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Polishing a lexan body??
Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2016 11:54 am
by CruzinCustomz
So long story short, I had some over spray on a lexan body and I used some goo gone to take it off, which it did. The problem is it sort of etched the lexan a bit. Has anyone ever successfully polished a lexan body to bring back the glossy appearance?
Re: Polishing a lexan body??
Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2016 12:10 pm
by Coelacanth
I think once it's etched and hazy, there's no way to polish that, as it's right inside the Lexan that's chemically affected. Polishing is basically smoothing out a rough surface but haziness is inside the Lexan itself.
I've used RC nitro fuel to remove overspray, as it's safe on Lexan. Mineral spirits also works, and even rubbing alcohol if you get to it before the paint has had time to cure.
Re: Polishing a lexan body??
Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2016 12:36 pm
by CruzinCustomz
I tried rubbing alcohol with no result. It doesn't look to bad so hopefully decals will hide most of it. I hadn't painted a body without over spray film on it in a long time, next time I'll cover the outside. Good thing I have another NIB body to try again(Mustang RC10DS body).
Re: Polishing a lexan body??
Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2016 12:43 pm
by Beau S
you can try Mothers polishing compound with a ball buffer. I've had friends use it with varying results. Depends on how deep the etch is in the lexan.
It might be worth trying some of that $5 Headlight Restorer instead.
Re: Polishing a lexan body??
Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2016 1:55 pm
by tamiyadan
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Re: Polishing a lexan body??
Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2016 2:24 pm
by Coelacanth
tamiyadan wrote:now it depends on the damage to the lexan, lexan is actually porous so something dripped on the surface can actually damage through the lexan to the other side, for example if you sprayed oven cleaner on lexan the entire structure of the lexan will craze and become brittle and disintegrate. acetone that falls on the surface will penetrate and start to damage into the center of the lexan.
so when you sand damage like that you can have a perfectly smooth surface and staining underneath, nothing you can do about that type of damage.
polishing it will make it look better.
Polishing will probably just make the hazed areas look glossier.
Re: Polishing a lexan body??
Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2016 3:06 pm
by tamiyadan
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Re: Polishing a lexan body??
Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2016 4:17 pm
by CruzinCustomz
Thanks, all good ideas. I received this body unpainted used so it already had some light scratches on it. I may try the clay bar idea to see how it works. I'm not going to go crazy about it though.