Buell plastic scratch removal

[Cooter]

So, you want those panty droppin' plastics on a PBR budget? Here's my opinion on how to save them. I have a couple tricks and hopefully theres enough pics to keep you interested.

It's not expensive to re-hab faded or scratched plastics, but will need a little time and definitely some attention to detail. You'll need:

Some quality wet/dry sandpaper. 220, 400, 1000 grit. That stuff you get at the Dollar store will clog and fall apart, spend the $ on some 3M paper. You won't need a lot of it.

A small bucket, 1/2 full with clean water. Put in couple drops of detergent to break the surface tension. Car wash, dish soap, whatever.

Rubbing Compound

Buffing Polish

Clean chamois, terrycloth, or those soft disposable blue shop rags.

It makes your life much easier to have a variable speed buffing machine with a cotton pad and a foam pad. You can do all this by hand, but even a cheap buffer will save a ton of time. Make sure it's variable speed, and NOT a grinder!

If your new at this, start with a small project. A seat cowl is perfect because they are easy to hold and cheap to buy if you mess it up As your confidence grows you can attack bigger stuff. You won't need a sanding block because all of the body parts on a Buell have nice smooth curves.

Fold 2 sheets of each grit of sandpaper into thirds and soak them over night in your bucket.

If your plastics are dull but aren't scratched, you can start at the compounding or polishing step below. Otherwise start here.

1st... Clean the part you're going to re-hab, dirt and grease will only make this harder.

Next, How deep are the scratches? Light belt buckle and boot scratches, normal wear and tear can usually be saved with 400 grit, deeper scratches need 220. Crash rash can need 150, but now you'll need to be careful of re-shaping the piece, and even going through the plastic!

Some of the boot scratches I had were pretty deep, So I hit the whole piece with 220.

IMG_1691.jpg

The trick here is not to work one spot all at once. You can leave divots and flat spots with this heavy a grit. 400 isn't that big a deal, but using 220 be sure to sand the whole piece in a smooth flowing motion until the scratches can't be seen and the whole part has an even dull look with no shiny spots.

A note about power tools:
I've found Buell plastics are weird when it comes to using a DA sander and heavier grit paper. If you try to dig in to a big flaw they overheat and blister, causing a bigger problem. Either their durometer or low-temp molding process makes for tricky machine sanding, so careful!