headlight cleaning [Merged 5-8] fogged hazy scratched crazed headlights

[awd4g63]

Originally posted by Korndogg
, hell no
too much $$ for headlights

Yeah they are, but I wanted them so I bought 3 sets :laugh: 1 set for the Talon, and 2 sets for the Lude.

.. 3 sets... that's a nice turbo

 

[Topple]

Headlight's were geting pretty bad, so I finally took them out, put em in the oven and cleaned it as best I could once it was all in parts... I was gettin tired of the chrome housing, so I thought I'd paint it black. From the pic, I'm not sure which ones look better... But having it black is a change.

Thanks to this forum, everything went very well.... I would never have done it, untill reading on how to dissassemble the headlight's, and puting it in the oven to melt the glue.

Here's the before Pic.... chrome housing.

 

[Topple]

Heres the after Pic..... Black housing

 

[Dave_Hash]

nice, I like the black, looks like new

 

[guedo512]

nice job, looks good.

 

[dynatos]

that looks awesome! you gonna post an 'installed' pic?

 

[Crazy E]

I found this on ebay, anyone know if its any good?

Click me!

seems pretty nice, tell me what you think

 

[Defiant]

Just small portions of plastic polish. If you don't have stuff on the shelf, it'd be okay, but he's exploitating a market that doesn't need it. You'll do as well with rubbing compound, metal polish, Twinkle, or even swimming pool filter powder. Many here recommend using extremely fine wet sandpaper and polishing up from there.

There are three or four headlight cleaning articles in the Tech Section.

 

[nined2tsi]

well its 100% guaranteed. i just used mothers mag and aluminum polish. it works great. also here in the tech forums theres a nice how-to to make them sparkling clear.

 

[talontd92tsi]

First off, i see a lot of 1gb dsm's running around with disgusting yellow headlights, which is of course just a wear thing on the plastic, but fugly non the less. However when i had my 92 TSi I never had the time to bother polishing them, because i was too busy driving or fixing it, so when i decided to go ahead and take on a DSM that was owned by a fuggin idiot I decided that i would definitely find a solution to the issue or buy new headlights, because (to me) it makes a world of difference in peoples first impressions of the vehicle.

Fast forward, I trade the TSi off on my daily 02 Monte Carlo, and start looking for a project. I find it, i buy it, a 92 RS AWD..... for 500 bucks, supposedly has bent valves (doesn't by the way), However it does have yellowed headlights, as seen here.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

So fast forward to last night around 6pm, at an AutoZone where i used to work at, and one of the managers was there who i used to get along with, pretty knowledgeable guy. I decide to ask him what he would recommend, he takes me over to the wax/polish isle and wouldn't you know it, Meguiars sells a product called Plastx, a plastic specific polish for headlights, etc. I was skeptical but for 4.99 i decided to try it.... After 5 minutes i decided it was the greatest thing for yellow headlights ever. Pics below

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Only took me about 20 minutes a light, and i'm VERY satisfied with how they came out... best part is, it smells good . There are no harsh solvents in it like wheel polish does. Just thought i would share a little piece of info from my world while my Laser is in 500,000 pieces What do you guys think?

 

[Thomas91169]

just buy new ones. a week from now they will be right back to being hazy.

we used the same thing with my 02 GT headlights, started with my porter-cable and some Poorboys SSR2.5 and followed up with SSR1, then the scratchX, then a sealer-wax and then some natty's blue. they looked friggin awesome, like new and even shinier than new, for about a hour, cause then they dried out and they were back to normal hazy.

 

[Dream On]

Yeah, I plan on getting the clear ones on ebay whenever I decide to start making my car look decent on the outside.

 

[silvah_gsx]

Somehow goo-gone worked wonders on mine.

 

[CYCLONE]

About 3-4 year ago on this site, I came across a tread that was also about discolored headlights. It sad to use MOTHERS aluminum and stainless polish, I did it about 3 years
ago and they are still cristal clear.

 

[Defiant]

There's some dozen or more headlight fix threads, plus four or five instruction sets in the Technical Articles. But thanks for just one more, anyway.

Moved to Appearance.

 

[lDoSvMe]

1. Go to Wal-Mart
2. Buy big silver package for $20 (its on the aisle with all the car light bulbs)
3. Follow instructions carefully and take your time

It is made for 1 car(2 headlights), but I made it work for 2 cars by using the same sandpaper for both lights on one car and saving the other set of sandpaper for the other car.

Be amazed:

Before-left side
<a href="http://s70.photobucket.com/albums/i105/duckdontquack/?action=view&current=Pictures020.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i105/duckdontquack/Pictures020.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

After
<a href="http://s70.photobucket.com/albums/i105/duckdontquack/?action=view&current=Pictures022.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i105/duckdontquack/Pictures022.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Before-right side
<a href="http://s70.photobucket.com/albums/i105/duckdontquack/?action=view&current=Pictures019.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i105/duckdontquack/Pictures019.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

After
<a href="http://s70.photobucket.com/albums/i105/duckdontquack/?action=view&current=Pictures026-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i105/duckdontquack/Pictures026-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Before-both sides
<a href="http://s70.photobucket.com/albums/i105/duckdontquack/?action=view&current=Pictures012-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i105/duckdontquack/Pictures012-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

After
<a href="http://s70.photobucket.com/albums/i105/duckdontquack/?action=view&current=Pictures021-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i105/duckdontquack/Pictures021-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Comparison
<a href="http://s70.photobucket.com/albums/i105/duckdontquack/?action=view&current=Pictures027.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i105/duckdontquack/Pictures027.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

What you buy
<a href="http://s70.photobucket.com/albums/i105/duckdontquack/?action=view&current=Pictures.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i105/duckdontquack/Pictures.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

[The_EE]

Or you go to Autozone, buy some 2000 grit sandpaper, buy some headlight restore Maguires or some type like that and spend about $8.

Also, you will have enough sand paper for 4 headlights and headlight refinish for about 10 sets of headlights.

 

[jakeachy]

wow, that looks awesome!
does it fog up afterwards though within days?

 

[turbobluestreak]

I was told from a plastic engineer that if you use a plastic safe wax on new headlights from day one they shouldn’t fog because the plasticizer in the compound that protects UV damage evaporates out and the wax helps to seal it in and repel the UV rays which damage (fog) the headlights.



tbs

 

[Bubbs Malone]

Try Blue Magic from Kragan. It will last about 6 months or so, but it's easy to apply and about 8 bucks. I did use a little (real fine) sandpaper also, it gets some of the flakes from the over coat off.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Sorry, the lighting is bad on the left side.

 

[jesselyons2002]

Here's how I clear headlights.

Here something that would work. How I do it

(First cover the surround area of the light with tape, so you don't start sanding down the paint on the hood or bumper.)

Get wetsand paper and let sit for 10 mins in bowl of water
320 grit (Start here if you have pitted lights)
400 grit
600 grit
800 grit
1000 grit (Start here if you have yellow oxidaze lights)
1500 grit
2000 grit
2500 grit
3000 grit

1. First clean the headlights before starting and the use clay to remove and contaiments left on there.
2.Then after the claying. Get a spray bottle and fill it up with water. Spray the headlight you going to be working on and the first coarse sandpaper and go in a side to side motion with the first coarse sand paper. Once done, clean and move onto the next. Do this after everytime you move onto a finer grit
3. For the next finer sandpaper spray the headlight and sandpaper and go in a up and down motion.
4. Keep changing the direction after each finer sand paper, Example; side to side with 1500 and 2000 up and down, you get it
5.After all that. Get out you buffer (Random orbital or Rotary) and a cutting pad with some good compound
6. Set to a good cutting speed(RO=5-6, R=1500-1800) and polishing out the sanding marks. Try to do it for 3-5 mins
7. Move to a polishing pad and good finish polish. Not a glaze.
8. Set it to a polishing speed(RO=4-5, R=1200-1500) and polishing the head lights for 3-5 mins
9. After polishing, throw a good plastic protection and then a good sealant and you done

Here my light (This is are not new ones. This are the one I took off to upgrade)

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Also I wrote all this fast, So if you see something wrong. I'll try to fix it.

 

[bpestilence]

I just used plastic polish and a Powerball. Piece of cake.

 

[Defiant]

Oh, goodie. Another headlight cleaning thread. With the same answers as always.

Nice job, though.

 

[gsxeclipse97]

been a couple of days now and still lookk perfectly fine.

 

[jesselyons2002]

wetsanding and using a rotary is the best way to get the clearest headlights.