dirty taillight lens and how to polish the bumpers

Hello I tried to clean the rear taillight lens on our 90 Reatta today. I used the 3M product. I had hoped to have it look like new But no luck!!! I used the 3 grades of sandpaper and then the polish. It was only marginally better. Maybe mine is too far gone, or maybe someone knows of better product?

Also what does everyone else use to polish the Aluminum bumpers??? One of mine looks really dull. I tried something that is good for motorcycles, but still not pleased.

David White dwhite1@cogeco.ca

David, do some searches on the forum, there has been discussion on this - many have varying opinions on products but read them all, look at some posted results and go from there. (referring to lens)

There is nothing you can do with the bumper as it is anodized. It could be stripped and either re-anodized or polished, but those are your only options.

I'm not going to name the product i used, since the quixx i used (oops), is probably not much better than others. i did use a Mothers Power Ball for the taillight and the aluminum parts of the bumpers to remove the product. then a good Carnauba Wax. it may be worth a try!

As an experiment I took a really poor taillamp assembly and polished it out with Meguiars medium cut cleaner (intended for clear coats, not plastics). It actually came out really well considering. I finished it with Novus #2 plastic polish then waxed it.

This lens was badly oxidized and I did not expect to restore it to usable condition, so I was pleasantly surprised at the results. It is not show quality but good enough for a driver. I put it on threatta as it is rough around the edges anyway.

The bumpers? Pretty well outta luck unless you want to sand and polish or have them re-anodized. I will probably sand and polish the bumpers on Threatta when I get that far. Not so easy - or cheap - to find a shop that will anodize those bumpers due to their size. Clear powder coat is another option I may explore.

KDirk

David, I have used Meguiar's Plastic Cleaner with good results for the tail light lens.

After wet sanding with 600-2000 grit sandpaper, I have used several of the polishes. For me Meguiar's PlastX works as good as any. I have found that no matter how much you sand and polish the lens will still look bad if it's dirty on the inside.

Ronnie raises a good point on the inner surface being dirty. Make sure the close out baffles (rubber strip at each outer end of the tail lamp assembly) are correctly in place and that the butyl rubber sealant is intact beneath them. Seems these are the the two most problematic places for seal integrity due to the compound curves.

If the seals or baffles are compromised, you will get moisture, dirt and even bugs caught inside the lens. Only option then is complete disassembly and cleaning followed by reassembly with new butyl rubber sealant all the way around. Not a fun project, having done three myself already and a fourth needing to be done now.

KDirk

I used the Sylvania headlight kit. One of the guys who used to post here advised not to use the real course sandpaper provided. I followed that advise because he stated and I agree that our taillights do not get damaged from the road as a headlight would. So having the Sylvania Youtube video on my computer I followed their instructions step by step once again only using the finest paper. Ronnie and kdirk have seen my taillight and can attest that it is very shiny. I use car wash detergent to clean the taillight while washing the rest of the car. I use no other product.

Btw I have a little bit of condensation in my taillight after a rain, but it dries out, so I know I have a void in the seal. It has had no effect on the sheen of the taillight looks to date. I did this project a year ago...