Just noticed some really nasty scratches on my gauge cluster plastic (mostly the fuel/temp) is there any stuff that can smooth the scratches out? I was thinking maybe compound could work because it really worked the scratches out of my b-pillar... but you guys seem to know a lot about this...

Also, is the plastic removable?

 

try the dealer... youd have to pay for it obviosly, but they should be able to do it all legit.

so can I ask, how did you scratch it?

 

I really don't know.. maybe my jacket zipper hit the plastic? I'm not sure.

 

Get some "novus". Its a plastic polish and it comes in different grades. People use it on all kind of plastic stuff to remove stratches. I used it on my plexiglass fish tank.

www.novuspolish.com

Many will agree, its the best and will probably be what your dealer uses. Just make sure the plastic isn't coated.

 

Just ordered some Novus. I figured for 15 bucks, if it don't work, i didn't lose my shirt.

 

Cool. Let us know how it goes.

 

I use a spray product called Plexus a lot. I originally bought it because it was safe to clean my helmet and iridium sheilds for my helmets. It's not an abrasive but it does a really good job with microfine scratches in plastic.

And really makes my headlights shine.

 

Ok, at first I thought this product was garbage, I tried it on a few cd cases to see if it would work... didn't wokr too well. Used the #3 cream, then the #2 cream, then finally #1. Many of the larger scratches remain. I was really disappointed, but I decided to try it on my gauge cluster anyway. Here I was truly amazed. Granted, I used a larger portion of the creams on my gauge cluster, took me close to 30 minutes to buff out the scratches, but the final product was amazing. The plastic had no scratches, repelled dust pretty well, and looked great. I was so impressed by this, I even tried the stuff on my old 91 preludes gauge cluster, which was scratched and faded to hell and back. Even then, it cleared up many of the fine scratches and the plastic was very clear. I think there are many other applications for this stuff as well, I just have to be creative about it. But for 15 bucks shipped, I think the stuff was worth it.

 

Novus is the defacto standard for polishing stuff like this.

Its used nearly exclusivly in the pinball industry to clean up plastics and to polish the playfield itself (its coated in a hard plastic.. ). Its simply amazing what it does it does to plastics. Insides of pinball machines are filthy due to carbon dust, and when not cleaned.. it acts like sandpaper inside the machine. Novus is like magic.

The #1 is great just for cleaning even.