Raise or Call?? Restoring a fairing windshield

Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2014 12:36 am

I recently aqcuired a Hondaline fairing from our friend Grump. It's in pretty decent shape, but showing it's age. Today I spent some time in the shop assessing it. The windshield is intact with only a couple small cracks at the screw holes, but it is really faded, oxidized and scratched.

I did some digging around the shop and found a headlight restoration kit I had picked up a while back

A little test and it showed promise-

I went ahead and after a couple hours and very tired "Miagi-Do wax on, wax off" arms-

After all that- I'm pretty happy, it looks really good all in all. I know I can get it better with a clear coat though. There are still lots of fine scratches that create a little haziness. The headlight kit came with a little wipe-on deal of clear, but it's long gone and I wouldn't try a wipe-on on the whole thing anyway. I'm thinking along the lines of Krylon fusion clear, or even the VHT Nightshades for taillights. I don't know if they have a clear, and the smoke would make it a little darker... I think either of these products would adhere well, but would it be worth it in the long run to continue???
So- Hold and go with it the way it is? Or Raise the stakes and spray it??

Twinstar Joined: Aug 03, 2010 Posts: 256 Location: se pa

If you decide to spray. Try on a small area first. After all the buffing & polishing chemicals, you may get 'fish eyes' in the paint.

Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2014 1:24 am

Ya, it would need to be cleaned really well. I learned today that brake cleaner and these Lexan shields don't mix!! The proper prep for the Krylon Fusion is Windex though-

Thanks!

Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2014 12:43 pm

It's made of Lexan and will take a polishing.
I restore these just like paint, final wet sanding (a couple of drops of Dawn dish soap in the water) with 3000 grit paper.
Follow up by machine polishing with the 3M 1,2,3 process and the corresponding 3M foam pads.
I do this on the bike to hold it and cover everything else to avoid clean-up afterward.
Don't spray it with anything.

Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2014 2:56 pm

CBX-tras wrote:

It's made of Lexan and will take a polishing.
I restore these just like paint, final wet sanding (a couple of drops of Dawn dish soap in the water) with 3000 grit paper.
Follow up by machine polishing with the 3M 1,2,3 process and the corresponding 3M foam pads.
I do this on the bike to hold it and cover everything else to avoid clean-up afterward.
Don't spray it with anything.

Assuming this is the same kind of plastic as a modern car headlight, I've had a lot of success wet sanding also. Depending on how deep the scratches are, I've gone as coarse as 800 grit and worked my way up to 2000 grit, using an orbital sander (less Miyagi wax on-wax off!). Then follow that with Meg's Plastx. I've used that method on several different modern cars (circa 2000+) with excellent results.

Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2014 3:22 pm

CBX-tras wrote:

It's made of Lexan and will take a polishing.
I restore these just like paint, final wet sanding (a couple of drops of Dawn dish soap in the water) with 3000 grit paper.
Follow up by machine polishing with the 3M 1,2,3 process and the corresponding 3M foam pads.
I do this on the bike to hold it and cover everything else to avoid clean-up afterward.
Don't spray it with anything.

+++1, This method results in mirror smooth paint jobs, and sounds like the way to go for a lexan windshield as well.

The different Foam pads and corresponding 3m polishing liquids and the proper use of the polisher is the tool that produces amazing results.

Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2014 5:18 pm

I have use the wet-sand deal as well.....
Foam pad 1,2,3, as stated.....
But the final buff I actually use a cotton cloth and ###hold on###.....water!

Use to do my ATV plastics that way too....works great.

Meguires makes a clear plastic polish that I have used as well......works well.

Jebby