Gauge repair

[Bullet]

Hey guys, maybe I have just been up for too long now
but I can't seem to find much on repairing gauges.

Sonreir is making me some awesome new gauge faces but I can't go putting them in
crappy looking housings.

First: The face on my tach housing is scratched. Can I polish this out or repair it? If so how?

I did read a bit on polishing plastic but I don't know if the housing face is polycarbonate or acrylic
so I didn't know how to proceed.

Second: My trip knob has broken off. Anybody have a good fix for this?

Any help or opinions would be appreciated.

 

[session101]

i would just invest the money in another gauge first with similar miles...

after you get that, then you can try to tear apart your gauge, at least if you really can't put it back together you have a backup to run

the glass i would try to buff it out, maybe use a dremel tool to get in there, if you're really ballsy, you can measure the thickness and have a window shop or glass shop make you something simliar and just pop or break the old one out and re-seal the new one in

 

[SeanGSUK]

I buffed out a scratch in plastic with some paint finishing cream. The stuff you use to buff out overspray. Then use metal cream polish. You could then spray paint with clear coat?

 

[AlphaDogChoppers]

You could then spray paint with clear coat?

Really, really bad idea. The solvents in the spray paint would likely ruin the plastic lens.

 

[RoadRash]

They also make plastic polishes. I am currnetly reconditioning my spare set, and had to hand fab new lenses, using thin polycarbonate. So far, so good. There is an insert that glues behind each lens. Looking to set them, today, but not sure if I wanna refinish them, first, since they seem faded. Problem is, I'll probably lose the lettering.

 

[AlphaDogChoppers]

With polycarbonates, never use an isocyanurate product like Super Glue or Loctite. It will react with the polycarbonate, and cause it to crumble.

 

[Bullet]

Hmmm well thanks for the input guys. I do know there are some plastic polishes like
the novus system. I can just slightly feel the scratch shown with my fingernail so that
novus system won't do. Any thoughts on using a headlight restoring polish? A neighbor told
me to use toothpaste but I was a bit skeptical of that idea.

 

[RoadRash]

Yeah, I use the Novus stuff. Good stuff. You could start with something more aggressive, like toothpaste, and move up to something finer, like the Novus polish.