White plastic problems

[dave_xb12r]

I've had a hard time getting my white plastic to polish to original shine after sanding out some scratches. I've done a good amount of polishing the black plastic and I got pretty good at it. But this white plastic has me stumped.

I've sanded up to 2500 grit then polished the same spot for an hour with no luck whatsoever. No shine at all. I'm afraid I'm going to have to wet sand the whole thing and clear coat it.

Has anyone had any luck polishing white plastic to the original shine? Is clearcoat my only answer?

This may be my opportunity to lay some pearl down under a clear coat, which is something I've wanted to do for a long time.

(I've tried the novus system and meguiars plastic polishes)

 

[03xb9er]

Not sure it would work on the white but I've had pretty good luck with aluminum polishes on headlights before.

 

[konarider94]

have you tried the novus?

 

[freak2180]

(I've tried the novus system and meguiars plastic polishes)

Yes he has.

 

[50dro]

I can't speak for the white but the Novus worked well on my Thrust Blue plastics. What type of machine are you using? I used a pretty powerful one (probably too powerful honestly) and that seemed to help although you have to be careful not to burn the plastic. It gets hot pretty quick.

 

[dave_xb12r]

I'm using a automotive 6" buffer. I haven't tried using a table top buffing wheel. I think the next thing to try is blue rouge buffing compound on a actual buffing wheel.

 

[konarider94]

Yes he has.

ill try reading one of these days [sad]

have you had any better results with anything yet?

 

[dave_xb12r]

Yes I have! Plastic Rouge from home depot. It comes in a solid bar. I buffed it using a auto buffer. I tried a buffing wheel on a drill, no results. Then I tried the same wheel on a hand grinder... bad idea. It burned quick! Luckily I was able to sand it out easily. I'm going to try heating up the plastic with a heat gun, then buffing it when it's hot.

 

[Livers]

I haven't tried it on plastic, but Finesse-It is killer for scratched paint. It doesn't need high speed or force to work well.

 

[McMurphy]

I got a fiberglass boat hull restorer from NAPA. Works pretty decent to fill in the scratches, then just go over it with novus or some other polish.

 

[shaggy]

Use a string buff whenever doing plastic.....sold all over....here's the first that came up in google. string buff