Red4drLSintegra

Ok, ive tried this stuff, it made my headlights worse then before...(and before they were really yellowish color)

anyone know how to remove it????

Ive tried gas, rubbing compound, acetone(not pure..just nail polish remover..it seemed to work..it just may take awhile..)

Rbehne2

DUDE !! Never put any kind of thinner or GAS on your headlights!

They come from the factory with a special clear coating similar to what is on your paint. What you wanna use is 1900-2500 grit Wet-Sand paper. Go over your headlights Keeping the paper wet. Do NOT sand hard, as this will take the clear coat right off, if you haven't done so already. This stuff is not a loufa and you are not trying to remove skin. Afterwards, dry your headlight, and go over it with your rubbing compound a few times. You should see a noticeable difference when your done.

RoadRage212

Dude just check my sig. Only high end cars have a protective coating and its not a clear coat anyway.

Rbehne2

"Headlight coating

On most automobile models, the protective window of headlights is made of plastic. To protect the surface against scratches and yellowing by UV light, it is coated externally in the production process with a protective coating. The coating is applied by spraying. Subsequently it is dried and cured by IR and UV irradiation. To keep the reject rate low, it is important to check the thickness of the coating in the production process. If the coating is too thick, there is the risk of peeling and cracking. If the coating is too thin, it will not provide sufficient protection. "

this taken from here http://www.zeiss.co.uk/c12567b...ddb60

You should take your own advice about knowing everything about anything...

EkFG

tooth past or sand with 1500 and then 2000 and use plastic polish

Rbehne2

Plastic polish almost never works right. The best things to use are 3M Rubbing Compound and you can follow up with some 3M Final Glaze.

RoadRage212

I hate to dissapoint ya there bucky but I cash out over 50K per year performing this exact service for multiple dealerships. I don't care what you read. I do this every day.

Rbehne2

"Plastic" (polycarbonate) lenses can become cloudy and discolored. This is due to oxidation of the painted-on lens hardcoat by ultraviolet light from the sun and the headlamp bulbs. If it is minor, it can be polished out using a reputable brand of a car polish that is intended for restoring the shine to chalked paint. In more advanced stages, the deterioration extends through the actual plastic material, rendering the headlamp useless and necessitating complete replacement. Sanding or aggressively polishing the lenses can buy a small amount of time, but doing so removes the protective coating from the lens, which when so stripped will deteriorate faster and more severely.

This again taken from Wiki. If you still don't believe me, call a headlight manufacturer, and tell them they don't know what the hell they're talking about.

Another thing is, if you never knew this about headlights... I feel sorry for the "dealerships" you've potentially screwed over....

RoadRage212

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Rbehne2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">"Plastic" (polycarbonate) lenses can become cloudy and discolored. This is due to oxidation of the painted-on lens hardcoat by ultraviolet light from the sun and the headlamp bulbs. If it is minor, it can be polished out using a reputable brand of a car polish that is intended for restoring the shine to chalked paint. In more advanced stages, the deterioration extends through the actual plastic material, rendering the headlamp useless and necessitating complete replacement. Sanding or aggressively polishing the lenses can buy a small amount of time, but doing so removes the protective coating from the lens, which when so stripped will deteriorate faster and more severely.

This again taken from Wiki. If you still don't believe me, call a headlight manufacturer, and tell them they don't know what the hell they're talking about.

Another thing is, if you never knew this about headlights... I feel sorry for the "dealerships" you've potentially screwed over....</TD></TR></TABLE>

You seem to know how to use the internet, but have no useful information obtained by experience. Did you even look at the thread attached to my sig?

Look kid, the reason headlights oxidize and turn yellow is because the factory protective 'coating' is being sun bleached and rejected after many years of abuse. The best way to solve this problem without a direct replacement is to sand this layer off completely and buff it via automotive paint cleaners as previously mentioned from your wikipedia posting.

There is no 'clear coat'(like paint) on headlights. It's a poly coating that inhibits uv rays from attacking the internal structure of the headlamp. The coatings I was referring to is an actual plastic coating which is typically found on higher end automobiles, more notably the Lexus LX470. This is colored and can be burned through with only a few strokes of 1500 grit sandpaper. I know from experience.

I've been doing this for years and while I can appreciate your good gesture of helpful information, sometimes you need to leave it to adults and people who are actually in the field doing this day in, and day out. Headlights aren't all I do. I block down entire paint jobs, fix major problems and even do things as minor as repairing bird crap residue that has eaten through the clear.

I'm not trying to pat myself on the back but I'm friggin' outstanding at what I do. If what I did provided customers and management with less than jaw-dropping results, I'd be out of a job. Or broke. And yet I'm neither. So it looks like this one is a little more difficult than what a caveman can handle. Thanks for the wheel. We'll see you in another millennia.


Modified by RoadRage212 at 4:53 PM 4/19/2008

Rbehne2

I appreciate your essay of contradicting statements. It shows that you have no clue of what you're doing, or what you're talking about. Keep modifying your post until it says that you have not a clue.

DynastyRacer22

walmart sells this thing called headlight restorer it comes with everything you need to sand/polish and even the chemical to polish over your headlights to keep it from turning yellow later down the road ive used it on my car and so far so good already been 6months

RoadRage212

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Rbehne2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I appreciate your essay of contradicting statements. It shows that you have no clue of what you're doing, or what you're talking about. Keep modifying your post until it says that you have not a clue.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Actually I modified my post to correct my misspelling of 'millenia' but whatever. Keep it up champ. You make no one proud.

dr.garagetuner

well i just cleaned up my headlights on my eg hatch. Because they were heavily oxidized. I started off with wetsanding on 400 grit very lightly and then hit it with 600 again wetsanding for about 10 min trying to get the oxidation lines out of the headlights. Then wetsanded it with 1000 grit for about 10 mins. Then i put some 3m plastic polishing compound on it and got out my polishing wheel and polished it up they turned out like new. after i was done. Good luck hope you get urs looking good.

RoadRage212

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dr.garagetuner &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">well i just cleaned up my headlights on my eg hatch. Because they were heavily oxidized. I started off with wetsanding on 400 grit very lightly and then hit it with 600 again wetsanding for about 10 min trying to get the oxidation lines out of the headlights. Then wetsanded it with 1000 grit for about 10 mins. Then i put some 3m plastic polishing compound on it and got out my polishing wheel and polished it up they turned out like new. after i was done. Good luck hope you get urs looking good.</TD></TR></TABLE>

400 to me is a little extreme but sometimes necessary. Good job. I've got a headlight restoration thread attached to my sig. Post some pics of how good they came out if you want. You used pretty much the same method as I do.

welfarepc

i used plastix at work to refinish head lights (they are an auto recycler). it always worked, and worked great. made TERRIBLE OLD YELLOW headlights into new ones

OP; you prolly applied the product incorrectly

it works every time. this stuff is amazing. we have never had one headlight come back because it "didnt have its protective coating". on the other hand the insurance companys around us sure loved the 100% mint OEM lamps we were providing!

id use 800 grit wet for really bad ones, then 1200 grit wet (i would use foaming glass cleaner as my sanding lubircation). hit it with plastix at about 2500 RPM on a little hand held rotary buffer w/ wool pad. bam good as new.

im going to do it to my tails when ever i get unlazy and a decent little polisher

ps. ive done this hundreds of times.. tails, corners, markers, head lights, clear, red, amber... FTW


OP; to remove this stuff from your headlight, use more PlastiX with a rotary buffer and wool pad at 2500 RPM.


Modified by welfarepc at 1:39 PM 4/20/2008

RoadRage212

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by welfarepc &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i used plastix at work to refinish head lights (they are an auto recycler). it always worked, and worked great. made TERRIBLE OLD YELLOW headlights into new ones

ps. ive done this hundreds of times.. tails, corners, markers, head lights, clear, red, amber... FTW</TD></TR></TABLE>

I've never used plasticx but I think I may give it a shot eventually. I keep hearing it works from some, then others claim it is a waste of money. I'll keep sanding them for now. Although 600 grit is as heavy as I get with sandpaper. Most of the time I just use 1500 then 2K on the lightly hazy ones.

I have to say, though, that I've replaced one headlight, sanded and polished the other, and no one can tell the difference between the two after several months on my own vehicle. I can tell that one has been replaced, but that is due to the fact that the internal pieces of the headlight haven't been 'broken in' quite yet.

Coolin

if u wanna do the cheap way like i do... i use metal polish..... works for me... my crx is a plastic headlight... ... a fren of mine tried... it n i gave a go... pretty good for the result...remove all those protective coating tat turn yellowish..

GriFFIthS

i use PlasticX on my headlights after every winter, i bought the car a year ago and the lens was very badly hazed and starting to yellow, after maybe 5 minutes on each light with this stuff it was like new again, i used it yesturday as well to bring it back to life after a long winter of ice, snow, salt and sand hitting it for the last 5 months, it looks like new yet again.
I find this stuff worked great, PlasticX + Cordless drill + Mothers Power Ball + Clean terry Towel to wipe it all off = Amazing

kiddcarbuff

i have a small chicago air buffer and i use the plasticX on my headlights and tails after every compounding, like every 6 months, then i jsut wax them, and wax them after every wash, stuff works great

BrownDx

I used high grit snadpaper with lots of water and then buffed it with compund and it was a night and day difference.