Targa Top Craze Removal

[93Rubie]

I got one of those Meguires One Step headlight kits for my DD the other day. My headlight lens looked awful bad. It works great, they look almost brand new. This got me thinking, my targa top is crazed but most of the coating is gone, but it still looks like poop. I was wondering since it is acrylic could I wet sand with 1500 grit then 2000 girt then buff with the Mequires PlastiX to get it to look like brand new???

 

[93Rubie]

Anyone, BUMP???

 

[John Robinson]

I talked with a hot rod builder yesterday that was working on a 90 vette about how he got the haze off the top. His answear was he had used the Mequier headlight system to clean it up. It looked like new to me. Hope this helps you out.

 

[Hot Rod Roy]

I've used Mothers Clay Bar and Showtime detailer on my acrylic top, and I was amazed how nice it looked!

 

[DaveH_RRTX]

If you're like me, you care a lot about the appearance of your car. That means you don't have a lot to lose, and maybe you can save a lot of money.

If you do nothing, you get an eyesore that anyone that knows Vettes will always point out as your cars "defect" and you're eventually gonna have to buy a new top for yourself and to stop the chatter.

If you try the Meguiars polish kit and it works, you clean up your car's appearance and save a ton of money, plus you impress the hell out of all of us! Whats not to like with that?

Post your results here! Better yet, document what you do and provide pictures.

Wishing you a GREAT outcome! Dave, Round Rock, TX

 

[93Rubie]

I should have taken pics but I did try to polish my top as is with the Mequires Plastic X. It worked but did not remove the coating. So this winter I will wet sand and re-polish. Will post pics then. That is if I remember.

 

[91-Vetteman]

Here is a link to a previous post which discusses a product I used to refurbish my targa top. It worked great. Pics have been removed, but I can send before and after pics if interested. John

http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/forums/c4-general-discussion/118962-targa-top-refurbishment.html

 

[Binkybubba]

Targa Top Repair Thread Revival!!!

Just thought I would revive this thread as I was looking for similar posts with the same issue. A lot of different opinions out there. Firstly one thing I have noticed is the discrepancy on actual materials. Original equipment was acrylic, not sure if it was supplied by Lexan which is a brand not a plastic. The acrylic used is a form of methacrylate for light transparency. This stuff will develope deep "cracks" over time and most refurbishment just masks the issue. Some replacement units are new or refurbed so watch for it. Others are new and often Polycarbonate which is what is frequently used for headlight bezels now days. Some posters even assumed it was actual glass but this was likely not used due to safety issues, although I am sure it would have added rigidity to the structure but also added weight. I have used the headlight specific micro abrasion repair kits on polycarb headlights with pretty good results but it is very time consuming and messy since wet sanding/rinsing is involved. So I thought I would try something on my very poor condition "bronze" targa top as I figured it I had nothing to lose. Could not get much worse. I masked off the rear painted surfaces and all the black rubberized targa trim first. Then I used the Meguiars One Step Headlight Restoration kit. It has a plastic polish, a microfiber towel and drill operated "Easy Buff Pad". Amazingly easy to use once you get the hang of it. And the results amazed me just as much. It's actually transparent now. And even my wife noticed the difference with no prompting! It looks dramatically better and cost less than 20 bucks on sale. Now I can actually read the airbag decals on the visors throught the top where before you couldnt even see the seats! Bear in mind even though you are using a drill with buffing pad not a lot of material is being removed but rather you are filling in gaps and polishing the surface. Still it works great and I will do another treatment to see if it gets better. I did this on car for the sake of stability and it is a good work height. Even if you did remove it you still need to mask the rubber trim. This stuff does have some agressive properties so may damage paint or trim. Will definitely need to see what happens with time and more UV exposure but for now I just saved 600.00

Cheers,