Restoring Yellowed Cockpit cover windows

Applescruffs

Applescruffs

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I've got a cockpit tent with plastic windows that have yellowed with age..


Any tips on restoring them back to clear before I reach for the Vim/Ajax,Vinegar,toothpaste,nail polish remover and totally bu@@er them up?
 
Applescruffs said:
I've got a cockpit tent with plastic windows that have yellowed with age..


Any tips on restoring them back to clear before I reach for the Vim/Ajax,Vinegar,toothpaste,nail polish remover and totally bu@@er them up?
Click to expand...

I'd not think Vinegar will have much effect.


Any of the others should see you at the repairers fairly quickly. Try something really abrasive like Vim or a strong solvent for quickest effect. Acetone ?
 
I've used Meguiar's Plast-RX which is usually used for restoring plastic windows in ragtop cars. It helped but if they're going yellow & the plastic is hardening may be time to replace. If you remove them yourself without destroying (so whoever's replacing them has a pattern) then it shouldn't be ridiculously expensive to get them replaced. Also read that you can use Brasso to do them but as already said anything more abrasive will ruin them once & for all...
 
We found that there was really no alternative to replacing the plastic once it started to yellow. Nothing would remove the yellowing and the plastic had started to go brittle and crack. Then a sheet cracked into one of the panes and split it, so we removed the plastic by carefully cutting the stitches, used the old stuff as a pattern and sewed new one into the spray hood. Not an easy task but it can be done using a domestic sewing machine. Use UV resistant thread and a large needle (size 110 IIRC).
 
Sounds like the plastic has yellowed in the UV, in which case it will be yellowed right through the thickness of the plastic.
All products that you mention are capable of cleaning a surface but also of severely scratching one or melting one for that matter.

Wants mending with new plastic I think !
 
It may not apply as I assume the panel is flat, but PBO did an article a couple of years back about replacing windows in sprayhoods. They advised sewing a slightly larger window in before cutting out the original as that held the cover square whilst you're working.

Rob.
 
rob2 said:
It may not apply as I assume the panel is flat, but PBO did an article a couple of years back about replacing windows in sprayhoods. They advised sewing a slightly larger window in before cutting out the original as that held the cover square whilst you're working.
Click to expand...

Yes. That's the way the pros do it, in order to preclude distortion of the new panels. Think about it: a tent/sprayhood with the windows removed is just a floppy thing of not very determinate shape.

Armed with this information my better half replaced two sprayhood windows a couple of years ago. She said it was straightforward. The result was excellent.
 
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