Question about plastic/vinyl hardtop & moulding

[pm55]

Hi Exveryone,

I need some advice on what to do with our recently inherited 1991 Mazda Miata. The exterior paint was in really bad shape, badly oxidized. I used Colorx, and was really impressed with the results. It worked well on the well on the 1/4 panels, hood & trunk, but the removable hardtop (it's some kida plastic, and a piece in the front & and the rear, it had litttle effect on.

The Colorx made quite a noticible difference. It is red, and was faded out light an old stop sign. Big job, but worth it. The engine only has 50k, and runs well.

Is there anything that I can use to treat the remaining parts (hard top & trim)?

Thanks!

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Question about plastic/vinyl hardtop & moulding

Hi Everyone,

I need some advice on what to do with our recently inherited 1991 Mazda Miata. The exterior paint was in really bad shape, badly oxidized. I used ColorX, and was really impressed with the results. It worked well on the well on the 1/4 panels, hood & trunk, but the removable hardtop (it's some kinda plastic, and a piece in the front & and the rear, it had little effect on.

The ColorX made quite a noticeable difference. It is red, and was faded out light an old stop sign. Big job, but worth it. The engine only has 50k, and runs well.

Is there anything that I can use to treat the remaining parts (hard top & trim)?

Thanks!

The problem could be with the paint itself and nothing poured out of a bottle or scooped out of a can will fix it, that said you never know what you can do until you try.

Try a small section with ScratchX, like about 8" squared on the roof, focus on the task at and and do a really good job of applying the product and working it in and against the paint. Then wipe off the reside and inspect. If there is little or no change in any dimension of the appearance the it's likely nothing can be done to restore the paint by hand and it's an indicator that nothing can be done by machine.

Do you have a dual action polisher?

It's amazing how many people think the best results are always achieved by hand when each and ever Saturday and Wednesday night here at our garage we prove over and over again that the best results are always created by machine.

You can get into machine polishing for around $200.00 and have the right equipment to do a better job than most paid detailers. If you compare this to what it will cost to repaint the affected areas and take into account now you have the tools to continue taking care of this car and any other car, it might look like an option worth undertaking.

How about a picture?

[pm55]

Re: Question about plastic/vinyl hardtop & moulding

Mike,

Thanks very much for your reply. I will try the ScratchX this weekend.

BTW,will the Scratchx work on the areas that I already waxed?

I wish I had a dual action polisher, I did it all by hand, and it looked pretty good. Big job for such a little car!!

There are a lot of deep scratches, that would never come out.

I wish I had taken a before picture. I'll send a picture later, when I get home.

Regards,

-Peter