Best way to brighten/polish plastic covers?

[blsnelling]

The ONLY way to really get the color back with that faded old plastic is to sand it down to fresh clean material. You'll then have to clear coat it to get the shiny finish back.

 

[Deleted member 149229]

The ONLY way to really get the color back with that faded old plastic is to sand it down to fresh clean material. You'll then have to clear coat it to get the shiny finish back.

Just painting it is sounding better. How you feeling?

 

[blsnelling]

Just painting it is sounding better. How you feeling?

I'm home and doing great. Thanks.

 

[Big_Wood]

first, strap your plastics to a lawn chair somehow, once secure blast them with a pressure washer up close and personal, more pressure the better. the pressure washer will remove heavy sun oxidation but not perfect. most really bad sun faded ones i do this and don't even do the second step. at hardware stores some might have seen a product called "neverdull". it is a tin of disposable wadding saturated in a polishing product. polish plastic nicely with this stuff and it'll look as good as it can as quick as it can. for really bad cases the whitish fade can be scraped away to reveal bright color underneath, wet sanded, and polished. this is alot of work though and alot more risk of screwing it up and making your plastic hideous.

for those who have never tried neverdull. get ya some as it polishes anything you want polished and cheap. lasts forever if your not a dummy leaving the lid off all the time. lol

 

[Matt Hogden]

Here's one someone posted awhile back ago, made the saw look 100% better. I would mind having one done.

Steve

The more i look at this pic the more i like it. It really gives a nee dimension to the saw

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[Yukon Stihl]

Heres some 066 covers i did...Before and after.
The shine didn't come back but the color is a little better.Was done with Rite dye

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Here's one someone posted awhile back ago, made the saw look 100% better. I would mind having one done.

Steve

Holy! It go through a fire?

 

[SteveinUT]

I've used boiled linseed oil cut with laquer thinner on a couple of my ATVs and it definitely brought back most of the color, but it's far from perfect and will need reapplied periodically. Like Snelling said, you have to get through the chalky crust and down to fresh plastic. I did my old Honda XR500R's plastics with the edge of a disposible razor blade. You aren't cutting, just scrapping the chalkiness off. It takes some time, for sure, but I did that entire XR in 2 days, so the little plastics on a saw shouldn't take more than a couple hours. Once I had the chalk scrapped off, I did the fine steel wool and water trick over the plastics to make the finish uniform and called it good. Worked for me and I managed to sell that XR for twice what I paid for it.

 

[blsnelling]

If you will sand them and then clear coat, they can look like new again. Like I already said, nothing but sanding will get rid of the oxidized and faded plastic.

 

[1Alpha1]

If you will sand them and then clear coat, they can look like new again. Like I already said, nothing but sanding will get rid of the oxidized and faded plastic.

Yup........ya gotta get some sandpaper and use a lot of elbow grease.

600 grit, lots of water, and a light touch.

 

[Big_Wood]

If you will sand them and then clear coat, they can look like new again. Like I already said, nothing but sanding will get rid of the oxidized and faded plastic.

next time you have ****** plastic pressure wash and never dull them, no clear coat! the oxidation is porous and can be penetrated, comes off as a slime with a pressure washer!
i restored the plastics of 30+ dirtbikes over the years and the scrape, sand, polish method only lasts for one fender lol AM plastics cost less then most peoples time is worth so to scrape is silly. you must have some plastic lawn furniture that's getting faded? next time try pressure washing them and then we'll talk about you editing this post lol. for real though, pressure wash and neverdull. after that there is no reason to baby your new finish. beat on it like the day it was bought with no worries of chipping or oxidizing clear coat.
not looking to fight as i don't care what everyone else does really but someone should give it a shot. mentioned it in many threads over the years but haven't heard of anyone else trying it yet.

 

[blsnelling]

next time you have ****** plastic pressure wash and never dull them, no clear coat! the oxidation is porous and can be penetrated, comes off as a slime with a pressure washer!
i restored the plastics of 30+ dirtbikes over the years and the scrape, sand, polish method only lasts for one fender lol AM plastics cost less then most peoples time is worth so to scrape is silly. you must have some plastic lawn furniture that's getting faded? next time try pressure washing them and then we'll talk about you editing this post lol. for real though, pressure wash and neverdull. after that there is no reason to baby your new finish. beat on it like the day it was bought with no worries of chipping or oxidizing clear coat.
not looking to fight as i don't care what everyone else does really but someone should give it a shot. mentioned it in many threads over the years but haven't heard of anyone else trying it yet.

Well, since you put it like that....

 

[Wood Doctor]

I've used boiled linseed oil cut with laquer thinner on a couple of my ATVs and it definitely brought back most of the color, but it's far from perfect and will need reapplied periodically. Like Snelling said, you have to get through the chalky crust and down to fresh plastic. I did my old Honda XR500R's plastics with the edge of a disposible razor blade. You aren't cutting, just scrapping the chalkiness off. It takes some time, for sure, but I did that entire XR in 2 days, so the little plastics on a saw shouldn't take more than a couple hours. Once I had the chalk scrapped off, I did the fine steel wool and water trick over the plastics to make the finish uniform and called it good. Worked for me and I managed to sell that XR for twice what I paid for it.

Glad to see someone else uses BLS cut with a good thinner, such as Zylene. I like Zylene because it dries rather slowly. It works for me, but it takes a mild abrasive along with it. I found that rubbing it in with fine steel wool works as well as anything. Add some patience. Rome was not built in a day. Oh, and I doubt that deep scratches will ever come out, but what the heck, that adds character.

 

[TheTone]

next time you have ****** plastic pressure wash and never dull them, no clear coat! the oxidation is porous and can be penetrated, comes off as a slime with a pressure washer!
i restored the plastics of 30+ dirtbikes over the years and the scrape, sand, polish method only lasts for one fender lol AM plastics cost less then most peoples time is worth so to scrape is silly. you must have some plastic lawn furniture that's getting faded? next time try pressure washing them and then we'll talk about you editing this post lol. for real though, pressure wash and neverdull. after that there is no reason to baby your new finish. beat on it like the day it was bought with no worries of chipping or oxidizing clear coat.
not looking to fight as i don't care what everyone else does really but someone should give it a shot. mentioned it in many threads over the years but haven't heard of anyone else trying it yet.

I've got a can of Nevr-dull on order. The idea of pre-loaded pads appeals to me.

 

[karinacooper9]

Here's one someone posted awhile back ago, made the saw look 100% better. I would mind having one done.

Baby Washer with Iron
Steve

Oh, absolutely! I'm sure the mere act of looking at that picture of a saw transformed my perception of beauty entirely. It must be a truly magnificent sight to behold, a life-changing experience even. Just thinking about it brings tears of joy to my eyes.