Polishing Clear Plastic Speedometer/Gauge Cover

[s-slinn3]

Hello,

I'm new to this forum but do have some experience with detailing and polishing. My question here is about polishing out some fine scratches that I have on my motorcycle speedometer/gauge cover. Here is link to a what the cluster looks like (2011 Ducati Monster 796 Comparison Picture 18 of 22 - Motorcycle USA) There is an LCD screen behind the plastic which I was able to remove. I somehow put multiple hair scratches in the middle of the screen. In the past I have tried polishing clear plastics before with little or no success. The product I used was Klasse All-In-One cleaner. The problem I always ran into was that I could get rid of the scratches but I would still end up having a haze/very fine swirl marks in the plastic. These marks are typically only scene in the right light but are certainly not appealing.

Is there anyone who has some really good experience with polishing clear plastics back to factory look? What kind of products would you recommend? I am all ears and would appreciate any and all advice.

Thank you in advance,

Stephen

[Mike Phillips]

Check out this thread, in it I think I point out the issues surrounding working defects out of small or confined areas... it has to do with your ability to move your hand...

How to Remove Hair line scratches on Wood Trim?


I know most people are scanners so read closely, lots of in-depth info...

[s-slinn3]

Okay, thats awesome! I think I have the technique down, but I am still a little confused as to what products I need to get or what will help so that I can completely remove the very fine swirls/hazing?

Is the Scratch X 2.0 or Meguires Mirror Galze 105 Ultra-Cut Compound the way to go? I also noticed that in both of the product descriptions they do not mention polishing clear plastic, dont know if this would be a problem or not?

Thanks

[Mike Phillips]

Okay, thats awesome! I think I have the technique down, but I am still a little confused as to what products I need to get or what will help so that I can completely remove the very fine swirls/hazing?

Anytime you're working by hand, or in case like this a finger or two pushing down on some kind of "material" it's really hard to create perfection. That's why all true pros MACHINE polish paint, not rub them out by hand. Same principal. Your hand, or fingers cannot duplicate what a machine can do.

I've buffed out plastic gages on dashes of cars using foam pads I've made myself, it can be complicated to get the foam to the plastic because the steering wheel is in the way as are the levers on the column. Radio faces are also hard to get perfect.

The best thing to do is never scratch these areas in the first place.

With my old Chevy truck I can remove the dash cover and then remove all the plastic and polish and then put it back together again. You normally can't do with with "new" cars and truck, it's too complicated, that's why I don't buy "new" cars and trucks, like the old stuff better.





The Jimmy not only came with a auto-shifting steering column for the swap but also with a nice set of late model gages to replace the old and worn out gages in the truck right now.

Before - Current gages














One little crack in the plastic cover



Process - PlastX Applied by Hand





After

Is the Scratch X 2.0 or Meguires Mirror Galze 105 Ultra-Cut Compound the way to go? I also noticed that in both of the product descriptions they do not mention polishing clear plastic, dont know if this would be a problem or not?

Thanks

PlastX is made just for plastic, I would try it first and finish out with foam.


Here's an article about the problem with your fingers, it's about paint but the same principals apply...

Fingermarks