my headlights have this haze on them cuz they are just too damn old. I went to the local auto parts store and priced replacements for about 180$ each. my whole car isnt worth 180$ considering its old with high milage and its also a salvage title. anyone has any ideas what i can get to maybe polish them out? i tried scrach removers and waxes and they only seem to clean the lights really well and dont smooth them out. so far the only thing i found that makes a like new look is oil. some kind of oil besides spray oils like wd40 or silicone. trans fluid seems to work the best but oil like anything else i put on the headlights either gets washed off during rain or if it doesnt rain for a while it attracts dust and dirt. i also tried clearcoat spray and that seem to last tghe longest but it stared peeling off after a while too. i would love to have that wet look on my headlights again. i think that mazda didnt do enough research on the type of plastic used for the headlights on the protege. or it would have been better to use glass like some of the older civics have.

 

just do a search, almost everybody here has a quarrle with these headlights. u'll find a lot of info in previous threads.

 

buy espec headlights. its made out of glass. HAS ANYONE FOUND A DEAL FOR THIS YET????? ;\

 

I don't believe they have e-spec headlights for the 1st gen

 

Use clear primer and the clearcoat won't peel off so easily.

 

Non- Federal bumpers look just plain goofy.

 

thanx to cablemirc. i will go look for plexiglass polish. i never thought that there is such a thing. and thanx to all that replied also. this forum is cool.

 

i'll have to find some plexiglass polish as well myself, i polished my one headlight, barely anything came off and now i feel like a shmuck cause the damn thing is dull as ****... never thought of clear coating it, but then again, it's not exactly designed for the temperatures that those halogen bulbs can produce. personally, now that i think of it, it's a great idea to remove the yellowish tint in our lights, but it's nothing that a pair of silverstar bulbs couldn't remedy. i have some blue frost 9004 bulbs in my headlights and they're slick as ****. unfortunately, this was a good addage to the whole headlight polishing posts, but if i see another one pop up.. i'm gonna kill somebody.
peace

 

this sux. cant find any bluecoral or another brand plexiglass cleaner in local autoparts stores. one dude at pepboys suggested homedepot? what do you guys think?

 

I just cleaned mine with a good degreaser, rinsed it off, and buffed it with autosol metal polish....seems to work great
you can actually see the yellow coming off the more you buff it

 

Maguire's and 3M make "Clear Plastic Polish" this will do the trick.
If you want to clean the inside of the lamps, use 99% Rubbing Alcohol and wash it around. This should remove any residue. Don't use anything less than 99%, it will leave additional residue as it dries.

As far as E-spec, lamps(new), I have a line on them, but I need to get at least 5 others interested(willing to put up the cash) in picking them up before he puts an order in for them.

 

I've never done anything fancy to my headlights except wash all the dead bugs off, but mine are white. The old headlights were starting to look a bit yellowish, so I bought some super brights from Walmart a couple months ago and they are very and strong! I'd recommend them, as they are fairly cheap as well.

 

Havent really tried buffing the headlights or anything, but I bought a set of cheap, but powerful, foglights off Ebay and they are at least twice as bright and the scope of the light is alot wider than the crap stock lights. I bought replacement bulbs for the headlights, and they maybe were about 10% brighter, but nothing special. I drive constantly at night with my foglights on.
You guys are talking about a yellow tinge coming off the lights....is that on the outside or the inside?

 

you can clean up your headlight plastic with mothers mag and aluminum polish. i used a small buffing wheel [cotton] on an electric drill and it got my lights back to like new. take your time and you should get good results.

 

ORIGINALLY POSTED WWW.STRATUSPHERE.US

First, buy 600, 800, 1500 and 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper; also buy a plastic cleaner and a finish restorer. All can be bought at PepBoys, Autozone, etc.

The procedure can not be easier.

1. Wet sand (a good stream of water while you sand the OUTSIDE of the lens going from 600 and up. Just do about 2 min. with each sandpaper.

2. Apply the plastic cleaner (follow their instructions).

3. Apply the restorer (follow their instructions).

Here's some pictures:



This is the materials. From left the 600, 800, 1500 and 2000 grit sandpaper. Up are the plastic cleaner and the finish restorer

This is before

before

After

after

A note:

1. Please, please, please if you are going to remove the lenses, please, please, please don't let water go inside the lens. You will spend more time (considerably) drying the inside of the lens than cleaning the outside.

2. The complete procedure it takes 20 min. tops.