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Plastic restoration trial

Posted: 10 Apr 2011, 23:15
by Jeram
Hi Guys

Just bought some NOVUS 1 NOVUS 2 and NOVUS 3 to restore my bodywork.

Ill do a write up on this once its done but from what Iv seen it will work.


novus 3 removes heavy scratches (scratches that you can actually feel with finger tips)
novus 2 removes light scratches (such as found on mobile phone screens)
novus 3 is a fine polisher and shine restorer

hope this works :D

Ill let ya's know

Re: Plastic restoration trial

Posted: 10 Apr 2011, 23:47
by voodookid37
i shall watch this space....... :)

Re: Plastic restoration trial

Posted: 11 Apr 2011, 00:59
by Jeram
Note: I have previously removed the really really deep scratches with course wet/dry then moved down to 1200 grit.
then tried to get the shine back using armorall dashboard cleaner and wax but couldnt get a lasting shine. and when ever I touch the panels they get really really dirty because off the micro scratches.

I also tried the heat idea - use a heat gun to melt the surface slighly to get shine back.
I tried this with 1000W heat lamp but didnt get the results I wanted either.
But I have since watched a video made by the novus guys that shows them using a butane torch to smooth out the plastic!!!

So this is my last resort!
but from what Iv seen on youtube, this stuff works well!

Re: Plastic restoration trial

Posted: 11 Apr 2011, 13:10
by twistednuts
The trouble with scratch removal is the effort required to get a decent finish. For best results you gotta put a lot of time an effort in. There are no short cuts.

Im sure you'll make a great job. Some before an after pics would be good.

I just put stickers over scratches :lol:

Re: Plastic restoration trial

Posted: 13 Apr 2011, 05:45
by Jeram
yeah, I put about 8hrs into the current panels with hand sanding...

was very disapointed with the results...

sure they look good and are a little shinny but they get dirty very very very quickly!

I want them to shine like new... I am expecting it will take alot of work...


if worst comes to worst Ill give up and do this with a heap of 3M di-noc vinyl.

http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/9ea ... 925f5g.jpg

http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/470 ... 48a65g.jpg

Re: Plastic restoration trial

Posted: 15 Apr 2011, 05:16
by Jeram
went got another useful tool today, a 650degree heat air gun.

I was impatient to gave it a quick test on one of the side panels today and its true, it does bring back the shine.

now all I have to do is use some wet/dry to get the last few big scratches out, then used the novus 3 to get the medium scratches out, the novus 2 to get small scratches out and the novus 1 to get it really really smooth...

then Ill hit it with the heatgun, the hit with armorall and wax...

should look better than new when done

Re: Plastic restoration trial

Posted: 16 Apr 2011, 04:20
by Jeram
Wow, the heat gun got out all but the biggest scratches !!!!

looks like new... just need to do a little touch up here and there to get an even shine....

side panels are too thin... DO NOT use heat gun.. i seriously warped them and it took 2 hours to get them back to shape and still work to do before they are perfect again...
lucky the effected areas are covered by decals...

found camera... pics comming soon

Re: Plastic restoration trial

Posted: 16 Apr 2011, 17:55
by SkidMark
I've following this with interest as I bought the same stuff and had the same results....glad it wasn't just me!

how do you do the heat gun thing? got a good link to how to do it?

Thanks
SkidMark

Re: Plastic restoration trial

Posted: 16 Apr 2011, 18:17
by SkidMark
ok just found a couple of youtube vid's - looks easy enough. You should be fine with even sidepanel plastics if you have a heat gun that you can turn the heat down on (even a hairdryer should work). I think that as long as you keep it moving and keeping rotating around differnet areas of the part you should be able to do it to any plastic part. Will be trying it for sure when I get back to Uganda.

Re: Plastic restoration trial

Posted: 17 Apr 2011, 01:48
by Jeram
I put mine on the highest heat setting...

beacause I want to melt the surface not all the way through
(high heat equals low heat time)

the purple parts were easy because you could see when it was working, it looked wet...

but the white panels didnt seem to shine when I heated them.


what I did was I heated them quickly and let them cool, I did this 20 times...

I also experimented with polishing with a clean cloth ones the surface had cooled slightly, then as it cooled a little more I added armorall.
this gave nice results.

Ill go out to the shed and take some pics now

Re: Plastic restoration trial

Posted: 17 Apr 2011, 04:22
by Jeram
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i92/S ... 010739.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i92/S ... 010738.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i92/S ... 010735.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i92/S ... 010734.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i92/S ... 010736.jpg


it came up pretty well...

apart from the cracked rear fender that I could only half fix.
I will probably fill this in with some filler of glue of some sort and then cover with the carbon Di-Noc

I recon I will cover all the white plastic with the white carbon and lay the black carbon decals over the top

Re: Plastic restoration trial

Posted: 17 Apr 2011, 04:37
by SkidMark
looking good! 8-) definitely inspired me to give it ago!

Re: Plastic restoration trial

Posted: 28 Apr 2011, 04:25
by Jeram
after removing the stickers from the bike... I realised how tatty my plastics were even after using the heat gun and novus polishes


So I got busy with the carbon wrap

Pics are in the techincal section of forum in my build thread

Re: Plastic restoration trial

Posted: 29 May 2011, 03:35
by back off road
how did the Di-Noc go ?

Re: Plastic restoration trial

Posted: 29 May 2011, 11:44
by Jeram
The Novus cleaner was a little disapointing... only really worked well at cleaning my phone screen.

Di-Noc looks good

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i92/S ... 010765.jpg

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i92/S ... 010761.jpg

This is really what Id like to make my CRM look like in the future. Full custom street tracker
(photoshopped lol)
http://www.supermotoaus.com/picture.php ... tureid=722

as a tribute to kocinski's dirt tracker history
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FKi_3govO1k/T ... INSKI3.jpg