Swirls in my vinyl rear window

**dutchstar007** · 02-20-2013, 04:17 PM

I guess I am in the right place to continue my question about swirls on my vinyl rear window.Your answer to my question was to use Plastix and a DA. I trust I am in the right area to continue with your method of doing this. If not let me know. I have Plastix and a DA

Mike Phillips · 02-20-2013, 04:57 PM

Hi dutchstar007,

You're on the right track. You sent me a PM with questions and I prefer to answer questions in the "public forum".

I've worked on a lot of plastic in my life, everything from flexible convertible windows like you describe to helicopter windows, to watch faces to gages on muscle cars and I even was hired once to go up on the roof of a second story house and polish out a plastic sky light window, (bubble shaped no less), after the installers filled it with scratches during installation.

PlastX works really well for removing scratches, oxidation and scuffs out of most plastics with Lexan always being a challenge.

Here's the key to working on soft, flexible plastic windows,

Best results come from machine
This is because your hand cannot duplicate the polishing action you can get from an electric motor that never gets tired.

Take your time and use light pressure (by hand or machine)
If you apply too much pressure by hand or machine you can stretch the plastic and warp it.

Thoroughly tape-off any convertible top material surrounding the flexible window
This is because the PlastX product is white in color and if you get it into the weave of a cloth top, especially a black or dark colored convertible top it will be almost impossible to remove 100%. IT also won't be any fun and will take a long time. So get some painters tape and tape off the surround material. If you polish both sides of the plastic you'll likely want to tape-off the material on both sides.

If you're new to machine polishing, tape off the entire to with a plastic drop cloth
Most people new to machine polishing always lift the polisher off the surface while it's still spinning at a high rate of speed. What this does is sling splatter dots of product all over the place. Trust me on this one, especially if you're new to machine polishing and your car has a black, cloth top with a weave pattern.

If the scratches and swirls are deep, don't expect perfection
Keep in mind, the way you remove defects like swirls and scratches is to ABRADE the surface and level it. By this I mean you must remove small particles of plastic off the surface until the entire surface is level with the deepest defects you're trying to remove. Think about it. I have a number of articles that delve into this in my article list, see my Sig Line.

Avoid inflicting swirls back into the plastic
I'm not sure how your windows were inflicted with swirls but however it happend... try not to continue the practice.

Have plenty of clean, soft microfiber towels on hand
Plastic is clear and scratches easily, you cannot machine polish or even hand polish it and wipe the residue off with a scratch rag.

You can also do this my hand but it is a lot harder and will take a lot longer
You can also only work a small section at at time. You will still want to tape off any cloth material surrounding the plastic as you can just as easily get polish residue on the cloth by hand as you can by machine.

Hope this helps and welcome to the AutogeekOnline.net discussion forum...

Mike Phillips · 02-20-2013, 05:00 PM

Originally Posted by dutchstar007

I have Plastix and a DA

Use a soft, clean foam polishing pad. Smaller pads are going to be your friend. 5.5" will work, like a 5.5" Lake Country White Flat Foam Polishing Pad.

A 4" spot repair pad like a Hydro-Tech Tangerine or a white CCS pad would also be good choices but you'll need a 3.5" backing plate to attach them to your DA Polisher.