Polish your yellowed headlights.
 

Not only are they ugly, they block a surprising amount of light.

I bought the 3M Headlight Restoration Kit from Napa (On sale for like $17?)
Best price I've ever seen on it. 3M #39008

It's basic. You need a drill and some time. Start off with 500 Grit, then 800, then some weird 3000 Grit pad, it's not just sand paper... Then the rubbing compound.

The same results could be had with just following the steps above w/o the kit. But honestly, it's worth its weight in gold! Car went from looking like and old beat up POS to a decent looking vehicle.

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...Difference.jpg
This is just the pass side completed.

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...20MPG/Done.jpg
Both sides complete.

It took me about 1.5 hours. About a third of that was removing the headlights, which you do not have to do.
I'm crazy and like taking things apart, so I did.

Anywho, for Less than $20 and 2 hours, this is a GREAT product!:D

I did this on my Wifes car and it worked awesome!!!:thumbup:

Nice Write Up!!!

absolutely one of the best deal in the $$$/time/result column.
I did this several years ago and the results were just as amazing.

I would HIGHly recommend.

cheaper then new headlights.

Has anyone had experience with other kits? I'm getting ready to do this on both our cars and just wondered if one kit is better than another? Can you do more than one car with a single kit?

Thanks!

I manage a PPG, Dupont, BASF refinish paint store. We sell a few different headlight restore kits. IMHPO I think the 3M part#39008 kit is the best bang for the buck. It will only do two headlights that are extremely oxidized.
The 3M kit uses there 3M Trizact sanding paper that's a plus.

The main advantage the 3M has over other headlight restore kits is that you sand the old bad plastic off, then using the Trizact paper you take it to a final 3000 grit before you finish with their compound.

You can add a great final touch that will extend the life of your repair by using UPOL aerosol clear over the finished sanded compound product. It has UV screener in it to keep the headlights from yellowing later on in life.

assuming those are plastic....


I spilled some clear uretahne overspray on some tail lense of the 23 year old scoob. very fogged tail lenses, (salt etc, original), I noticed the spot looked brand new. so I taped the car off away from the tail lights, (an unusual chore for painting a car...it is typically the other way around) sanded lightly, then let it have it.

lights are brand new. I stepped up the mix to two parts to 1, it acts faster, but is harder like the lights. Following the sand lightly routine as above, then let it have the urethane. Its probably what they are made of anyway...

HA!!!

No yellow lights for my car! :thumbup:

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...0212009001.jpg

Wish they'd just go back to sealed beams across the board; none of their "promise" came true i.e. more aero front ends, cheaper replacement costs, increased performance, etc. :rolleyes:

I used megiures plastix 7 bucks for the bottle. I have done 4 sets of lights, haven't used half a bottle, did them by hand with a rag. big improvement, but not brand new looking.



I just don't know what to say about that tempo....

Speechless? Yeah, I know. Awesomeness does that a lot. ;)

Frank Lee,

that American Flag certainly breaks up the stealth look you were going for.....

Thanks for washing it right before the picture........


maybe a little black cocoplast around the edges where the TURN SIGNALS are supposed to be!!!!!


just one more question......is that BLUE or SPORTS COUPE?

Nope, didn't wash it... I can't remember the last time I washed it; it's been years.

The flag magnet was just for the internets pic.

There are turn signal bulbs cable-tied on roughly where they're sposta be. All the lights work.

This one is the Sport Coupe. "Blue" is only one color... orange. No, it's blue.

Whoa- I need to make a front end like this for the Coupe!

http://www.droopsnoot.co.uk/Photos/Gallery044.jpg

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...0212009001.jpg

Or perhaps a vintage Interceptor theme...

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...erceptorH1.jpg

I second the need for coroplast/lexan headlight covers


you could probably just use 1 piece of coroplast
cut 2 holes and wrap around the entire front

I did mock up a front end with cardboard once, but was unimpressed with the resulting look and never went on to make it out of coroplast.

"who cares about looks when you have a tempo?"

-Frank Lee

Can't beat the 3M name. One American nameplate that always gets it right!

Dave

...for the lense covers on the wifes' 2004 Vibe, I just use BLUEMAGIC Headlight Lens Restorer, a hand full of cotton balls...and lots of "wax ON, wax OFF" elbow grease!

...took about an hour for each headlight cover.

...it has a rather strong ammonia odor and contains petroleum distillates (but doesn't state what).

No problems here; the Clunker has glass headlights. Well, until a rock took a chunk out of the passenger side, that is. Now where did I leave that clear packing tape?

toothpaste

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKAshYmrExc

...exactly what I said with each headlamp assembly: "...arm's getting tired..."

...and, basically, I got the same results.

Thanks for linking the youtube vid.

Dave

That looks good!! How did you fabricate that air dam? Have you been able to notice any difference?

:thumbup:

The key to keeping yer polished plastic lights looking new after polishing is sealing them with some clear spray after polishing them clear.

I don't have U-Pol clear available to me...so I just used some Rustoleum clear coat spray paint (non-UV) from Walmart about 8 months ago when I polished my headlight lenses. I was not able to find a source fer the UV resistant clear coat spray paint locally so I just got the normal clear spray. The clearness of the lens is holding up much better than one with no added coating on the lens. Although it's yellowed just a little, it's not hazed over like when I bought the vehicle early this year.

March 2009...
http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...100/98t100.jpg

April 2009...http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...0/IMG_4657.jpg

December 2009...http://i677.photobucket.com/albums/v...0/IMG_5818.jpg

Glassylite is the ultimate lens restoring product kit on the market that includes a clear coating sealant and may be a better kit choice fer the DIY consumer. :D

Well...it started with this thread and then went to this thread. Have a twin thread on GasSavers.org as well. Best mileage so far is about 23.5mpg. :D

too bad theres no silver painters tape

I don't think I've ever had a yellowed headlight. Even my 94 has clear lenses. Every time that I wax the car I do put car wax on them, may be that helps. Next time that I get the buffer out maybe I'll spend a few extra seconds on them.

BamZip, I like the air dam extension that you modified, around here, that be a snow pusher! Really nice job, what did you use?

Dave

Thanks Dave! You should read my build threads... ;)

Let's see...
Coroplast, 4mm
1/4"-20 thread all
1/4"-20 "T" nuts (flattened out)
1/4" washers
Schedule 40 1/2" PVC pipe
zipties
shelf brackets
bolts
1"x2" wood
screws

As far as I know...I'm the only T-100 with a dropped and bumped air dam. :D

Gitting back on the subject... ;)

I used a palm sander with some 1500/2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper to git most of the hard stuff off. The key in using this setup is keeping the surface wet with some soapy water in a spray bottle. I followed this up with some plastic polish on my buffer pad mounted on my drill. Sprayed it with a coat of clear and let that dry. Polished that down and sprayed it again. After that dried...I polished it one more time. Presto! :D

i used the 3 m kit on my ranger and the lights look alot better.

It's simply amazing -I've done it.

GAFFER's Tape comes in colors. Theater tape is the generic name. They use it to mark where props go. It's a little thicker than painter tape and just barely 'stickyer" BUT like painter tape, it also does not hurt the finish.

http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/v.../mpgq45108.jpg

How long did the fabrication take you? Excellent work on the AD.

Sound Guys also use it, Gaffers tape, to tape down wires. When I was in Denver, one of the sound dudes told me that it doesn't pull paint off the walls. They like it much better than duct tape!

Since it was a lot of R&D work involved...it took me over a year or so. Actual time was probably less than a day. ;)

I'll try the toothpaste trick on my old man's Ram. They are getting nasty.

Any particular type of toothpaste?

I've been looking fer a UV clear coat...finally found it at JoAnn Fabric. It's the Krylon UV-Resistant Clear Coat. Walmart, Ace Hardware, Home Depot, nor Lowe's had it in stock. At least I found it this time. :D

http://www.joann.com/images/08/51/9/xprd85197_m.jpg

Jethro, I'm thinking that you want actual tooth PASTE, not gel like most of the stuff is nowdays. Toothpaste has "gritties" in it. That's a technical term, ha ha!

I'm just amazed that after all that polishing, a clear coat can be applied over the top of it!

We've come a long way!
Dave

I have the 3M kit on the work bench for "The Bean" I just bought but I'm liking the Tooth paste trick.

One of the biggest causes of this happening is Commercial car washes. The soap is actually a acid to help break the bond of the dirt with the paint. Hand washed at home with a better CAR WASH (not dish soap) and this problem takes a lot longer to show up.

I used this stuff on my 2k Sonoma before I traded it in, and it's still looking good a year later.