Restoring Soft plastics

[Setch]

Hi Guys

while putting the seat back together on my Daytona I soon realised that I was no longer going to be satisfied with the quality of the seat plastics.

I have 4 to choose from but all the backs have at least 1 BAD scratch on them, the worst you can see below.

SO where do I go from here ? is it a case of sanding down and then buffering back to a nice finish. looking for any tips or tricks people can share.

I've called it "soft plastic" as its pretty easy to scratch and mark.

Hope you guys can help as I'm so close to finishing the first half.

Thanks in advance

Andy

 

[Alpha1]

Install one of these

 

[Setch]

Ok so I brought some novus bottles 1,2 & 3

Had a quick play with novus 3 which is labeled as heavy scratch remover but It doesn't seem to do f**k all.. Doesn't even remove paint spots from a piece of test plastic I tried it on.

On the bottle it says its an abrasive liquid but I can't feel any sort of abrasive material in it, it just feels like liquid soap to me..

Can anyone else who has used it confirm If you should be able to feel anything in the liquid ? Ive given it a good shake too, could it be possible that its all settled in the bottom of the bottle or is it just so fine that you cant feel it.

Anyone got any tips of using this stuff ?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Milky]

That looks pretty nasty - why do some people insist on keying initials into everything they see?

I'm not sure what the plastic is like but have you considered using a heat gun (I've seen it done on car plastics) or filling the scratches, sanding off and (eek!) spraying: http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=199370. Neither will be perfect, but might reduce the intensity of the effect.

 

[Setch]

yeah thought about heating and re-mounding areas, I might bite the bullet and get them professionally re-furbished as I don't think I am going to be able to do them justice.

 

[cliff_poole]

Novus is great on hard plastics like Perspex. Like you say, sanding or heating might be your only way but you'd want to experiment first before doing it on the real thing. Either way, you will lose the textured finish on the surface.

The scratches might be less noticeable if you can clean the dirt out of them, maybe soapy water and a toothbrush, and then try to smooth them over with the back of you fingernail or the butt of a screwdriver ?.

 

[Squilla]

Novus wont do squat on a soft plastic...

 

[Alpha1]

Novus wont do squat on a soft plastic...

Squilla!!! You're back!! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

[Setch]

Can anyone at least confirm that I haven't been ripped off with a bottle of liquid soap

Is this stuff meant to be gritty ? I would expect it to at least remove something that can be scratched off with the end of your finger nail..

TIA

 

[cliff_poole]

I have only ever used Novus 2 and it is good stuff. It is a paste type stuff, not exactly gritty, about the same grade as T-Cut. Before I had it, I used to use Brasso to polish plastics but the disadvantage of Brasso is that it contains amonia and therefore stinks.

Polishing out scratches is always going to be hard work, especially if they are deep. It'll take ages to polish away the surface of the plastic until it is reduced to the lowest point of the scratch.

You may just be polishing the paint splashes. You will be polishing with a soft cloth which has "give", so the same amount of pressure will be applied to the paint spot as to the rest of the surface it is stuck to.

 

[Alpha1]

Can anyone at least confirm that I haven't been ripped off with a bottle of liquid soap

Is this stuff meant to be gritty ? I would expect it to at least remove something that can be scratched off with the end of your finger nail..

TIA

It's just a liquid, doesn't feel gritty from what I remember.

 

[Ordyne]

Throw away the novus if its a mans job. The only problem I can see is your seats are textured to a degree and you will loose that. If you're not too fussed about that you need to wet and dry (with water) the scratches out, start with some 600 or 800's paper and work your way down to some fine stuff. They get some Farecla, I normally go for G3 & G10, then use an industrial buffer (like a large grinder) and mop (head) and buff the plastics back. This stuff is car buffing compound but works great on plastics. You need to use water with the buffing compound and don't stay in the same spot or you will melt it!

Other option I might have some better plastics Setch, you can have them if you want to pick them up but I would need to check.

Ordyne2012-08-17 16:21:48

 

[ZedEx48K]

You could also try getting some filler but adding some black ink/paint/dye first and whipe over the area to try to blend it in, it's worked for me filling things in the past, not 100% on plastic though.

 

[tymawrcymru]

Can anyone at least confirm that I haven't been ripped off with a bottle of liquid soap

Is this stuff meant to be gritty ? I would expect it to at least remove something that can be scratched off with the end of your finger nail..

TIA

I have used Novus 3,2 and 1 loads of times with great success on control panels, monitor plexis and marquees.

Bear in mind that I have only ever used it on hard plastics.

1) If you have a scratch that you can feel with your finger nail, which you have, NOVUS alone will not help you.

2) Use a light wet sand paper on the area with deep scratches and rub it out with the sand paper until it is gone / almost gone.

3) Clean up the area and apply novus 3 and buff it with a cotton bonnet on a drill at a low rev.

4) Keep the drill moving, otherwise you can burn the plastic.

5) Repeat the process with NOVUS2 when the heavy scratches are removed.

This will sort it out, but be patient.

I have managed to completely remove some of the nastiest fag burns you have ever seen on control panels using this.

Enjoy.

 

[Setch]

Ordy, thanks for the offer.. Keep me posted.

I've already managed to prep one of the worst base section with wet & dry but by hand the novus 3 doesn't even touch it, I think it's because of the type of plastic, I'm going to borrow a buffer and give the g3/10 a go and if all else fails will probably get it professionally done.

Thanks for the tips and advise guys