Cloudy tail light lens... Not polishing up clear?

Can't seem to get the drivers side tail light lens on my 87 back to clear.  I've tried polishing and it does get a little better (scratches are removed) but the lens is still cloudy.  I'm pretty sure that no amount of polishing will fix this but thought I would ask on here.

Are you polishing both sides?  I wet sanded with 3,000 grit paper and then used a 3M polishing compound that has 3 levels of "grit".  I did all this with a small rotary polisher.  It looked just like the one next to it when I started.    

[img][/img]

Are you polishing both sides?  I wet sanded with 3,000 grit paper and then used a 3M polishing compound that has 3 levels of "grit".  I did all this with a small rotary polisher.  It looked just like the one next to it when I started.    

I didn't wet sand but have been using the 3m plastic polish as well as show car glaze on both sides.  I don't see ir getting anywhere near the "spare part" one I cleaned up earlier and wouldn't look right having a mismatched pair.  The one taken apart has been polished several times, the one on the car is how it looked when I started, both very cloudy.

       

https://www.amazon.com/Polishing-36057-U...0472&psc=1

That is the compound I use and I have different pads for different levels of cutting.

You would think that if you got the one that clear the same process would work on the other one.

That was a different taillight... the one on the trunk lid is the clear one you were referring to (although the picture doesn't show that).  The right side is how the left looked before and the left is still cloudy but better.  I will just do the right taillight for now so they at least match until I can locate a better one.  Need to wait a few days as I'm out of the butyl tape.

Try wet sanding but I wouldn't go any more aggressive then 2000 grit. I do 2000 and then 3000 and then start polishing. Trust me when I say that it is much better to spend more time sanding with a finer grit paper then it is to use a courser grit and trying to polish it out. If you go with a courser grit it turns into A LOT more work.

I used the headlight restore kit from the Cerakote company and it had oxidation removal wipes in the kit which seemed to work really well on my headlights. The wipes pulled most of the yellowish tint to the plastic, then I polished them with Meguiars plastic polish.

I had a devastating blow to my project yesterday. The left hand tail light lens just suddenly cracked in multiple places. I put it down and it was fine, picked it up the next day and it's junk. Now the hunt begins for a suitable tail light.

Good luck, they are getting harder to find and prices are quite high.