Every time we go away in the van, without fail I come back with a snagging list of jobs to do, some major and some thankfully quite small. For some time now I have been putting off doing something about the badly deteriorating clear coat lacquer on some of the plastic trim as I know what a pain it will be to put right to an acceptable standard. Anyway, this time I decided to bite the bullet, gird the loins and grow a pair and see if I could sort out the offside rear light cover that was in a truly awful condition.

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In this shot you can see how the clear coat has separated from the plastic and water has got behind it. The only answer was to strip off the old lacquer, prepare the surface and spray on a new protective finish. How difficult can it be?

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This is the capped panhead screw and washer that was holding the cover in place. The white cover that once was chrome finished fell apart when I touched it and the screw and washer had clearly seen better days.

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Once the lenses had been removed from the two light units, the wires could be pulled off the terminals. I wrote the wire colours on the rear of the bulb holders to avoid mistakes later.

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The light units are secured by nuts and metal plates accessed from the inside of the van after a plastic cover and rear bench support have been removed. This releases the plastic cover which can now be removed.

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With the plastic cover removed it can be prepared for spraying. A lot of the lacquer could be removed by carefully working a Stanley knife blade between it and the plastic and flaking it off but some was stuck like faecal matter to a bedsheet and had to be laboriously sanded off. This was a real pain to do. I used 600, 1000 and 1500 grade wet and dry paper with a dash of washing up liquid in the water progressively until I had a smooth, scratch free plastic surface ready to spray.

Why didn't I use some sort of solvent to remove the lacquer? Well, all the advice I could find on t'Internet advised against it as it is apparently very easy to get it wrong and cock-up the plastic surface beyond redemption and I didn't dare take the risk.

One thing I found is that clear coat is very unforgiving and it runs at the slightest provocation which then requires more careful rubbing down and the spraying on of additional coats to put it right.

Anyway, I'm quite happy with the result. It's not perfect but I know where to look and I'm pleased with the overall result. It's much better than it was.

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The finished job.

One thing I did notice was that the plastic which had a bronze tint was a uniform pale grey in colour underneath the lacquer which suggests that it is the lacquer that discolours over time and not the plastic as I had previously thought.

The screw I used to refix the plastic cover was 4.8mm x 32mm countersunk, stainless steel, self-tapping which I obtained from Amazon in a pack of 20. The snap-on covers also came from Amazon and were simply described as 'large, mid-grey.' I think they look pretty good.

What's next? Well, the front nearside marker light is in a similar condition (not too difficult) but the hitch fairings are looking pretty grim and I don't know if I will be able to do them.

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Maybe it would be sensible to pay a professional to do these?

Brian. If I could have your address can I send two qty wheel spats for your attention please?
R

Quote: Simboc2004 wrote in post #3

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I am emboldened...

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This bit was much easier to do as I didn't have to find a way to hold it while spraying and I did it without getting any runs:

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Very smart!

So, sometime between 2002/2003 and mid 2005 a move was made from simply clear coating coloured plastic to clear coating over a sprayed silver finish? Was this the case for all models I wonder?

I think I've buggered up my shoulder with all the repetitive sanding butI still need to remove/ flatten/ feather-in the big bits off the front before spraying and reassembling. I'm beginning to wish I'd never started.

Well, it's not perfect (it was too far gone for that) but it is one Hell of a lot better than it was.

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Now only the front apron remains to be sprayed. Most of the preparation is done, it just needs finishing off and refitting. Fingers crossed it all goes to plan.