Polycarbonate John Deere scratches

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Brad Bruggeman

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Anyone ever tried to get scratches out of body panels of a John Deere lawnmower or compact tractor? Not sure if it's painted or if the color is solid throughout the panel and it is polished to get it to shine? I have tried Blackfire One Step,not much difference. Then tried Griots Fast Correcting Cream with Griots '3' random orbit and their white pad. Little better but not the results I was expecting. Any body got any experience working with this stuff that can give me any insight?
 
Depends on the tractor. Most 98-08 JD mowers were given plastic hoods.

What model lawn mower is it?


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530x I believe. It's only 3 years old. Maybe I didn't describe it correctly but I know it's some kind of plastic. I am considering purchasing a JD compost tractor so I thought I would use his mower as a test to know how to maintain the finish of my tractor since I know they use the same material for their hoods. So far what I have tried has not worked but I am using the same techniques that I use on a painted vehicle.
 
If it is plastic, you are stuck with the scratches. I have plastic panels on my little TB-30 rider, and when they get scratches, they are there forever.

You cannot polish (abrade) any kind of plastic the way you can with car paint.
 
I've got them on my lawn tractor, and they're not going away. As long as I keep it clean and shiny, I'm happy
 
Brad Bruggeman said:
Not sure if it's painted or if the color is solid throughout the panel and it is polished to get it to shine?
Click to expand...

Most plastic parts employ molded-in color and their surface finish is affected by the surface finish on the tooling used, temp and speed of the molding process, and also the material characteristics of the plastic used. In this case I would guess that the panel is made from SMC, and when molding SMC, an in-mold coating is often employed when a high-grade surface finish is desired.
 
57Rambler said:
Most plastic parts employ molded-in color and their surface finish is affected by the surface finish on the tooling used, temp and speed of the molding process, and also the material characteristics of the plastic used. In this case I would guess that the panel is made from SMC, and when molding SMC, an in-mold coating is often employed when a high-grade surface finish is desired.
Click to expand...

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Check out the big brain on Brad!


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Brad Bruggeman said:
Any body got any experience working with this stuff that can give me any insight?
Click to expand...


I've tried to buff out this same type of material on dirt bikes and quads - no go.

It's a material that simply doesn't like to be abraded with the end results looking good or looking original. (that's 2 things)


I think I talk about this in my article here,

What it means to remove a scratch out of anything...



Hat's off to you for trying though....



:)
 
Mike Phillips said:
I've tried to buff out this same type of material on dirt bikes and quads - no go.

It's a material that simply doesn't like to be abraded with the end results looking good or looking original. (that's 2 things)


I think I talk about this in my article here,

What it means to remove a scratch out of anything...



Hat's off to you for trying though....



:)
Click to expand...
Yes,your article makes sense but it's a hard pill for a detailer to swallow. Hard to accept it but I have no choice. BUT is there technique or product that will conceal it or mask it to give it a better appearance?
 
Brad Bruggeman said:
Yes,your article makes sense but it's a hard pill for a detailer to swallow. Hard to accept it but I have no choice. BUT is there technique or product that will conceal it or mask it to give it a better appearance?
Click to expand...

If the scratches are very shallow, any kind of wax with fillers will "mask" the appearance slightly.
 
Mike Phillips said:
It's a material that simply doesn't like to be abraded with the end results looking good or looking original. (that's 2 things)

:)
Click to expand...


Not only that, but if it's an SMC panel we're talking about, "abrading" the surface will expose the mold release agent which is actually embedded throughout the material. And that opens up an even bigger can of worms ... a lot of things will not adhere to the surface once the mold release agent is exposed.

The suggested method for repairing a scratch in SMC is to use an epoxy resin/filler (polyester-based resins will not adhere) to fill the scratch(es) and then to repaint the panel using an epoxy primer followed by an appropriate catalyzed paint. Depending on the depth of the scratch(es), the epoxy primer may be enough to fill them ?
 
Brad Bruggeman said:
Yes,your article makes sense but it's a
hard pill for a detailer to swallow.
Hard to accept it but I have no choice.

BUT is there technique or product that
will conceal it or mask it to give it a
better appearance?
Click to expand...
Evercoat has a polyester-based SMC resin
that is used for repair of both SMC and
fiberglass panels/parts. A must-have in
many body shops.


Bob
 
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