Best fix for yellowed/ discoloured headlights?

[JUS4SHO]

meguires plastic polish jed pick that up on my honeymoon in antigua... does real wuk

[RBphoto]

I don' think that any of the plastic polishes would be better than any other. Meguires, Mothers et all use a fine polymer abrasive which is gentle to the surface of the plastic. The only thing we have not heard someone do as yet is the use of heat. A high speed buffer (not the price smart kind, the one that looks like a hand grinder) should produce a surface melting effect to congeal the scratches on the surface (I think).

Here is the link I found earlier with the blowtorch method.
http://www.pupman.com/listarchives/2003 ... 00378.html

[ilovebeti]

Mothers didn really work for me

[RBphoto]

http://www.autopia-carcare.com/inf-glass.html

The same site in the car polishing 101 sticky has this info, but is mostly a pitch for their products.

[RBphoto]

Mothers didn really work for me

What was the end result? any improvement?

[RBphoto]

I don't know if anybody remember this from about 4 years aback, it used to have a orange R33 or something parked outside Tatil building. The thing came with tinted headlights, but after the shop by FCB paint it black the headlights get polished clear with a minimal amount of swirl marks (but they were still visible, like they use some rotaty tool). Anybody know what clean them lights? Had to be powerful to remove old faded decomposing tint.

[nervewrecker]

if is a glass headliht heat can help remove tint, not the best or most effeicent way but it sort of works. you can sand it off with fine sandpaper too till you reach the glue and remove the glue with gasoline.......

[RBphoto]

if is a glass headliht heat can help remove tint, not the best or most effeicent way but it sort of works. you can sand it off with fine sandpaper too till you reach the glue and remove the glue with gasoline.......

Yes, but I was kinda askin if anyone know of this particular vehicle since I consider that headlight makeover a real good restoration. I never thought you would get any light out of those lamps again.

[idlemind]

ok i tried toothpaste, brake fluid, bug and tar remover, car polish, amor-all plastic protectant....and nothing!!!

i tried the mothers plastic polish for the heck of it and it worked okay
headlights are now clear not yellow anymore but there is a fuzz that i cant get completely out. any suggestions other than a buff/sand?

[nervewrecker]

try the autoglym microfine.

[bushwakka]

go by someone who buffs vehicles with the machine, they'll buff out the yellowness of the lights....it works...or buy the machine urself.....iz a good investment

[RBphoto]

^^^^^The car polishing sticky say that only the high speed professional buffers worth shite. The pricesmart buffers doh have the RPM's to make a clean clear surface.

[jeepers]

Brake fluid?!?! Shocked where allyuh does come up with these brilliant fluid substitution

i was wondering this myself

[^^!SPAWN!^^]

The best solution is to paint your vehicle yellow , that way it will bring out the contrast of the headlights ...

[UML]

brake fluid and a very fine sand paper will do the trick.....might want to cover your bumper to protect it from being damaged though.

[*Nebula*]

go by someone who buffs vehicles with the machine, they'll buff out the yellowness of the lights....it works...or buy the machine urself.....iz a good investment

how much they take to buff out the yellowness of the lights?

[RBphoto]

I try a thing and it working good. I used rain clear two part system (for automotive glass) on my lights and I think it working aight. My lights are already clear from using the mothers. I used the rain clear glass scrub gently on my lights and then used the protectant gel. It gave the same "RainX" effect to my lights and water just slides off like water off duck back. Only done one week now, so will report any problems I get in the future.

[Marct]

There is a 2 step process to clean it, firstly you get the orange clean wipes (sold in $10 stores) & after that you take toothpaste and work it in properly then wash off, will look brand new

[nervewrecker]

crossdrilled, that rain clear glass scrub sound like a plan there man.

Marct, the toothpaste is a cheap solution, it will work as it has basically the same physical property as polish, but imo toothpaste was made for teeth, i dont kno if it will hav any side effects on the lights due to chemical properties like. I eh go lie to you, i use toothpaste on my silver chain & ear rings & it wuck noice buh thas silver not plastic.

[Razkal]

So at the end of the day, which is the MOST effective method without any questionable procedures? I hadda admit, i with Patchie on this one, i eh really too presuaded by the sandpaper on mih head lights, brake fluid also in that boat

So the plastic polish? Autosol? Autoglym fine grit? toothpaste?
Any before and after pics of users of the above methods?
Would using a buffing machine get a better result than regular cloth-and-hand?
If so, could i use rubbing compound and a buffer lightly?

[nervewrecker]

^^^

I hav some after effects of my headlights somwhere in this thread, it wasnt badly off to begin with but the after effcets were rather impressive. i never continued with that project cuz i changed the headlights 2 weeks after.

I used the autoglym & it made a big difference to how it was b4.

I hav seen some suprising results from rally as well.

[Pirate]

d joke it some who does wash car tell me to use brake fluid on meh lights...not sure from where...was a while ago.
good thing i didn't try it!

[nervewrecker]

it hav man using brake fluid on thier lights in here

[slow323]

some guy used some product called glycol he stopped me in town an applied it to my headlights he told me that its the petroleum base in the polish that make the lights go back worse after the polish wears off so to stay away from applying them cause they degrade the plastic i doh knw what he say is tru but my headlights much cleaner now though

[nervewrecker]

^^^

petroleum base in polish?

i will hav to read my autoglym bottle 2mooro then ............

[b18b_turbo]

i used rubbing compound on mines! you will have some serious rubbing to do, but it works!

[civic SIR]

^^^ yea i used compound on mine too and it get clean after awhile, not sure bout de brakes fluid cause if dat get on your paint u could have problems

[weapon-X]

the polish method worked fine for me, but i have to repeat like every 2-3 weeks.

[weapon-X]

The best solution is to paint your vehicle yellow , that way it will bring out the contrast of the headlights ...

hahaha!!

(sorry)

[D_bodyguard]

Bring it by me and i go do it !!!!!!