Hello All, I'm adding a hardtop to my 65 and have been restoring it over the past 10 days. I've watched video by Beasley's on how to sand and polish the plexiglass rear window and I'm struggling to get it as perfect as possible. I've used my 6" circular and have tried all the pads I have. Of course I have done my research with seems to always say Novus 1,2 and 3, which I've used but still not getting the clarity. I've used 1200, 2000 and 3000 grit in a dry sand and polished using Novus. Once done I see circular scratches so I hand wet sanded using 800, 1200, 2000 and 3000 and then polished using Meguiars PlastX, still no joy, I've also tried Mequiars Swirl remover. I'm unsuccessful in getting all of the scratches out however I'm to a point where I'm ok with that. What I'm struggling with now is what product and pad can I use to get all the haze and cloudiness out?

Is there any magic formula out there?

During this restoration I've changed the interior from Black to Red, repainted the garnish moldings and replaced the headliner and cut and polished the paint. I'll be receiving new weatherstripping from Glasswork this coming Friday and my goal is to install the hardtop on my car this Saturday. I've added pictured however the camera simply cannot catch the flaws in the plexiglass.

Any input is appreciated,
Thanks




,
Rick

 

Rick,
Looks extremely nice in the pictures. The "haze" you're speaking of must be fairly mild. Video below may have some, additional, advice. Looks like jeweler's rouge (first red then white) work well. All the best.

 

I have an OE window in mine and had gotten it to the "very good" stage when I first did it about 20 years ago. I have used all of the products you have there over the years. However, it is not perfect, especially in bright sunlight. Will leave it for others to comment and have used sanding, moving, though increasing fines on paint and headlights with success recently.

One thing to consider may be the polisher. I am no expert, but if that Makita is the 7" it may not be random orbit, only circular, which could contribute to what you are seeing. I have a straight action polisher, which I avoid for critical applications and use a dual or random-orbit motion one. My next step is going to a geared one and have scoped them out, but have not yet pulled the trigger.

 

When I did mine I finished up with Adam's white polish on a white foam pad using a random orbital polisher and it came out fine.

Is your Makita polisher random orbital? I am not going to assume you don't know how to use it, but if it is not random orbital it takes considerably more skill to operate which is where people can mess up.

 

Like modern flush headlights you might not be able to remove the haze... Age and sunlight is not kind to any plastic
Lief has some good advice with using jewelers rouge.. Make sure its wet, try it by hand before using a polisher or buffer. trying going back and forth instead of circles to get rid of the swirls .. ONLY use a very soft foam pad if you buff with a polisher, one used for wax.....
You might try some very fine paint polish, as used on paint before waxing it..... I like Adams products...
Good luck

 

Im a noob here but maybe I can add a little. Look up products for restoring old watch crystals. They were acrylic and they come out amazing. Here is the link. And here is the product.

 

Thank you Leif !!!!

 

Hi bbxlr8 - thank you for responding. You are correct, the Makita 7" that I have is only a rotary polisher and I tend to agree with you that this is part of my problem. I'll either have to research what to but or find someone local that I can pay to finish it for me

 

Hi Uncle Pasko 73, thanks for responding. My Makita is a 7" rotary and I'm reasonably proficient with it however I am thinking that I'm not using the correct polisher. I'm checking into random orbit now. Can you please be specific with the Adams White polish? I looked it up and Amazon sells a variety, None of them specifically say "white polish"

 

Back in the 60's you could buy a spray cans of window tint from JC Whitney. I sprayed the side and vent windows and the plexiglass back window on the hardtop. I really liked the look of the blue windows along with the Silver Blue paint. The picture has faded so the blue tint appears lighter than it really was. In later years I removed the tint from the side windows with lacquer thinner but was afraid to try that on the back window.
The removal process for the inside of the plexiglass was to use very fine wet-or-dry sandpaper, probably 1200. I used a very light, VERY LIGHT touch with LOTS of water and I was able to remove most of the tint without doing much (not easily noticed) scratch damage to the plexiglass. Next was some white rubbing compound and finally I used TALCUM POWDER. Turned out with no scratches but left over powder between the rubber and plexiglass that I removed with a soft toothbrush. My car sat outside for 4 years in Chicago with hardtop on in the winter with no apparent weather damage to the plexiglass inside or out so it wasn't a pampered car.
Gary

 

Christmas tree on the vette! Love it! Cool picture.

 

You are on track and close - Don't pay someone now! IMO Harbor Freight can be pretty decent for some stuff, and I generally am a fan, especially for occasional use specialty tools

They have a wide variety, including short and long-throw random orbit. Heck, even their old Chicago electric one was good for basic use. In particular, their Hercules 6" forced rotation DA is a copy of the very best German one the highest-end pros use and got great reviews. Beware or note, a random action non-direct is much more forgiving but needs more time and effort to achieve the same results on a full cut & buff. Less is sometimes more

 

They used to have several kinds. Now they just have this, and have cleverly named it "Polish". Their correction compound is blue... and is equally cleverly named.

 

Thanks to all for the help. I used 6 different products, a rotary polisher which was not so good and a purpose made very fine 3-1/2 inch black pad on my drill. I finished with the Adam's Polish that Uncle Pasko 73 recommended and that stuff was amazing and produced the clearest result of them all. All swirl marks appear to be gone. Thanks Unc!!!!

My phone camera is unable to pick up any flaws but in the right light and at the right angles some very fine scratches remain. For now I'm done and will use this top as is. For 61 year old plexiglass its looking respectable. I suppose a 3000 grit dry sand using an orbital sander and a polish again could make it better but that will be for another time. I'll see how it looks on the car and out in the sun.,

 

I don't know but if I remember correctly these were not perfect when original!

 

I don't think you will ever get out the very fine scratches in the plexi.... And I don't recommend going backwards to ANY sanding or compound it you keep trying.... Only very very fine polishes from here out....

 

You may or may be aware but there is also 5000 and 8000 grit sandpaper for use in perfecting paint.

If yur at 3000 grit, jump to wet 5000 and follow up with wet 8000 then buff with foam pad and see if you like it any better. Note the 5k and 8k take some time and effort but the difference on paint is amazing

 

Thanks, I'll look into that. I was aware but my local box stores don't carry it.

 

Making progress as I completed the weatherstripping and dropped the top on which opened up a few new issues.

As I worked on this project on the floor in my garage I completely missed that fact that the front trim edge is scuffed up bad enough to bother me. Can I please get some recommendations on product and process to smooth and polish the front edge trim in place? I assume it's either stainless or anodized aluminum but I'm unsure. I'm thinking tape and cover the rubber seal and paint and wet sand using 2000 grit. Then buff with my wheel on my drill.

Second, Not all of the weatherstripping is sealing to the body. The top of the vent window to the roof have a 1/16 to 1/8 gap and the center bottom rear window where is rests on the deck has a small gap. Is this normal and will improve over time? I'm not concerned as I don't plan on getting rained on.

Third - The rear deck is sort of "creaking" and making noise when driving with the weight of the hardtop on it. I'm not getting any movement out of the rear deck and hardtop when attempting to replicate the noise by hand.