Clean Headlights.

Body, Paint, Interior and Trim questions and answers

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irwin83r
Racing Driver
Posts: 1563
Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2004 8:32 pm
Vehicle: NB8A
Location: wollongong
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Clean Headlights.

Postby irwin83r » Sat Oct 25, 2008 1:27 pm

here. before and after shots using mothers plastic on the out side only. pretty good results considering i done a very half assed job. if you shake the bottle well do it in the shade when the surface is cool and apply loads of elbow grease aswell as doing it two or three times in the one sitting you should end up with even better results.
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if you can avoid taking the lenses off avoid it. condensation on the inside of your lights looks terrible and isnt easy to get rid of. but if you have to polish the inside (i cant see why) then you'll have to... just be carefull and make sure you get a really good seal when putting it all back together.

yes my car needs a bath... badly :oops:

Mr Morlock
Speed Racer
Posts: 6444
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2008 11:40 am
Vehicle: NB8B
Location: Melbourne

Clean Headlights.

Postby Mr Morlock » Sat Oct 25, 2008 8:26 pm

The weathering on your lenses occurs on the outside not the inside. Your lens are hot melt glued into a glue track and they are leak tested at the manufacturing point. If you heat and remove the lens you seriously run the risk of no longer having a leak free glue track- the headlamps were never designed to be serviced ( apart from bulb replacement) and that is why you cannot buy a lense separately. If a headlamp has excessive moisture in it this may be because of some damage or deterioration to the glue track or as with most headlamps a breather is blocked- lamps breathe they are not simply fully sealed as the air inside when heated expands and contracts when it cools thus it can suck in some moisture. The sun usually sorts out moisture fairly quickly. Incidentally you cannot buy the engineering hot melt that the manufacturer originally used which is a product that has a tight spec. Lenses are treated in principle like plastic lenses in spectacles- they are coated for durability and removing that coating or scratching it excessively shortens the life. Polish rejuvenates plastics and paint- restoring gloss but you do not use a heavy polish on old thin paint and the same with the lenses.

wun911
Speed Racer
Posts: 2114
Joined: Tue Sep 11, 2007 12:13 pm
Vehicle: ND - 2 GT
Location: Melbourne

Clean Headlights.

Postby wun911 » Sat Oct 25, 2008 9:56 pm

tooth paste...
every ounce counts

DMS_Dan

Clean Headlights.

Postby DMS_Dan » Mon Oct 27, 2008 8:35 pm

If it is on the inside then take them out and put some rice in them and shake it round. Then add some water and do it again. Rinse the rice out let it dry out and refit it. You should see a noticeable difference

yakob

Clean Headlights.

Postby yakob » Mon Oct 27, 2008 10:39 pm

DMS_Dan wrote:If it is on the inside then take them out and put some rice in them and shake it round. Then add some water and do it again. Rinse the rice out let it dry out and refit it. You should see a noticeable difference


i dont know why but that was quite funny.

thankyou for that laugh.

DMS_Dan

Clean Headlights.

Postby DMS_Dan » Tue Oct 28, 2008 1:47 am

Funny but it works!

yakob

Clean Headlights.

Postby yakob » Tue Oct 28, 2008 2:27 am

DMS_Dan wrote:Funny but it works!



wait? you werent joking?

DMS_Dan

Clean Headlights.

Postby DMS_Dan » Wed Oct 29, 2008 11:20 am

Dead serious. Try it out!! Its very commom practice my the guys with old e21 BM's

yakob

Clean Headlights.

Postby yakob » Wed Oct 29, 2008 4:42 pm

DMS_Dan wrote:Dead serious. Try it out!! Its very commom practice my the guys with old e21 BM's

How are you supposed to get the rice in if they are sealed?

Also, explain the theory behind it, im intruiged.

wun911
Speed Racer
Posts: 2114
Joined: Tue Sep 11, 2007 12:13 pm
Vehicle: ND - 2 GT
Location: Melbourne

Clean Headlights.

Postby wun911 » Wed Oct 29, 2008 5:46 pm

after cleaning it do you find a week later it go cloudy again?
every ounce counts

yakob

Clean Headlights.

Postby yakob » Wed Oct 29, 2008 5:50 pm

Pretty much. Kinda like the plastic is old or something a bit yellowish.


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