Dustcover polish: Novus kits vs The World

doubledutch

Member
Hey guys, I've got a couple dustcovers I need to polish and I'm about to pickup an eccentric buffer but still haven't decided on what polish to use. I've seen people recommend so many goddamn types of polishes I can't even begin to figure out what the best one might be. But maybe that means you can use just about anything...

Anyways, those Novus kits are one of the few polish kits intended for this type of thing. Has anyone directly compared the Novus kits with any other polish products/kits? Or separately, done any kind of comparison between types of polishes, not necessarily just the Novus kits. I'm looking for answers!!

Any insight is appreciated, thanks
 
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I've used all of the 3 Novus Polish Products. They are good.
Keep in mind the bottle size will have an impact of just how far you can go with them.

Novus #1 is essentially not much of a polish product that is then designed to remove fine scratches, it is more of a maintenance and final use product that is effective to remove dirts, dusts, fingerprints and leave a nice shine and feel behind.

There are also a number of other products marketed for specific use on Plastics, which are no doubt preferable than using polishes and compounds designed for use on painted surfaces. Meguiars is one, and there's a number of others.
Today, there are also various products sold that are designed for Plastic Headlight Lens Restoration. These too can be another option and can be also used and work well.

In regards to what you call an eccentric buffer, I'll assume you're referring to a D/A Dual Action Random Orbital Polisher.
Such can be gotten from many places, Harbor Freight, and so many others.

Most have the standardized 5/16" Thread Attachment for Backing Plates and Pads. While most are designed for use with 5" and 6" Backing Plates, a number of them can be teamed with smaller 3" (2-7/8") Backing Plates, and respective 3" Pads of choice. This will make smaller jobs like Dustcovers an easier task.

Any given polish can be further fine tuned with what Polishing Pad is used with it. There are different types of aggressive Pads some softer for finer finishing polishes, and some coarser for use with more aggressive Polishes and Compounds.

They are commonly either Foam, or Microfiber, the Microfiber generally being more aggressive in cutting ability.

By only changing the type of Pad with any given Polish, the degree of cut can be modified-changed, just like with auto finishes.

The biggest enemy of plastics will of course be heat. Or the improper use of polish products. That's where a D/A will hold advantage versus a machine such as a Rotary Polisher.

Places to buy the needed Pads, Plates and even the Polishes of various types would-could be a online store such as Autogeek or Autopia, their sister site. As for such, they'll carry about the largest, most diverse selection.

Polishing Plastics of course goes further than the products I mention above. In that wet sanding Papers might also be required. Consider that the coarser the Papers, the harder it will be to remove the scratches instilled by them.
To use the least aggressive methods and products to get desired results.

And yes, this can mean Wet Sanding Papers in 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000, 3000, 5000 grit. Use something as seemingly fine as 400, you very well might instill more severe damage than any buffing methods and products can remove.

Hope my comments have helped.
 
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Again, there are numerous plastic polish products and kits out there for Headlight Restoration. All the big makers are marketing them, and just about any big box auto parts stores, and even the wally worlds will carry them.

They'll all work to varying degrees. The one wild card is what the end user does, and how good their abilities are to interpret and determine what is needed, and how to effectively use them.

Generally, the insides of the covers are commonly scratch-mar free and need nothing other than cleaning, or a going over with a product such as Novus #1.

Another important caution, any type of Dustcover that is seamed, meaning assembled and glued from a number of acrylic pieces has the undesired potential to hold polish residues in their seams which will likely never be able to be removed.

With the acquisition of a Dual Action Polisher, these then can be used for vehicle paint maintenance as well, being teamed with the right chemicals and pads. I personally own 3 D/A Polishers at present, Porter Cable 7424XP, Griots Boss-15 and a Griots Garage GG3 3" Polisher.

The little GG3, while a little bit underpowered for Vehicle use, and has to be coaxed, it might be adequate for Dustcover Polishing. Many of these can be found on the big auction site for not too much money. So can the Pads.
 
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I used Meguiar's car polish and a dual-action polisher, just as if I were working on the car. Start with cutting compound, finish with polishing compound.
 
Trick with using any free wheeling/spinning D/A Polishers, is to mark the Backing Plate with a Sharpie, or Magic Marker. This is to keep observation of the Plate-Pad rotation as you use the tool. It is important as to how the Pad is held flat to the surface, and downward pressure as well.

Just like with vehicle paint, if no rotation is maintained, and observed, a free spinning D/A just "jiggles" only, no correction will be achieved.
 
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