General: Headlight cleaning (to remove cloudy / hazy look)
July-22nd-2002 | 08:17 PM
#17
Protege Owner
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 492
From: va beach 757
Originally posted by Glazedham42
You guys don't need to bother wet sanding anymore.... I've discovered a better way to fix the hazy lenses. You'll need..
1) Rubbing Compound
2) Scratch Out or Haze Remover
3) Nail Polish Remover
4) A Good Wax
5) Some towels and rags
Since the outside of the lenses are smooth this makes more sense to me to just polish the lenses, instead of sanding them and making a mess. Plus, it works good, and it's really fast, and probably cheaper too.
Start by cleaning off the lens with the nail polish remover. This will take off the cloudiness instantly and it will look great, but you'll notice the haze reappears in a matter of seconds. Thus, the other products come into play...
After you have cleaned off the lens with the nail polish remover, get a rag and the rubbing compound and basically work the lens over with as much elbow grease as you can muster. After you get the rubbing compound applied, take it off with a clean rag. The lens will look pretty crappy at this point, as the rubbing compound has probably stained it another color, i.e. red or clay.
Take the scratch and haze remover and do the same as you did with the rubbing compound. The scratch and haze remover should take off the stains the compound left behind, and your lens should be clear at this point, but rather dull.
Take off the scratch remover, and wax the lens. This will take away the dull finish, and hopefully leave you with a clean, clear, shiny lens.
You can do this procedure to any of the lenses on your car and it really clears them up. I even did my dome light, and it looks great now. I did the tail lights too. You just don't know how bad some of them are until you clean them up...
Good luck all, hope it works for you as good as it did for me....
You guys don't need to bother wet sanding anymore.... I've discovered a better way to fix the hazy lenses. You'll need..
1) Rubbing Compound
2) Scratch Out or Haze Remover
3) Nail Polish Remover
4) A Good Wax
5) Some towels and rags
Since the outside of the lenses are smooth this makes more sense to me to just polish the lenses, instead of sanding them and making a mess. Plus, it works good, and it's really fast, and probably cheaper too.
Start by cleaning off the lens with the nail polish remover. This will take off the cloudiness instantly and it will look great, but you'll notice the haze reappears in a matter of seconds. Thus, the other products come into play...
After you have cleaned off the lens with the nail polish remover, get a rag and the rubbing compound and basically work the lens over with as much elbow grease as you can muster. After you get the rubbing compound applied, take it off with a clean rag. The lens will look pretty crappy at this point, as the rubbing compound has probably stained it another color, i.e. red or clay.
Take the scratch and haze remover and do the same as you did with the rubbing compound. The scratch and haze remover should take off the stains the compound left behind, and your lens should be clear at this point, but rather dull.
Take off the scratch remover, and wax the lens. This will take away the dull finish, and hopefully leave you with a clean, clear, shiny lens.
You can do this procedure to any of the lenses on your car and it really clears them up. I even did my dome light, and it looks great now. I did the tail lights too. You just don't know how bad some of them are until you clean them up...
Good luck all, hope it works for you as good as it did for me....
what brand [wax]?
just wanted to kno which one u use and which works best. thanks
-phil
July-23rd-2002 | 03:53 AM
#18
formerly chastan
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 2,350
From: California, USA
I'm kinda a newbie... ;)
Do these headlight lenses tend to get dirty often? What are the symptoms? How can you tell?
My headlights looked a pretty dull yellow, so when I went to kragen, I saw they had "cool blue" lights from sylvania. (9004CB I think). 15$, kind of expensive. I put them in tonight, they look very clear/white (not really blue, these are still halogen). A little bit of an improvement. Would I still benefit from cleaning the lenses? I don't really want to try if I don't have to, I'm kinda a spaz
My headlights looked a pretty dull yellow, so when I went to kragen, I saw they had "cool blue" lights from sylvania. (9004CB I think). 15$, kind of expensive. I put them in tonight, they look very clear/white (not really blue, these are still halogen). A little bit of an improvement. Would I still benefit from cleaning the lenses? I don't really want to try if I don't have to, I'm kinda a spaz
July-24th-2002 | 08:50 AM
#19
Rotor Head
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 264
From: Indiana
Originally posted by protegeDX
what brand of [scratch/haze remover]?
what brand [wax]?
just wanted to kno which one u use and which works best. thanks
-phil
what brand of [scratch/haze remover]?
what brand [wax]?
just wanted to kno which one u use and which works best. thanks
-phil
Sorry for the lack of info, the site is still under heavy construction. I got it at Autozone for a couple of bucks if I remember right. As for wax I just use the regular Armorall Liquid Wax, just to give the lens a little shine, doesn't have to be perfect or anything...
Product Recommendations
Last edited by Glazedham42; July-24th-2002 at 08:52 AM.
July-24th-2002 | 08:56 AM
#20
Rotor Head
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 264
From: Indiana
Re: I'm kinda a newbie... ;)
Originally posted by Chastan
Do these headlight lenses tend to get dirty often? What are the symptoms? How can you tell?
My headlights looked a pretty dull yellow, so when I went to kragen, I saw they had "cool blue" lights from sylvania. (9004CB I think). 15$, kind of expensive. I put them in tonight, they look very clear/white (not really blue, these are still halogen). A little bit of an improvement. Would I still benefit from cleaning the lenses? I don't really want to try if I don't have to, I'm kinda a spaz
Do these headlight lenses tend to get dirty often? What are the symptoms? How can you tell?
My headlights looked a pretty dull yellow, so when I went to kragen, I saw they had "cool blue" lights from sylvania. (9004CB I think). 15$, kind of expensive. I put them in tonight, they look very clear/white (not really blue, these are still halogen). A little bit of an improvement. Would I still benefit from cleaning the lenses? I don't really want to try if I don't have to, I'm kinda a spaz
July-24th-2002 | 09:52 AM
#22
Rotor Head
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 264
From: Indiana
Yeah, I've had no problem with the duration of the cleaning process. Just think of it as cleaning off all the stuff that's been building up on your lenses since the car came off the assembly line. It's gonna take that same amount of time for them to turn yellow and look like they do now. So, yes, it should last for a long long time...
hotness
July-24th-2002 | 06:48 PM
#24
Ya'll Come Back Now
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 241
From: Dallas, Texas
Originally posted by Glazedham42
Yeah, I've had no problem with the duration of the cleaning process. Just think of it as cleaning off all the stuff that's been building up on your lenses since the car came off the assembly line. It's gonna take that same amount of time for them to turn yellow and look like they do now. So, yes, it should last for a long long time...
Yeah, I've had no problem with the duration of the cleaning process. Just think of it as cleaning off all the stuff that's been building up on your lenses since the car came off the assembly line. It's gonna take that same amount of time for them to turn yellow and look like they do now. So, yes, it should last for a long long time...
July-27th-2002 | 11:16 PM
#27
Thread Starter
Wok the Wok
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 785
From: Calgary, Canada
cleaning
I went to home depot and picked up this stuff called Goof Off...smells like nail polish remover..I added some of that stuff on to a cloth and scrubbed for about 2 min really hard on the lense...man, this stuff works good...but you have to be outside or you're gonna start feeling sick. I'm gonna try this with a 3m pad and see what the results are like compared to the cloth.
July-27th-2002 | 11:40 PM
#28
Protege Newbie
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 21
From: East Coast US.
Considering the build up of oxidizing plastic residue took a number of years to get that way and the condition of the lens when you are done is mechanically 90% as clean as when new, I would expect you will need to do this every two or three years if you do it right.