anyone polished up their gauge cluster plastic?

[Pete M]

so any day now my shipping boxes will be here so I'm starting the process of cleaning up my gauge clusters.  some of them are nice, while others are pretty scratched up.  is it as simple as polishing up like I would a headlight?  what has worked for you guys? 

[silvertwinkiehobo]

They're plastic, so Meguiars has a formulation for that, which IIRC is polycarbonate.

[ghetdjc320]

I tried that on mine and it worked somewhat. Definitely not as miraculous an effect as I was hoping. Not sure if the plastic is harder than a headlight but it was tough to polish 

[Pete M]

I had a bit of polish left from my headlight kit so I tried my best and it's better, but yeah no miracles.    I'll try something else next chance I get.

[AZJeff]

The plastic for the gauges is acrylic, whereas headlights are polycarbonate.

 

you can buy special plastic polish from Amazon intended for use on acrylics.  I used that very successfully on my tail lights as well as gauge lenses.

[Pete M]

than I shall step up my game with a more specific polish   

[Minuit]

With the right techniques and products you can polish anything.

 

I got lucky on the cluster I got for my '91 all those years ago. It actually looked acceptable as-is. The one in my 'bird and the blue cluster for my '89 are pretty nasty though.

[silvertwinkiehobo]

On 7/22/2020 at 11:22 PM, AZJeff said:

The plastic for the gauges is acrylic, whereas headlights are polycarbonate.

 

you can buy special plastic polish from Amazon intended for use on acrylics.  I used that very successfully on my tail lights as well as gauge lenses.

 

So the gauge plastic is still acrylic? Jesus, they will be cheap any chance they get! But Meguiars recommends #10 for both acrylic and polycarbonate.

 

https://www.meguiars.com/professional/products/m10-mirror-glaze-clear-plastic-polish-8-oz

[AZJeff]

Acrylic is used for guage cluster lenses because it can be quite optically clear and yet easy to mold.   Unfortunately, it is also brittle, and fractures in impact relatively easily.  This is why it is a poor choice for headlight lenses.

[Eagle]

On 7/24/2020 at 4:35 PM, AZJeff said:

Acrylic is used for guage cluster lenses because it can be quite optically clear and yet easy to mold.   Unfortunately, it is also brittle, and fractures in impact relatively easily.  This is why it is a poor choice for headlight lenses.

 

Whereas polycarbonate is very resistant to impact, but it's also very susceptible to scratches.

[lcoutback]

While not a 'miracle cure', I've found any carnuba car wax does a decent job hiding minor swirl marks and scratches.  Work a liberal amount onto your disassembled lense using a conservative amount of pressure (just to be politically correct) and repeat the process.  Make sure you allow the wax to fully dry so it will harden, otherwise it all wipes out of the imperfections.  I had done this on a motorcycle faring that was impossible to see through when riding into the sun and now do it to all my clear dash pieces as well.

 

[rokinn]

I use Meguiars Ultra-Cut Compound #105 to polish out turntable dust covers (by hand).  It works quickly and looks like new except if there are deep gouges, but even those are much less noticeable.  Works great on clear coat too.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Meguiars-Mirror-Glaze-Ultra-Cut-Compound/dp/B001O7PNW8

[eaglescout526]

26 minutes ago, rokinn said:

I use Meguiars Ultra-Cut Compound #105 to polish out turntable dust covers (by hand).

Noted.