plastic restoring tips??

I did a Yamaha gas tank similar to the way "can" did it. I used a heat gun instead of the torch though, and used some polish on it. It looked pretty good from about 5 paces for about a week and a half, then the whole side of the gas tank split open. I am gonna guess the heat made it brittle.

I hope a plastics expert steps in here and explains the various plastic compounds.
Preston Petty plastic? I wonder how it compares to the modern plastic ans some of the differences.

I have never heard of doing it to a gas tank (I thought about it too) and now I see why.

I know this is an old thread, but it is still relevant, the plastic used on Husqvarnas must be a higher quality or different material than the Japanese manufacturers, I've done Jap plastics before and they aren't too bad, but as mentioned earlier, the Husky plastics delaminate in layers and it seems to be a much harder plastic. I have found that 320 wet and dry is as coarse as you need to go with japanese plastics, but I had to go down to 180 grit paper and rub the bejeesus out of it for hours just to get a base to start from.
On one radiator shroud I had to resort to a razor blade to get a thick layer of oxidised, delaminating plastic off, the 180 W/D paper wouldn't touch it.
Tony Brown.

good info

The Husky plastic is different from the Japanese. Most Acerbris stuff was a nylon resin polymer. Not the same as the polyurethane type plastic on Japanese bikes. You can see very very tiny "pore" looing things in the Husky stuff. on first cleanup they show looking like thousands of little blackhead pimples on a teenagers face!

So I have tried all the different ways. Be warned, to do it correctly it is a ton of work and takes practice, but it can be done. Honestly, I don't think most will have the patience to sand properly. Here is some jap plastic I did. The gray areas had to be scraped then then wet sanded with progressive grits, carefully washing all the prior grit away before starting on the next grit. Final stage is a large soft buffing wheel with blue compound, but you just BARELY touch the wheel, kind of float if over the plastic so as not to create heat. First pic is after some scraping.




Final Product

I start with a Case Trapper pocket knife it seems to be the best thing for me . Hold it straight down like your cutting a carrot or something on a cutting board , then just rake it in one direction . You've been warned this takes some serious time and tons of elbow grease and quite a few adult beverages .

EXACTLY!!! That's why I say most don't have the patience for this art.