Plastic Knob Restoration

[Jolly_John]

Hi, Gang. I would like to clean up some light scratches on the dash knobs of my 1939 Buick. I have seen the plastic cleaners and polishes that are available. However, I think I may need to start out with something more aggressive. Can anyone tell me what grit of wet/dry sandpaper might work for a first step...maybe 2000 grit?? And then I thought I could hit them with the cleaner and the polish products. Any ideas will be appreciated. Thanks, John

[Guest my3buicks]

John, do you have any friends that are Dentists? If so take your knobs to him and ask him to polish them out with his materials. They will look like new.

[palbuick]

Hi John

It might be a little cheaper to just use tooth paste. The 2000 paper will take off the rough plastic, then try the tooth paste. Works great on old dry plastic taillights, brings back a nice shine.

Jim Schilf

palbuick

[old-tank]

John

Eastwood sells buffs and buffing compounds for plastic and it does work well. The way I restored knobs on my 55's is to chuck the shaft of the knob (had to make a shaft for some) in an electric drill and turn it into wet sandpapers, decreasing the grit to 600. Then apply the turning knob to the spinning buffing wheel. Be extemely careful and wear heavy gloves and protect your face and moniter the heat buildup in the knob so you don't melt it....go slow and think ahead.

This is also how I polish screw heads and the stainless caps on bumper bolts (use different and appropriate wheels and compounds).

My signature below will advise...

Willie

[Fred Rawling]

The green polishing compound that they use on Aluminum works good on plastic. Use a soft buffing wheel. Do not press too hard or you will melt the plastic.

It would definatly be a good idea to practice on a piece that is not restorable to see how the plastic reacts to too much pressure against the wheel.