I just picked up an eg hatch and it had a busted taillights. I found some cheap JDM tails that had some deep scratches and was wondering if it is fixable.

 

It looks pretty serious to me. At best, I think you could reduce the scratches. Kindof hard to gauge with just pictures though. Start sanding, 400 grit wet. Check your work often. I suggest taping off the un-damaged area.

 

You should be able to block sand those and shoot some clear on them...depending on how deep the scratches are.

 

treat it like you do any other painted part start out with 400 grit, then go to 600 grit wet, then to 800 grit, 1000 grit wet, once you get to that point 3M makes two compounds to bring the shine up. if it's too much for you to handle send me a pm I can make them look like new. or I can sell you another tail light <<<cheaper in the long run.

 

I rarely start with 400 grit on painted parts.

 

I would say from a scale of 1 to 10 I am a one with paint and body work. Mechanics would be a 9.

You have a spare JDM tail?

 

+1.

You don't even have to do all that sanding. As long as you sand off most of the crap, you can just use 1000+ grit for the job. Then do some compounding on it till it starts to shine.

Plast-X might work wonders too.

 

yea.. lol.. i guess i may have to venture out and see... I have the old lights i could practice on.

 

It's not too hard, it looks pretty salvageable. Just make sure you take your time, and PLEASE wet sand. You should start with a 1000 grit to see if it helps, and if not, get rougher and lower it to 800 grit. After most of the gunk is gone, just take a polisher (or if you're a thug, by hand) and compound it. After that you can apply some wax or sealant (cuz you're basically removing the clearcoat) and it should look a lot better.

 

Sand like mentioned above. Reclearing is the best way to seal and protect. I know you can buy catalyzed clearcoat in an aerosol can. You should be able to pick one up from an autobody supplier.

 

from the pics id do the scratch areas with 220 then 400 then sand entire light and clear coat out of a spray gun ppg clear. wet or dry sand wont matter if u clear out of a gun....better and faster than trying to sand/polish out