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Tail light lens repair
Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2015 10:04 pm
by DE80q
I have a pretty good crack in a tail light lens. Anyone have a good mothod of repairing this? This crack goes from top to bottom, and the only thing holding it together is the back plate. I have found some pigmented epoxy designed for tail lights, but was looking for some BTDT.
Thanks
Re: Tail light lens repair
Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2015 10:19 pm
by varia
Re: Tail light lens repair
Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2015 12:07 am
by DE80q
It looks like that worked quite well. Do you happen to know the OP of that thread? Hi would love to see how well it looks now after some time has passed with it in the UV rays of the sun. I would hate to see it spider out from exposure.
Re: Tail light lens repair
Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2015 12:44 am
by PRY4SNO
I'll PM you his email.
Re: Tail light lens repair
Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2015 6:26 am
by DE80q
I tried the solvent welding, and it worked pretty well. You can still see the crack, but I could only ask so much.

This is how the panel looks after wet sanding with 2000 grit paper.

Anyone have some tips on a good plastic polish to use? This will be done by hand, as I really don't want to break it again.
Thanks
Re: Tail light lens repair
Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2015 11:57 am
by DE80q
Well with some compounding and liquid polish, this is the end result. Sorry, the best lighting in my apartment is in my bathroom...


Re: Tail light lens repair
Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 11:39 am
by 32vquattro
DE80q wrote:Well with some compounding and liquid polish, this is the end result. Sorry, the best lighting in my apartment is in my bathroom...


That came out looking like new, great job restoring that lense!
Re: Tail light lens repair
Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 11:50 am
by DE80q
Thanks, but i should have posted an uodate.
Now that it has been out in the sun, rain, and dirt, the crack has popped out visably. The next try will be to grind it out and lay in some pigmented epoxy. The hard part will be to match the color.
Re: Tail light lens repair
Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 7:26 am
by lorge1989
Why don't you spray clear coat on it after you fix the repair?
I'm thinking, fix the crack, wetsand down to 800 or so maybe even finer, then spray an automotive clear coat then buff.
Re: Tail light lens repair
Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 7:43 am
by DE80q
The problem was the epoxy that I used to fill in the rest of the crack has turned a milky color. It was supposed to be an outdoor UV safe clear epoxy, but I guess it wasn't quite as good as I had hoped.
I may end up pulling it and listing it for sale. I like how t looks, but not enough to try my hand at modifying a bumper.
Re: Tail light lens repair
Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 3:07 am
by themagellan
Came out amazing nice save