Cleaning up white plastics

[nimraynn]

Hi guys,

I've just picked up a pair of Macs that I won on eBay for a bargain price. £51 for the pair, an iMac G4 1GHz, 768MB, 17" and an eMac which I'm not 100% sure on spec, but powered it up to test and seems OK. Really happy with the purchase.

The only thing is they're obviously old and they're white plastic which has become rather yellowed and dull over time.

Are there any products or special tips and tricks I can use to clean these up as best I can? Or are they likely to be as good as they'll get?

Cheers,
Mike

 

[tom vilsack]

Depends: If the plastic has degraded and yellowed within,then your probably out of luck...if just surface yellowing then try a "Magic Eraser"

 

[tampasteve]

If you have access to a blacklight and feel like an experiment there is an option, do a youtube search for "ibook guy fix yellowed plastics". He reviews a method that works for yellowed plastic that the magic eraser does not work on. I have not tried it so can't recommend it myself.

 

[jrsx]

If you have access to a blacklight and feel like an experiment there is an option, do a youtube search for "ibook guy fix yellowed plastics". He reviews a method that works for yellowed plastic that the magic eraser does not work on. I have not tried it so can't recommend it myself.

That is exactly what I would recommend: check out The iBookGuy's channel on youtube.

 

[nimraynn]

Thanks, will take a look

 

[SirFoxx]

I have tried this trick on an apple mouse that was beyond yellow, and was close to a brownish color--Since the mouse was small, I was able to put it in a bowl with Hydrogen Peroxide, and left it out in the sunlight for a couple hours, and I came back to find the plastic close to the original color. However, if you are not careful and leave it out in the sunlight for a long period of time, it could over bleach it. Now I know this may not be a good option, just wanted to share an option to think about!