I Can't get a shine on plastic panels on my smart car

[Vince70]

I just wondered if anyone has any experience of polishing smart cars and if there's a special type of compound or polish II should use..

I tried mopping my smart 450 yesterday with a standard medium compound and although the tridion came up lovely and new the panels still look dull from years of sitting out in the sun and I can still make out a sticker outline on the panels from when it was used as a form of advertising..

I don't really want to change the panels as apart from the paint fade there's no damage to any of them or is it a case of repainting the panels as I guess the plastic must be coated in some kind of clear coat...

I've also tried using some autoglym on my mop and even a bit of autosol but nothing seems to work and was thinking of maybe trying a bit of 2000 wet and dry but that would be a last resort really.

[Summit_Detailing]

UV degradation causes the top layer to become 'dead' or faded, a machine polish with a fairly aggressive compound & cutting pad should remove this dead layer, you'll then need to refine this finish with a less abrasive polish/pad combo.

cheers

Chris

[Squiggs]

My friendly local bodyshop once told me the adhesive can chemically effect the paint - even though there's lacquer between.
How true this is I'm not sure?
But having removed the old livery from my van, machine polished it so that nothing was showing and having new livery applied - 5 years on and the old livery is now 'ghosting' between the new livery.