Weathered Plastic Restore!

[RubberSalt]

How I made my faded ugly plastic tank look red again.

I grabbed me a bucket of soapy water (Dish soap). Some of the 220, 320, 400, and the 600 grit wet/dry sand paper I had left over from lapping my head, my heat gun (I prefer a propane torch) and some rags. High grit should allow for more shine. I’m OK with the matte finish (for now).

This is simple and straight forward. Use the sand paper to sand off the faded white parts. Use the soapy water to clean the sand paper as it gets clogged up. Use the rags to wipe off the tank during sanding. Use the heat to give the tank its color.

I did a test patch with heat and no sanding on the top of the tank. It's why you must sand first. Don't hold your heat to long over 1 spot, just enough for it to change colors for a second. You’ll burn your plastics if you do!

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[kb0nly]

That turned out nice. I have done something similar to plastics on trikes. I tried some of that renew stuff or whatever its called from the auto isle at walmart, you know that commercial where they show people wiping it on the black or dark gray trim on vehicles, that stuff actually does an ok job but armorall gives about the same effect. That plastic really whitened up, is this from normal use or a case of it sitting behind the barn for five years? LOL

[oldskool83]

i used mothers polish and sanded the tank on my 85 250r. it came out nice. idk about perfect, just didnt want white.

[dougspcs]

I used simply SOS pads and water..removed all the oxydation and stains. Looked really good but not at a shiny plastic luster..

If a guy was to finish off with the higher grit paper and wet sand it would come back pretty quick I think.

You might try that next time 'rubbersalt'..you might be able to skip a few of those steps and save some time.

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I didn't think to get a before pic, but here is the after.

[ktmbk]

I used to use a three step method of wet compound, I think it was made by p05 at the time. It came out ok. yours came out better

[RubberSalt]

The crustyness was extra thick on mine :(

Trying to find pics of my 125 fenders i did a while back.