TR6 TR6 Tail light refurbishing

[mrv8q]

I'll leave it to Paul for the fancy, comprehensive web page, but here's a couple shots of my "down and not-so-dirty" tail light cleaning. I'm continually amazed what a little Simple Green, plastic polish, and 0000 steel wool will accomplish!

I wound up painting the plastic reflector (on the right) in silver, and polishing the metal reflector (on the left) with the steel wool. The painted reflector side had faded to the base greyish green plastic.

Here's a pic of the undone side:

Here's the finished side: Inner and outer gaskets sourced from TRF:

I await Paul's page!

 

[DougF]

Good work. They look great!

 

[Tinster]

It makes a great difference, doesn't it?

Did you have any problems reinstalling the light
bulb sockets? My socket holes were so beat up,
I could not get a decent ground. I ended up hard wiring
ground wires to all the rear bulb sockets and then
attaching them to grounding blocks.

looking schweet!!

d

 

[trrdster2000]

Good job Kevin, did you get the new sockets with a ground of do your own. The lens look great, did you do your buffing or are they new. Dale had the right idea, add a ground, check out the forum list on how to, I have one in there somewhere, or I can send it to you.

Wayne

 

[Brosky]

Hey Kevin, great job!

I just got my tail lights back in the car, I'm not taking them out for a long while if I can help it.

Which plastic polish did you use?

 

[BobbyD]

Geeze...guess what I just added to my winter project list! I actually cleaned mine about 5 or 6 years ago and the reflective background was pretty shot. Any reflective paint that you guys recommend that works?

 

[Brosky]

Kevin,

What happened to your bumper?

 

[mrv8q]

Kevin, what happened to your bumper?

Paul, I hate to say I took it off in January(!), to pull off the black rubber bumpers.
I fully intended to get a random orbital polisher to start detailing the sad paint; with the bumpers off, I'd have more real estate to polish. Fast forward 11 month, and no RO polisher; perhaps Santa will stop by Griot's Garage....

Between work and family, it's scary how fast time flies...

I think I used a Meguiar's plastic polish, couldn't find it when I went to look. Happily, I've had no ground problems w/ the taillights. I gave them a good scrub with the steel wool, but they worked OK before. Thanks for the inquiries....

 

[Brosky]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]it's scary how fast time flies...[/QUOTE]

Wait until you hit your 50's.....

 

[trrdster2000]

Paul, I tried a couple of different glazes on the lens and the best I could fine was the 3M final glaze. The stick polish was way to harsh. Now I have some #3 from Griots and I bet it's better.

Wayne

 

[tdskip]

Whoa - Kevin that looks great!

 

[martx-5]

Nice job! Looks brand new. :thumbsup:

 

[gardener]

another to the "list to do when "miracle" arrive, there is another thing, but this is for the paint, is a kind of a pink clay, you rub the car with it while the car is wet, and when you feel the paint, is very smooth, I'll check the name of this clay, and tell you later.

 

[Brosky]

Gardner,

That is a Clay Bar and it is used in conjunction with a liquid cleaning compound. you don't want to use that only with water and the paint must be clean of any dirt prior to it's use.

 

[gardener]

I can't tell you for sure, but I used it on all my others car just with water only and the paint feel much better, I used it after I wash the car.

 

[Brosky]

Oh, it will work, but it works best when used with a cleaner to remove dead pigment and that helps prep the bare paint for a good waxing. Even a soapy water (mild car wash soap) mix would be better than plain water.