tailight restoration?

[fox racer]

Ok, well I put 86 GT tailights on my black notch. I painted the (faded) grey stripe and the black molding gloss black. The lenses arent fogged at all, but the look dull next to my new paint on the car and lights. What grit sandpaper could I use to help clean them up? Should I clear them too? What would you guys suggest?

 

[89lxsport50]

I wetsanded my lenses with 1500 grit. Then I used Mothers aluminum polish as the next step. I maintain them with Meguiars Plastx. I didn't clearcoat them and they look brand new.

 

[srothfuss]

Have you taken the lens off the houseing and repainted the silver reflectors? I think there was a thread from Henceforward on how to do it, but his results were really good.

Save the sanding until you get the reflectors re-spray-painted with some silver or chrome paint.

 

[Henceforward]

Yea you need to overhaul the entire unit lense and housing for everything to look the best.

Use chrome spray paint on the inside of the housing. (You will have to remove the lense from the housing to do this.)
Here is a write up.
http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=628717

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And use this as a guide to polishing the plastic lenses.
http://www.nseconsulting.com/bmw/hpt.pdf

 

[Deleted member 87397]

I used Plastx on the lenses I got off ebay to remove the oxidation and they look like new.