I posted in appearance/cosmetic but I figured it is more towards just ludes. Anyways after taking apart my jdm headlights I washed them up with simplegreen and water. However I forgot about one of them sitting in the sink for a few hours and now it seems the clear coat or somthing is pealing and chiping off. What the heck can I do to get rid of this nasty stuff. Ill post up some pictures in a minute.

 

Bump for pics.

 

its the clear coat, nothing you can do for now, just take it to a body shop, they will get the old off and shoot on some new for about $50 total, thats what they quoted me about a year ago

 

Its really hard to see in the pictures, but I couldnt figure out a way to take them so it would show up. Just keep in mind there are no rock chips and they were just cleaned so anythign you see is the clear pealing off.

 

mine is doing the same thing but looks alot worse than that on one of them. i've been told to re-clearcoat them also.

 

NO WAY MAN! DON"T TAKE IT TO A BODY SHOP, its not necessary. Do what the salvage yard that i bought mine from told me to do. I had it about 20 times worse than yours. Wet-sand it with 1500 grit sandpaper for a little bit. Then, wipe it dry and use rubbing compound for a while to get the appropriate shine! It works amazingly well! I was actually going to write a thread on it to show my before and after pics. I got mine back to perfect condition! Try it and lemme know!

P.S. Jdm headlights are sexy

 

don't take it to a damn body shop!! Use some mothers carbuna cleaner wax on it inside and out. It worked wonders on my jdm headlights!! Try it and save $100, there isn't clear coat on those anyways its just plastic and it should be able to handle a little water.

 

Awesome info, I plan on getting some JDM one piece for my lude.

 

So when wetsanding them any certain motions to use or anything? Ive never done it before. Just wetsand like regualar sanding then wipe dry then use rubbing compoud. ill have to try it.

 

Wetsand with the "grain" meaning wetsanding left to right. Then wipe dry, and use circular motions with the rubbing compound, thats the longest part though. Good luck!!

 

I want to do this to my headlights but I can't come to take them apart myself, want them to be sealed good still

 

Gonna try this today Ill let you know what happens. Vispreludevtec, dont worry taking them apart was very easy it sounds hard but once you do it they come apart very easily. Took me a total of 20 min for each light. Give it a try man. If you need any help let me know.

 

92ludesi, lemme know how it goes. However, VisPreludeVtec you don't have to take the headlights apart to do this...i didn't

 

Well I just wetsanded them and they seem to be all cloudy/ scratched I started using polishing compound but it just doesnt seem to be taking the cloudyness away too quickly. Should I use rubbing compound?

 

Yea man, polish won't work. I said to use rubbing compound

 

Well I figured out that it worked good however DO NOT WETSAND THE INSIDE! When I got the outside done it looked great then I attempted to sand the inside as there was a stain in there. Well it seems the inside scratches very easily now im stuff with a scuffed up headlight cover. Ive been trying rubbing compound but it just seems to chage the direction of the scratchs. If anyone has any ideas Im open to just about anything at this point.

 

 

ouch those look bad 92...

so let me get this straight sand and polish with car wax? i should try it

 

would this wet sanding and stuff work on my 2pc headlights? as you know these are made off glass and not plastic. my headlights seem to have some pitting probably because of small stones hitting the glass.

also how do you take apart the headlights anyway? i mean parting the lense from the housing?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by maxvtec7500 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">92ludesi, lemme know how it goes. However, VisPreludeVtec you don't have to take the headlights apart to do this...i didn't </TD></TR></TABLE>

I know I don't have to take apart for the outside, but I want to restore the inside also as the corner portion has a little yellow tint to it. How would I get rid of that yellow tint? Thanks

 

jesus, doesn't anyone LISTEN?? Use ONLY mothers cleaner wax on the jdm headlights!!! I had thesame problem with mine and used it and it worked great after three aplications.

 

I found that if you use never-dull it works awesome to remove yellowish tint and such. To take them apart just heat the oven to 260-300, remove bulbs etc, put in there for several minutes with the door cracked then take a screwdriver and start to carefully pry open the casing. Once you get a bigenough opening take a wood shim and you will be able to slide it in there and it will pop off the whole side. Good luck.

 

Matty c where can I pick this stuff up to give it a try I looked at walmart and advanced auto but didnt see any.

 

you can get it at any wal-mart or auto store the bottle looks like this, and its only 4 or bucks. I'm not sure if it'll work now that you fucked up the housings, now you need to wet sand the housings with 700 and work your way up to 1000-1500 grit to get rid of those scratches, make sure to use plenty of water.

 

do you use the mothers cleaning wax in combination with the wet sanding or just use the wax by itself?