up the clear plastic instrument panel piece on my car.
Last weekend, I used MOTHERS Mag & Aluminum Polist on my Harley's windshield. Use a circular motion to polish the dullness out. Takes a little elbow grease. The preferred method is to use a buff wheel.
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