Restoring Taillights

[tsmithae]

Well, I was starting to get quite discouraged because one of my taillights had come out on the losing end of a battle with some chemical... It had left circles of eroded and discolored plastic all over the place and I was not looking forward to having to get a new one! 

However, I figured that if I wanted one that would look good, it wasn't going to be that in, at least not as it sat.

So, I went at it with some 200 grit and managed to take off all of the little dents and discolored areas.

Next, I went at it with some 400 grit wet, then 800 wet, and finally 1200 wet.  I still wasn't pleased... So, I went at it with some Meguiar's Plastx and viola... They look brand new!  No more chemical burns and discolorations! 



Alright, here are some before and after pictures of the lenses...

They were both covered in a TON of overspray and one of them wound up fighting with some chemical that enjoyed eating plastic for lunch!   :shock:


I started cleaning up some of the overspray using acetone-based nail polish... takes forever!




This one you can see the specks of eaten/discolored plastic on the lense




Here, the damage is a little more evident.....




However, using the process described above, you can make them look new; well, almost... I am not going to say they're perfect.   

[Ghoste]

Nice work!

[tsmithae]

Thanks Ghoste!

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

[lexxman]

that looks great,  :2thumbs:I'm in the same boat.Its taking forever to get the overspray off in the grooves,you did a great job.

[tsmithae]

Thanks lexxman, keep at it and they will turn out!



Aaaaaaand, here is the rest of it.

I cleaned up the housings with Lime Away and it actually did a phenomenal job getting them to look close to the original "cast aluminum" finish.  I then repainted the insides with metallic silver paint.



Also, just something I noticed... My tailights had different fasteners to attach the lense to the housing....




And, finished!

[lexxman]

Yep looks just like mine.I was thinking about spraying the insides of mine with chrome paint to see if they got brighter. The sealer is a pain in the ass to get off.

[Patronus]

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,78764.msg885144/topicseen.html#msg885144

[tsmithae]

I read that and really like the idea! 

However, to be honest, I kind of want to retain a period correct type feel to my resto.  I am not going to be doing a complete back-to-stock restoration and I will be updating as I go.