Stephyn
Member
Hey All,
Just dropping a tip for those of you with hazy or scratched dust covers. I've used this method many times and it works amazingly well on most plastic/acrylic materials. If your dust cover is heavily scratched, you may need to wet-sand first. Don't attempt this if you don't know what you're doing, though.
You'll need the following:
- Random-orbital polisher
- Clean correcting pad (don't plan on using it again) - polishing and buffing pads don't work for this
- Meguiar's M100 compound (don't substitute anything else)
- Windex
- Clean micro-fiber cloths
- Plastic scraper - only if you have caked-on gunk
- Painter's tape - only if you have areas you don't wish to polish or badging that may possibly get damaged
- [Optional] Clean piece of scrap carpet
Start by cleaning your dust cover to remove ALL dust, dirt, adhesives, etc. Don't worry about introducing any light scratches if you need to use a plastic scraper and some Windex to scrape away tough to remove contaminants from the nooks and crannies. Those will buff out but ANY contaminants will ruin you dust cover in the following steps. Then tape off anything you don't want to damage (e.g.: badges, labels, etc). A clean piece of scrap carpet works wonders to help absorb vibrations and hold the dust cover in place while you work on the ground for this. Working on a bench can get pretty wild. Use Meguiar's M100 compound and random-orbital polisher on medium-high with a correcting pad to work over the surface until you begin to build mild heat. Only use LIGHT PRESSURE; you don't want to press too hard and crack your dust cover. Routinely check to make sure that you're not building too much heat and that you're not removing any of the tape from taped-off areas. Over-heating the material will MELT YOUR DUST COVER. Watch some YouTubes on automotive detailing if you're not familiar with using a random orbital; there's definitely a technique to observe. Ammo NYC has a good channel to pick up tips for using polishers.
Wipe the compound residue from the surface with a CLEAN microfiber and check your work. Repeat if necessary. It's that simple.
Cheers!
~S
Just dropping a tip for those of you with hazy or scratched dust covers. I've used this method many times and it works amazingly well on most plastic/acrylic materials. If your dust cover is heavily scratched, you may need to wet-sand first. Don't attempt this if you don't know what you're doing, though.
You'll need the following:
- Random-orbital polisher
- Clean correcting pad (don't plan on using it again) - polishing and buffing pads don't work for this
- Meguiar's M100 compound (don't substitute anything else)
- Windex
- Clean micro-fiber cloths
- Plastic scraper - only if you have caked-on gunk
- Painter's tape - only if you have areas you don't wish to polish or badging that may possibly get damaged
- [Optional] Clean piece of scrap carpet
Start by cleaning your dust cover to remove ALL dust, dirt, adhesives, etc. Don't worry about introducing any light scratches if you need to use a plastic scraper and some Windex to scrape away tough to remove contaminants from the nooks and crannies. Those will buff out but ANY contaminants will ruin you dust cover in the following steps. Then tape off anything you don't want to damage (e.g.: badges, labels, etc). A clean piece of scrap carpet works wonders to help absorb vibrations and hold the dust cover in place while you work on the ground for this. Working on a bench can get pretty wild. Use Meguiar's M100 compound and random-orbital polisher on medium-high with a correcting pad to work over the surface until you begin to build mild heat. Only use LIGHT PRESSURE; you don't want to press too hard and crack your dust cover. Routinely check to make sure that you're not building too much heat and that you're not removing any of the tape from taped-off areas. Over-heating the material will MELT YOUR DUST COVER. Watch some YouTubes on automotive detailing if you're not familiar with using a random orbital; there's definitely a technique to observe. Ammo NYC has a good channel to pick up tips for using polishers.
Wipe the compound residue from the surface with a CLEAN microfiber and check your work. Repeat if necessary. It's that simple.
Cheers!
~S
