1997 Marquis has cloudy leadlights

[bobss396]

I was wondering if I have to replace the headlights or is something available to alleviate the cloudy appearance. They are on the yellowed side and definitely impacts the brightness.

Thanks, Bob

[HEMIDAZE]

Bob,
This is a very common problem. Both of mine were fogged then we had a small collision and had to replace one. It was a short time before it fogged again. I found that if you clean them good and apply car wax (polish it good) and they will stay clear for about six months.

[bobss396]

Thanks for the advice, the wax makes sense. I was browsing the Autobarn (local parts store chain) site and they have a couple of things that might work, they are made for polishing fogged plastic pieces. I'll post the results here and definitely slap a coat of wax over them when I'm done.

Bob

[bobss396]

I was at Autobarn the other day and found this product made by Permatex. It is made for refurbishing cloudy clear plastic. It ran me $10 and comes with 4 grits of sand paper, polishing compound and a piece of flannel cloth.

You start out with 2000 grit unless you have deep scratches, then go with the 1000 and 1500. Keep dipping it in water, then go through the series of sand paper. I used the 2000 and 2500. Then you follow it up with this polishing compound and rinse it off.

I must admit the outside looks great, but the main problem with mine is on the INSIDE. Looks like I'll be taking the headlight covers off this weekend, at least I can do that in the house.

Bob

[HEMIDAZE]

Bob,
I am not sure about the inside. On my 1998 the headlights are a sealed unit and the only access to the inside is the hole that the bulb fits into. Actually on mine I originally thought the fogging was on the inside, but it wasn't. It just looked that way.

[bobss396]

Thanks Hemidaze. I looked around for a replacement lens cover a little while ago online and realized that the light is an inseperable unit. They go for $75-90 each.

I'll take another look at them and try the sanding kit again. I may have to start with a more aggressive grit sand paper. I also build model cars and have all sorts of sanding cloths that go as fine as 12000 grit, so I should be able to polish out anything that is plastic.

Bob

[reekor]

I use a hand drill with a polishing ball and clear coat rubbing compound. A friend has a 94 tempo and the lights were so yellow that the light beam didn

[bobss396]

Thanks Reekor, I'll see what I have around the garage. I think my Dremel may not cut it though. I diligently wet sanded the covers with 2000 and 2500 grit. While they were wet, they looked great. Once they dried, I said WTF? The irregular pattern was still there, almost like it was etched in.

I'll see what I have for a polishing ball or I'll buy one this weekend. The grits I used didn't cut through the haze whatsoever.

Bob

[bobss396]

Thanks for all the advice. I wound up sanding them with 1000 grit and went up to 1500, 2000.. and so on to 3600 grit. I just had to break through that hard yellowed on glaze first. I followed it up with Meguiars Mirror Glaze compound and they are now very much improved.

Thanks, Bob

[gold-star]

New to the board but lots of experience with Lexan..what I use with good results is a product called "Plastic and Plexiglas Clnr" by BlueMagic..avail at Wal-mart and other auto part stores. It is a polish/clnr, slightly abrasive, leaves no marks..several app may be needed for badly sun damaged Lexan. It is a liquid, app with soft cloth, let dry and buff. I always follow up with another clnr/wax frm the furniture aisle at Wally's called "Clean Guard". It is an aerosol can for plastic, vinyl and other surfaces, leaves a very slick shiny surface to finish off the abrasive clnr first used. Also protects and brightens the red lens's on the rear. I use these prod at every wash and the lexan on my 01 looks new and shiny. Park your car facing away from the sun whenever poss. UV rays eat Lexan..turns the exterior cloudy. I thought GE was smarter.

[richter111]

real quick and simple fix for your problem, cheap too

take an old sock, wet it and put a dab of toothpaste on the wet sock

Polish your lens on the outside, reapplying tooth paste as needed.

Rinse well

Lens will look like new

Did my 92 crown vic yesterday and the lens look like brand new, clear as crystal, and seems like I added 10 more lights to the front end output.

Ric

[HEMIDAZE]

I am working on a better fix. The 2006s currently have a $7500 cash rebate in my area. I am having trouble talking the wife into it though. She doesn't want a car payment. I tried to tell her if she waits the car will cost her $7500 more. The rebate is still on so I haven't given up yet.

[cobradude360]

quick? what kind of tooth paste did u use does it matter?

[richter111]

s its not a gel type paste, I don't think it would matter. For the record, I used colgate sensitive teeth paste. Make sure the sock/rag is wet or yo can really gouge out your lens.

[Huney1]

Toothpaste - They make a Smokers Toothpaste that has more grit in it, the grit is what does the polishing like when the dentist cleans your teeth with the polishing compound gritty stuff. You can acomplish the same thing by using 'rubbing compound' from your local parts store, use heavy grit first then the fine grit. Look around and you can probably find a headlight cleaning kit at a parts store cost about ten bucks.

I had a Mustang with cloudy lights and used regular compound then polishing compound along with the fine sandpaper and it cleared them up, but it took a lot of patience and long time. If I had done much night driving with it I'd invest in new lights because the cloudy lens sure cut down on how well the lights lit up the road ahead.

Water on the inside - Drill a half inch holes on the side top and bottom, stick an air hose in the top one and blow the water out and after that the engine heat will keep the water burned out. Caution: A friend of mine said a guy drilled two small holes and the air pressure blew up a headlight, so drill two big holes.

This is suppose to be the best. http://www.mdwholesale.com/