Myth busted: only aluminum vacuums can be polished

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broomvac

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I’ve been restoring a Hoover Elite which I found in the trade-in pile at a local vac shop and decided to try something I often thought of doing but never actually attempted. Using the leftover sandpaper, foam buffing “ball,” and polish from my headlight polishing kit, I attacked the hood of this vacuum with the aim of seeing whether or not I could restore the finish on a plastic vacuum.

Man, did it work! 800 grit wet sanding, followed by 1500 grit wet sanding, 3000 grit dry sanding, and buffing with the polishing compound sure put a shine on this Elite. Despite its trashed “before” appearance, did it turn out shinier than it would have been new? Possibly. What’s crazy is that this took only about 20 minutes to accomplish.


The rest of the resto went as expected. As this vac was made in 1995, before Hoover updated the materials used for the motor housing and fan chamber, I was expecting cracks in both—specifically, cracks around the belt-side bearing holder of the housing and cracks on the “eyelets” of the fan chamber. And yes, both pieces were cracked. However, I was able to track down a decent bagless twin chamber from 2002 and put it out of its misery so that I could have those parts—now in the updated, robust, crack-free, glass-fiber reinforced plastic—so that I could set this Elite back to working order.

All other parts of this Elite, including the bag, checked out a-okay. Although, just for good measure, I also swapped the plastic “small” belt-side motor mount for the twin chamber’s steel one, because why not. I’ll save the original one in my parts stash as these are getting hard to find.

Pics below, and more on the way. Once my belt arrives, I’ll reattach the hood and share some final shots of the machine.

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One final note.

I did not sand on the decals, as I suspect that doing so would remove them. I simply lightly polished the decals with the buffing wheel, taking care not to remove them.

Nor did I sand the bumper, as it is made of plastic. Everywhere else, however, is fair game.
 
Actually, I found that kit Mothers sells for clearing up plastic auto headlights with the 'ball' they give you....on stuff that's been inside, I just use a cotton wheel on a high spd drill along with the "PowerPlastic" polish stuff.

The 'ball' is kinda unhandy in crooks and crannies. Yrs past,they had those plastic polish kits that took forever from 400 grit to over 3,000 grit. But that "PowerPlastic" stuff seems to replace all those gits except for the deep scratches.

Kevin
 
Um

If you have ever got your headlights buffed out it's the same idea.
You go through 3-4 grits of sand paper and use a buffer and it clears the lenses.
I have a commercial DeWalt buffer polisher it's 18lbs has a 9 inch buffing pad adjustable speed from 800-3600 RPMs.
I put plastic polish on turn the buffer on pretty high rpm and it shines pretty quick. You have to be cautious.
Nice transformation on the vacuums. I don't have many vacuums with plastic or abs bodies.
I have not restored any plastic as well as you.
Les
 
@All

Thank you, everyone!

Yes, I used the Mother’s headlight polishing kit and simply followed the directions on the package.
1. 800 grit + water
2. 1500 grit + water
3. 3000 grit (dry)
4. Polish (applied using buffing ball)
5. Polish using soft microfiber towel.


My belts arrive this Saturday, so I’ll put the hood on then and come back with more pics. I’m a big fan of Hoover Elites, so I’m very happy to have the opportunity to own this one and make it shine like new.
 
Thank you, huskyvacs!

My genuine Hoover Style 190 belts arrived earlier than expected, so I installed one and a genuine Hoover HEPA type A bag and took some pics of the final result.

This vac runs smooth! I’m very pleased.

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Museum quality now! I should find a dummy cheap vacuum to practice on, I think I'd get scared seeing the plastic getting all scratched up and be worried it won't come out. I'll bookmark this page and try it out hopefully this summer.
 
I use Abro® Headlight Restoration Polish.
It takes for ever to see any improvement by hand. You really need an electric buffing wheel.

T-Cut can remove deeper scratches.
But it isn't suitable for all plastics! You have to test an inconspicuous area first.

Roger (IBAISAIC on YouTube) recommends using a plastic restoration polish designed for perspex aircraft windscreens. It removes the dirt and oxidized layer, then fills the tiny fine scratches. Drying hard and clear.

In the USA you have a product called "Mirror Glaze". It looks like your equivalent to the aircraft polish.
 

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