Fixing faded Stihl Plastics?

[weeks auto]

I was wondering if anyone has any tricks to bring back the shine in sun faded stihl plastics? I bought a MS660 yesterday and it looks like it has spent a fair amount of time sitting in the sun and the Plastics are faded pretty bad. I am planning on spending some time in the next few weeks disassembling the saw and cleaning the hell out of it. It should look pretty good if I can get the orange shining again. Thanks in advance

 

[Dub11]

I wonder if you can buff it like plastic headlights?

 

[Bigmac]

I have sanded and plastic polished stihl orange plastic and had ok results, a soft flannel wheel with the plastic compound will get the shine back after wet sanding the plastic. They will still be a touch faded but will shine, and a lot of color will come back

 

[Bigmac]

But on 660’s I usually buy new china plastic and put a new oem badge, for $20 it’s hard to beat!

 

[Bigmac]

 

[Bigmac]

This is China top cover with oem badge

 

[Dub11]

But on 660’s I usually buy new china plastic and put a new oem badge, for $20 it’s hard to beat!

I like that idea.

 

[Bigmac]

 

[weeks auto]

China plastics does seem the easiest. I will try a little elbow grease on the oem but I may lose interest!

 

[Bigmac]

This looked similar to your 660, but chalky, not perfect, but 024 plastic is harder to come by!

 

[weeks auto]

That doesn't look bad. It may be good enough.

 

[Bigmac]

I got my last 660 top plastic and air filter cover for under $10 and and the oem badge is $5-8 from the dealer, or eBay. It’s work to polish the oem plastic out but cool to save them as well!

 

[Wonkydonkey]

I gotta agree with Bigmac here

 

[Keith Gandy]

Lightly buff the plastic to get the oxidation off. Boil water in a large pot and pour a bottle of black RIT dye in and soak the plastic about 4 hours. Black is about the only color that works
with the dye though

 

[blsnelling]

The only way to get the color back is to remove the oxidized layer. I do this with a palm sander. I then spray several wet coats of Rustoleum Crystal Clear to bring back the shine and cover the fibers.

 

[weeks auto]

The only way to get the color back is to remove the oxidized layer. I do this with a palm sander. I then spray several wet coats of Rustoleum Crystal Clear to bring back the shine and cover the fibers.

I may try that since it only costs 5 dollars. Thanks

 

[Bigmac]

The only way to get the color back is to remove the oxidized layer. I do this with a palm sander. I then spray several wet coats of Rustoleum Crystal Clear to bring back the shine and cover the fibers.

How dose the spray paint hold up on the plastic over time? Do you leave it a little rough to help the paint stick?

 

[andyshine77]

Yup the oxidation layer needs to be removed. The problem with the plastic on most good tools is the fact it glass fiber reinforced, so you can't really buff it out to a nice shine, so shooting it wit some clear is necessary.

 

[pro94lt]

Spill bar oil on it

 

[Lightning Performance]

Spill bar oil on it

Or just rub in some ATF.