Clean Up Headlights

[aamerh]

I saw some pictures of the car that mts got his headlights off of and a little bit on how they were done.

 

Would wet-sanding the inside of 95/96 lights to give it a clearer look without doing the 3 lens retrofit be practical or just completely throw off the light output for the corner light and high beams?

 

If it does sound okay, what all would go into doing this? Thank you.

[///BHRpowered]

That was a different process and MTS didn't actually do it, his headlights were originally made by reality, which has been long gone for years.

 

there are headlight kits, but if the plastic itself is yellow you have to go down pretty far, not to mention your using incorrect bulbs

[aamerh]

I meant to remove the lines and bends on the inside of the plastic to give it a clean transparent view into the housing. The plastic on my lights is still clear, no yellow-ing.

[///BHRpowered]

it requires ALOT of work

 

to get them apart you just use the same tried and true baking method, reality did it by hand and I seem to remember he said around 18 hours total, I personally would use some sort of buffer and extremely ruff grit to get it almost level, then smooth it down

[aamerh]

alright, thanks. Yeah i've got alot of downtime this summer so I wanted to go ahead and do this since i've been thinking about it for sometime.

 

so start with something like 100 grit and work up higher?

[///BHRpowered]

100grit?

 

headlight clean up kits are 600-1000.

 

I would start with something rough, I mean something you would sand wood down with, once you get the heavy lines and out then get back and get smoother and smoother

[SteveSter]

Start with 600 end with 2000-3000grit.

[///BHRpowered]

600 isn't nearly rough enough, it'll take way way to long

[SteveSter]

You dont want it to be too rough or it will really take a long time to get the big scratches out completely.

[///BHRpowered]

you want it very very rough in the beginning, once you've through the ribs then switch to something less.

[Goliat6288]

to remove the lenses from the hadlight... you have to throw the headlight into an oven right...to melt the sealant... any one know for how long and what temp?

[///BHRpowered]

It kind of depends, on 99-00 millenia lights I went 375 at 6 mins, BUT those are glass lenses. On plastic lenses I would go maybe 300 for 5 mins to start, the problem is you can't risk melting the plastic along with everything eles, I ruined a taillight like that.

 

start at 400 degrees for 2-3 mins, best bet is to "flash burn" it first

[Goliat6288]

i got the plastic 95-96 headlights. ill do that then.