Started sanding my plastic - HELP!!!

[Dirtcrasher]

I've read alot of the past posts on the subject - Jeb seemed to have great success with steel wool. I grabbed the junk 125M fender and started messing around. I found that the razor blade method takes out large scratches very well. Also 120 grit emery cloth and WD40 seemed to work good too on large areas. But then I tried the 000 steel wool with WD40 and it looked good until it dried and then it was all whitish?? I kept trying but felt it was making it worse. Then I tried 600 grit emerey and 400 grit emery with WD40 or without and neither one seems to do anything at all?? There is no red ending up on the paper itself and no matter how long I sit there and rub it it doesn't seem to help. Should I try a palm sander??

I don't want to buy any plastic renew kits - YET - I just wanted to see how close I could get sandpaper, steel wool and your help. Please add your input guys!!

I also bought a MAIER non shiny fender for cheap and if I can get a good method down I'd like to polish it up a bit if possible - or I could be crazy.

Thanks!!!!!

[Vintage Man]

Hey dirtcrasher remember me Mike I bought a junk US90 off of you a few years back , As you may have seen on the board I have my own shop now doing high end restorations for vintage dirt bikes ,ATVs or whatever looks cool from the 70s and 80s . I have worked alot with plastic and it seems from fender to fender I can get different results I dont know if it has something to do with the UV exposure the fender got through out its life or what , but I have found if you sand the fenders starting with a high grit and i would not go much higher than a 320 or so and work your way down to a real low grit like a 1200 , then I machine buff the plastic using a foam pad starting with a 3m micro finishing compound then work up to a 3m finness it polish , it really brings out a nice shine , but this does not work well if a fender has alot of UV damage its hard to get the white out of it , I have also been throwing around the idea of getting it super smooth with sandpaper and actually clearing the fender with a urethane with a flex additive and adhesion promoter . plastic is by far the hardest thing to restore to new condition everything else on the bike is not bad . good luck Mike www.vintagemotorsports.net

[Beer_Smurf]

You can go to an auto paint store and get the really really fine sandpaper like 2400, 3600, etc.
They also make a Micro-Mesh kit with small patches of all the grits.
Change direction by 90 degrees with each grit.
Keep sanding with the grit you are using until the scratches from the previous one are gone.
Then you can finally buff it with plastic polish.

I use this method to remove scratches from aircraft windshields.

Have to admit I hadn't occured to me to try it on my three wheeler.

[Crash104936221]

havent tried it on fenders yet
but i needed to sand out some scratches in a chunk of plexi 220(little harsh) after i did that i started to worrie i was screwd but i took and used 400 and dry sanded then 400wet, up to 800 then 800 wet, then i took and buffed the crap out of it useing Novis polishing compound for plexi (it was blue)

befor i buffed it was hazzy and i figured i wasn't gona manage to polish it out but it cam out

i was useing a benchgrinder and 3/4"x7"? polishing wheel

[Dirtcrasher]

Hey dirtcrasher remember me Mike I bought a junk US90 off of you a few years back , As you may have seen on the board I have my own shop now doing high end restorations for vintage dirt bikes ,ATVs or whatever looks cool from the 70s and 80s . I have worked alot with plastic and it seems from fender to fender I can get different results I dont know if it has something to do with the UV exposure the fender got through out its life or what , but I have found if you sand the fenders starting with a high grit and i would not go much higher than a 320 or so and work your way down to a real low grit like a 1200 , then I machine buff the plastic using a foam pad starting with a 3m micro finishing compound then work up to a 3m finness it polish , it really brings out a nice shine , but this does not work well if a fender has alot of UV damage its hard to get the white out of it , I have also been throwing around the idea of getting it super smooth with sandpaper and actually clearing the fender with a urethane with a flex additive and adhesion promoter . plastic is by far the hardest thing to restore to new condition everything else on the bike is not bad . good luck Mike www.vintagemotorsports.net

HI MIKE!!! It was Mike US90 right?? Man that thing was a junker but I'm sure it had something good on it for ya! Since then I've learned about "EBAY" - the last one was a 84 ATC125M I found in the trash and I made about 250$ on it. As long as some people get some usefull parts and I make a few bucks, I'm happy.

It's great to hear you have a shop now, are you gonna share the 87SX story with everyone here?LOL Did you ever decide to start it up? I had no idea this was you and I'd love to come see your shop sometime and of course the most mint 1987 ATC250SX that anyone has ever saw!!

If I could get my hands on more ATC's I would give this a full time opportunity, it just seems like I can only find so many deals out there. I'm repairing an XR70 and a KX125 right now as well as parting out a 250SX and I'm doing very well - I just need a bit more!

Nice to hear from you and sounds like things are going well for you - feel free to email me on my link below and say hi anytime.


As for SMURF and CRASH - Thanks for the replies - but why don't I see and plastic on my emery cloth no matter how long I elbow grease it?? I feel like the plastic is laughing at me?? I even tried some 240 grit with WD40 and it didn't seem to do anything. Maybe hand work just won't do it? I'll try to get my hands on a buffing wheel or something. This is just an "expirement" for now but I just don't seem to be getting ahywhere too quick.


All your advice is much appreciated - THANKS GUYS!!!!!!

[Dynofox]

I used the plastic renew kit to turn my scratched dull maier fenders to a nice smooth shine. The chemical works really well.

[Vintage Man]

Yup its me Mike US90, do you still have the dynahoe loader /backhoe. I remember you talking about that. I just built a showroom at my house thats where I have that sweet 250sx as well as a bunch of other cherry 3 wheelers i picked up or restored over the years if you are ever in this neck of the woods give me a call and swing over you will like the stuff around here. good talking to you again be in touch
Mike

[Crash104936221]

why WD-40? i would almost blame it for blocking the transfer of material

i figure there is a point to it so fill me in LOL

[Dirtcrasher]

Yup its me Mike US90, do you still have the dynahoe loader /backhoe. I remember you talking about that. I just built a showroom at my house thats where I have that sweet 250sx as well as a bunch of other cherry 3 wheelers i picked up or restored over the years if you are ever in this neck of the woods give me a call and swing over you will like the stuff around here. good talking to you again be in touch
Mike

Yep, And I finally got the track done. Not sure if I had told you that it was my sole intention in life. But it is done - 10 jumps overall - 3 are nice sized tabletops, tall berms on every corner and a horse loving neighbor that hates my guts! The track gets better all the time thanks to the Dynahoe and I will evntually have my own little Southwick here. I will be more than happy to contact you someday and check out your shop - how is the 50CC supercross series coming along??


Hey CRASH - you may be right - but I had just heard from alot of guys that WD40 had a similar petroleum based product as the plastic and it seemd to help. Jeb liked it and Mr ATC too and both of these guys are ATC veterans so I gave it a shot. But I'm not getting to far with these very fine grit emery cloths/sandpapers or steel wool - I will give it all another whirl tomorrow but I wish I had a buffing machine as I would try that too.