YZ80 White Gas Tank Refurbish

Make That Dingy White Gas Tank White Again

Here is the dingy white gas tank from the YZ80. It is stained with a muddy color that is difficult to remove. I researched all over for a solution to bring back the whiteness and read it is stained from the inside out from fuel.  Now here is the thing, even after a another bike repair shop told me the same thing I wasn't exactly convinced of this as being fact. You see, there is this chemical - Bromine - that is released from plastic that is a flame retardant. Yellowing comes from the bromine over years as it .. well here is a link to read up on it that is more in-depth so I don't have to try and explain it all. It answers my question better because the under side of the tank is not yellowed which made me suspect something else was going on. This after I had tried many products to get this tank white again.   http://www.exisle.net/mb/index.php?/topic/59657-de-yellowing-plastic-the-stain-isnt-permanent-after-all/



 This is a picture of the tank before I started trying all the cleaning suggestions I had found.

 Here is the right side after multiple hours and trying different products. It's a ton better than it was to begin with and damned near white again. First I cleaned the tank all over with bleach, filled the inside all the way up with diluted bleach and let it sit for an hour. Then poured out the bleach and washed off the outside. Next I took a razor blade, held at a ninety degree angle, using firm strokes and smoothed the surface of most scratches in the plastic. Next, sprayed on some Wesley's Bleach white and let that soak for about ten minutes, sprayed on some more and hit that with scotch bright pads. Next, wash that off and use some 400 wet dry sandpaper and sand it smooth, then apply some rubbing compound just as you would a car, then hit with 400 wet/dry again making sure to keep it wet. Apply Wesley's again multiple times. I tried soft scrub and simple green as well. I did notice after the simple green that there were some places where it had taken more of the yellowing out. I keep repeating this process many times, if it was sunny outside I would spray on the Bleach White and let it sit in the sun for awhile letting the UV rays help, but of course it's been raining or overcast for two days.

Here is the left side of the tank, it isn't stained as bad and leads me again to believe it is the Bromine and not the fuel that causes these stains. Remember, Bromine is a dark reddish brown liquid at room temperature and that is what you see on your tank. I'll finish up sanding with progressively finer grades of sand paper, 400, 800, 1000 and finish with 2000 grit paper for a smooth finish.

Here it is after all the above mentioned process done to it, much, much better but still not what I'm after. Spray s bit of water on it and the ghost of the stain can still be seen. There is a solution gamers have used to restore old plastic game systems and toys back to white called Retrobright, might give that a try.