oxidized headlights

[liquidkool]

i have oxidized headlights. ive seen alot of products that can supposedly fix them. which is the best? thanx

[dave92cherokee]

I've seen that small mother's power ball thing used with a polish and it clear them up quickly.

[Paul79UF]

My bro did just that. He attached one of those buffing/polishing balls to his drill and buffed his old hazed headlights and they came out pretty decent.

[TRDboi]

Search for this stuff called Plexus (I think) to polish your clear plastics

[dave92cherokee]

TRD you should know by now that you should not post messages to threads that have been dead for 3 months as chances are that the original poster has found a solution to the topic.

[blazinrisk]

Thing is dave, I've been perusing these forums for awhile now and had trd not posted that I would not have found that information, in which case I may have reposted an identical topic only to be chastized by someone like yourself for reposting an old topic. Iin short, just because the information may not be helpfull to the original poster, doesn't mean it isn't usefull for someone else.

[pantheas18]

Originally Posted by blazinrisk

Thing is dave, I've been perusing these forums for awhile now and had trd not posted that I would not have found that information, in which case I may have reposted an identical topic only to be chastized by someone like yourself for reposting an old topic. Iin short, just because the information may not be helpfull to the original poster, doesn't mean it isn't usefull for someone else.

spot on.
especially when you search through pages of info with no finish on threads - frustrating
Thanks mate

[wade623]

ok i know this is a little old but i tried some chep tootpaste and a rag on mine it seemed to work it got most of the yellow out but what did you use with the ball?

btw, what is wrong with reopenig the topic anyways?

[bobss396]

Originally Posted by wade623

ok i know this is a little old but i tried some chep tootpaste and a rag on mine it seemed to work it got most of the yellow out but what did you use with the ball?

btw, what is wrong with reopenig the topic anyways?

I agree, who died and made these guys the "dead post" police? If you can help someone else, post away. If someone gets bent about it, the forum should self-delete older posts!

Bob

[Airjer_]

I just did an article on this a little while back here it is.

For the past year I have been experimenting with different ways of restoring hazy and yellow headlamps to there original crystal clear appearance. This is an easy project for the do it yourselfer and would take approximately an hour or two to make them like new.

First step is to clean them with any mild detergent. Glass cleaner will work just fine. Next I tape off all of the painted areas that I don't want to accidentally hit with the sand paper. Now the fun begins. Starting with 800 grit wet/dry sandpaper I wet sand each lens until all of the degraded plastic is removed. You will see what I am talking about once you start to sand. I then clean the area again to remove any grit left over from the sanding. Then I go to 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper and generously sand each lens again. You will start to see the lens get clearer as you sand. After wiping down the lens again I finish the sanding with 3000 grit. Again you will notice the difference as you complete this step. Now its time to polish.

There are many kinds of plastic polishes available. Maguires and 3M are pretty good, I personally use a product that Cornwell Tools has. This will be the most labor intesive part of the job. I have a mini polisher so it go pretty quick for myself but it can still be done by hand with the same results. Polish until crystal clear! You may notice a few places that you missed after polishing, just repeat the above steps and they will look like new.

Here are the latest before and afters. This was a 98 ford contour and took me about an hour to get them 99% perfect!!

Before

After

[97TaurusGuy]

This is the same process I have used in my shop for a few years now with great results. I find the plastic cleaners a waste of time. The only difference is after the wet sanding process I use some rubbing compound on a wax pad just to get the fine scratches out. Adds maybe another 5 minutes to the process. I to use polish on them afterwords.

Originally Posted by Airjer_

I just did an article on this a little while back here it is.

For the past year I have been experimenting with different ways of restoring hazy and yellow headlamps to there original crystal clear appearance. This is an easy project for the do it yourselfer and would take approximately an hour or two to make them like new.

First step is to clean them with any mild detergent. Glass cleaner will work just fine. Next I tape off all of the painted areas that I don't want to accidentally hit with the sand paper. Now the fun begins. Starting with 800 grit wet/dry sandpaper I wet sand each lens until all of the degraded plastic is removed. You will see what I am talking about once you start to sand. I then clean the area again to remove any grit left over from the sanding. Then I go to 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper and generously sand each lens again. You will start to see the lens get clearer as you sand. After wiping down the lens again I finish the sanding with 3000 grit. Again you will notice the difference as you complete this step. Now its time to polish.

There are many kinds of plastic polishes available. Maguires and 3M are pretty good, I personally use a product that Cornwell Tools has. This will be the most labor intesive part of the job. I have a mini polisher so it go pretty quick for myself but it can still be done by hand with the same results. Polish until crystal clear! You may notice a few places that you missed after polishing, just repeat the above steps and they will look like new.

Here are the latest before and afters. This was a 98 ford contour and took me about an hour to get them 99% perfect!!

Before

After

[gatoratoy227]

i've heard of CLR being used to remove the oxidation on the head light lenses
any merit to this or another waste of time trick

[Airjer_]

CLR dissolves Calcium, Lime, and Rust, hence CLR. The headlights are not "oxidized" as much as the plastic is degraded from exposure to UV rays. I don't see how CLR would remove the degraded plastic but anything is possible?