Restoring that Charcoal Plastic Look

[Otto Man]

Here is a good question.
One of my tail light assemblies is 12 years old, the other is 5. The older one's dark charcoal plastic "band" (middle part) has faded somewhat and is noticeably lighter than the other.
Is there any method to polish this plastic to get that nice dark hue back?
Chris
In this picture you can kind of see what I mean.

[richsvo]

You could try to buff it out, but I suspect that re-painting both of them to match would be your best bet.
HTH,
Rich

[GAboySVO]

Chris,

The stripe is painted on, so you might try some mild polish to restore it. If you are wanting them to be exact match, then you will probably need to start with fresh paint on both.

[Otto Man]

I am talking about the PLASTIC itself, not the painted stripes.
What I was hoping for was someones experience with a long term "compound" or buffing aproach to the actual "plastic". Every time I do the "black-chrome" thing it looks good for a week and then it fades to dark-gray.

[Spencer]

From what i understand you are talking about the area between the actual lens part of the taillamp. Try this:
1)Get some 3M Rubbing Compound (Perfect-It) yellow in color
2)Get some 3M Foam Polishing Glaze(grey in color)
3)Good quality wax
You'll probably have to do that area by hand because of the fact you can't get a buffing pad in there, unless you had a dremel or small buffer. If you do use a buffer make sure its set at a low speed (1000-1400rpm) don't want to damage anything or use masking tape around the edge of the lenses. Heck while your at it just do the whole taillamp, your lamps should look like new and last a long time. Wouldn't hurt if you have a good buddy to borrow a buffer from!

[Otto Man]

Thanx
I'll try that.
Just the chat I was hoping for.
Chris

[8T6 SVO]

Re: Restoring that Charcoal Plastic Look

Originally posted by Chris Weber
Here is a good question.
One of my tail light assemblies is 12 years old, the other is 5. The older one's dark charcoal plastic "band" (middle part) has faded somewhat and is noticeably lighter than the other.
Is there any method to polish this plastic to get that nice dark hue back?
Chris
In this picture you can kind of see what I mean.

You might get them to look close, but for lenses that are 7 years apart, they will always look different to the discerning eye (yours!).

The tail lights are now reproduced and start at around $150 for the pair.

8T6

[Mustang Matt]

Try Mothers back to black. It is a "wax" that works very well on plastics, black or not. - - OR - -You could repaint the enire housing, thin masking tape and some SEM trim paint would do the trick. You have all seen it on EvilBay many a time. I think the original stripes must have been masked and sprayed by hand, some of them are all over the place. I have a lens that the stripe actually runs through the part number on the top left of the passenger side lens. Check yours out and you will see how far off that is. zI have seen factory floor pans with holes at seams that werent even covered with the seam sealer. The factory left us a lot of room for error in many ways.

[Otto Man]

I have used that! Also remember Black Chrome?
Both work good on our wings too.
But the results don't last long on the lense plastic gray part.
Should I live with it or do the buff job Spencer suggests?
I just dont want anyone pointing at my tail lights next October and snickering!

[roberto2000]

Oh come on !!!

now that you said that!!!!

we wouldnt do that

what kind of people do you think we are

Rob

[Otto Man]

pointers
I've seen the kind. They harbor on the outskirts at the circus'. And they circle the field.
Oh yes, ....I've seen them. They lay low and look beneath our toil. Beware of the short haired ones. They have a second and third motive. They WANT our rides. Beware!
Shun them....The Black Chrome is our salvation!


and a couple headlight gaskets would be cool
Chris

[Mustang Matt]

Heres how I do it---- Pull the lens off of the housing. Use 1000 grit sandpaper if you need to get the old lines off- and work your way down to 1500. you can do the whole lens this way. Polish it back up with the aforementioned compunds or a plastic polish on the soft buff. Keep it moving quick so you do not burn the plastic. Then re-mask and stripe it- use the SEM trim paint, it is good stuff. It helps to use an Xacto knife to cut your tape- it is much more precise. It seems like a tedious process, and it is but the time is not to bad when you get right down to it. You can do your old yellowed headlights the same way.

[Otto Man]

The pin-striping on the lenses is just fine. It's the 1 inch horizontal black plastic "bar" that splits the lense in two that has slightly faded.
Black Chrome fixes it for a couple weeks, then it begins to fade a little.

[Mustang Matt]

Looks like your choices are.......focus on the originality- or paint it. No idea which one is best, I ask myself that question about my Cobra every week. But its still original, its cheaper and takes less effort.