TWS

iTrader: (63)

My recently acquired '00 B4C has the dreaded opaque headlight cover problem that can develop with high mileage cars that are also parked outside (not sure which factor is more important).

Anyway, I want to restore the headlight covers and I'm sure this topic has been covered before. I have heard there is a solution , but don't know the details. Someone please post a link to the thread. I did a search and did not find quite what I was looking for.

TIA.

Unforgiven1

iTrader: (5)

Wet sand with 1500 grit. Do a search for a post LS1 Sounds made about this subject. He used a stepped process. Starting with some rougher stuff and moving onto the finer grit followed by a polish. Takes a bit of work to get them right. I worked on mine for a little bit and they still look like ****. Best of luck.


Justin

My'98-Z

I had this problem with my '98. I sanded the down and polished them like you will read in other post's. Like many other people I still could not get them clear enough and it annoyed me like crazy. so I went to a local auto supply store ( Bennett Auto supply) and they had a kit that they said would fix the problem. It was $28 and I was worried it wasnt going to work. I got it home and followed the three step instuctions. Basicly clean with alcohol,wet sand with 1500 grit,then apply what I think was clear coat. It was a liquid it a bottle that came with the kit...they called it something else but I cannot remember. My lights are now as clear as they ever were. I was amazed.They are like new. So go to a couple auto supply places and ask them about it. I am sure you can find it. If you have problems finding it send me a PM.....I still have some left at home and i can get the name of it for you......It's $28 but it works.

TWS

iTrader: (63)

Dude,

please respond with the name, etc. of the kit. I spent about 30 mins doing 4 repetitions of: wet sanding by hand on cover with 1500 grit, pause, clean off, polish, wipe the polish off, and then check.... it's better, but nowhere near completely clear. It either takes a lot of time or there is a better technique.

Thanks,
Todd

PendragonZ

If you're looking for the post by Chad (ls1sounds), I think he made this post back when his name was Chili Pepper.

PRAY HRD

iTrader: (119)

isn't there some place we can buy the covers? it would be great because mine has the same problem.

thanks,
Dave

LS1 Sounds

iTrader: (11)

Here's the write-up I did on my yellow headlights...

https://ls1tech.com/forums/appearance-detailing/157192-fixed-my-yellow-cracked-headlight-today-pics.html

ZR2877

I have a 98 and mine has the same problem. I didn't realize how bad mine were until one of my friends with a 01 was parked beside me. Now I have to polish mine.

Unforgiven1

iTrader: (5)

First and foremost, your post was the only reason I decided to try it. You done an excellent job. If I could pick your brain a little...how did you handle the sanding process exactly? Basically, how did you check your progress? I just sanded, sprayed. and sanded some more. I really couldn't see progress throughout the whole thing because when I got them wet they looked clear. After polishing and letting them dry I could see that it didn't do too much overall. I'm willing to take another stab at it to prevent me from forking over the $200 for halos.


TIA,
Justin

1999Z28

were there steps on the bottles to help..or can you give us some detail?
Thanks

LS1 Sounds

iTrader: (11)

I actually had the same problems monitoring my progress. I took the headlight and sandpaper into the kitchen sink and kept a constant, small stream of water running over it. This kept the lens clean of debris.

My lenses were not only foggy and yellow, but they also had small cracks in the surface too. They looked almost like dry-rotting... I started off with 400 grit if I remember right since I had to level the plastic to the deepest part of the cracks that were in there. I actually had to take off quite a bit of material to get this done, but then I was left with the scratches that the 400 grit paper left behind. I then had to remove these scratches by stepping up to 800 grit, then 1500 grit, etc. This all had to be done to get the lenses smooth enough for the plastic polish to work.

If you don't have these spiderweb cracks, I would suggest starting with 800 grit paper at the most. It's coarse enough to remove the fog but not leave deeper scratches like the 400 grit did. Start with it to remove the damage, then smooth it out with progressively finer grits of sandpaper until you get to 1500 or 2000 grit. That should get the plastic surface ready for polishing.

The kit that I provided the link for does come with instructions on how to use it. If your lenses are in bad enough condition, the polish alone may not be enough to fix them without doing some sanding too..

MyersRacing

It should be almost like polishing aluminum as far as the sanding goes except for the polishing procedure. Did you use a polishing wheel or buffer?

LS1 Sounds

iTrader: (11)

I didn't use any machines on mine during any process. It is very easy to overheat the plastic if you use a machine, which would ruin the lens.

1999Z28

hey, thanks a lot man, i just bought some of the novus polish/cleaner off ebay because it came with 8 oz bottles instead of 2 oz. I'll try it and let everyone know how it looks.

AronZ28

iTrader: (2)

I asked the same question, we should make a sticky on this.

ddelallata

iTrader: (2)

mine were starting to look hazy so my brother told me about a friend of his that has a headlamp refinishing shop in Brownsville, Tx called KRYSTAL CLEAR. I called him and about 30 minutes later he showed up at my house with several different packs of sandpaper of different grits and started to work on my car. For the final step he applied two different types of paste polish on the headlamps and polished them with a Porter Cable. An hour and a half later and $60 poorer my headlamps looked like new.