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De-oxidizing clear signal lenses DIY with pics

34K views 46 replies 23 participants last post by  cool95astro 
#1 ·
I can't stand dull, foggy, yellowed turn lenses. I know they sell kits at auto stores to do this but I'm pretty cheap and will always try to do things myself if possible. I used good old Brasso and a lot of elbow grease to clean up the lenses. I chose to use Brasso because it was in the cupboard, and also because I have a collection of wristwatches and some are older with plastic crystals and I use Brasso all the time to remove scratches and polish the crystals to as new condition, so I thought why not try it on the signal lenses?

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It worked pretty well, not as good as buying replacement lenses but much better than their previous condition. It does take a lot of rubbing, just put some on a soft towel and rub in a circular motion until it basically disappears on the lens, do not leave a foggy haze like when you wax a car, just keep rubbing until it disappears, just work one small area at a time, for me it took multiple applications in the same area before it would come clean. I also used those micro bottle brushes that are for baby bottles to get in the hard to reach areas on the backside edges, I'm sure my wife would love to know that! All in all I was pleased with the results, and all it took was some time and a lot of rubbing. I also cleaned up the brake lights too!

The brown residue on the towel is the oxidation removed

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Before

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After

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Before

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After

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Before and after

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#27 ·
Jasen said:
When they get real bad I would just cut them with some micro abrasive compound, then buff, polish and wax. In all the thousands of lights I cleaned up, I never once sanded any.
I've had to wet sand a couple, but only to get some light scratches out before I polished them. I use the same thing, 3M micro polish and an electric buffer.
 
#28 ·
I just finished cleaning up my signal lights. I'm not going to add much on polishing the outsides, that's been covered pretty well. But, one thing driving me crazy was how dirty they were inside. I could look through the bulb hole and see the little dust webs and a haze over the inside lens surface. When I did my car's headlights I was able to open them up to clean them, but the Astro lights are sealed with no way to get to the inside lens surface.

Here's a before pic of the lights, typically dull looking and a little yellowed.
1.jpg


Here's a pic of the lens after starting to clean the outside. What I tried to get in this pic is the stuff that's left inside the lens. You can see the dull spotty appearance on the inside surface.
2.jpg


Well... I remembered sitting in a bar one time and the bartender was cleaning coffee pots by putting in ice cubes and a generous dose of table salt and swirling it around. Try it, it's a great way to clean a glass carafe.

I thought why wouldn't this work inside my signal lens! I put some ice cubes in a plastic bag and crushed them to a size that would fit through the bulb hole, poured them in, added a good dose of table salt, and swished them around for a few minutes. Then I rinsed out the ice and salt and, success! They were spotless inside. Just for good measure I sprayed a little windex in, swished it around then rinsed that out. Then to finish I rinsed a few times with distilled water so as not to get any water spotting. If I had some rinse agent from a dishwasher I would have used it. The hardest part was drying them in this humidity... I used a hair dryer to blow warm air in, shake them a little to break up water drops, it took about ten minutes to dry them.

Here's a picture of a finished lens. Pretty amazing difference. Try it, it takes about twenty minutes and it's basically free.
3.jpg
 
#29 ·
One thing I wanted to add... in the second pic above you can see some green algae in the gap around the outside of the lens. Spray some bleach cleaner in that gap and use a small brush to clean that up. Be careful though, I destroyed a perfectly good shirt with the bleach cleaner.

:doh:
 
#32 ·
whit brasso is a great work....
next step apply hand glase 3m to achieve high brightness, but the plastic is not seal yet ...
plastic and seal it against the heat back ...

I work in this way and are better than new ... and the best out all the lines
, I can even use polishing paste, medium and fine then polish and sealant.
 
#37 ·
I use Blue Magic Metal polish with a Buffer on Low speed with a soft cotton wheel. Blue magic has a protectant coating that seals the pores & surfaces from dirt getting back in. You can see the little silicone pellets in the paste if you look closly. They are what does the sealing on metal or plastic. I'm still working on trying the buffer on the teeth!
 
#38 ·
kennyj said:
I've read on another forum that buffing these lenses takes off a UV coating that protects the plastic. Any truth to this? Anyone think it's worthwhile to shoot them with a coat of clear? I'm curious because I'm going to be working over the lights on my car. The tails are getting a coat of Nite Shades and I bought a can of Krylon Crystal Clear to finish them off. I want to buff out the headlights, but if it's not necessary I don't want to clearcoat them.
If the tails come out well, I may do this to my Astro as well.
This is what I use. After I hit them with the 3M kit I apply the sealer and just re-apply with each wash. Seems to work very nice. The 3M kit did a fairly nice job. Enough for all the lights in the front. If you are good with your sanding you can even do the tail lights as well, all with one kit.



http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/webapp ... RP2074____
 
#41 ·
Guys, I'm a detailer and I would like to shed some light on this from my point of view. I see al kinds of wacky ways to restore headlights and I hope I can clarify some things here becaue it's really pretty basic and doesn't take a lot of time, effort or supplies. I'm going to share with you what I do, from a pro's end of it and hopefully that will help.
First let me say, becasue I have not mentioned specifics about my detailing business since I've joined here, that I have been detailing cars, sailboats, yachts (up to 60 ft), semi trucks, etc, etc. for 22 years out of love for the work. It all started by accident becasue I am a clean fanatic and HATE anything messy or dirty. I got into detailing before I was driving! I worked at a local detail place and got tired of the mentality that they wanted to hurry that car out to get the next one in, just to show numbers at the end of the day. I don't work like that and when I do something I want to do it right so I went and did my own thing and I am blessed to have wonderful and extremely loyal clients - and as of now almost all my new work is via referrals and I do very little advertising.
Through the years, I have worked on some very cool cars and for the last 8 years I've been the official detailer for the San Francisco 49ers - players, coaches, staff, etc and I've detailed super-high end vehicles for people who are tops worldwide in real estate. I never get tired of the work and if anything it helps me maintain the same weight I was in 8th grade (I'm 41 now) and that's a good thing because I eat like crazy but maintain 6'2" and 165lbs year 'round LOL!

My main thing is this: DO IT RIGHT. Use the right product and use it properly. If I don't know exactly what I'm doing, I stop and find out what is the best and proper way to deal with the situation. With the internet on our phones these days, there is no excuse.

I absolutely love the business and could go on and on but I'm going to get to the subject at hand. I will probably repeat some of what's already been said but I'm going to start from square one.

The yellowing is the top layer (and from what I understand the UV coating) on the polycarbonate lenses oxidizing. Basically, the sun's UV rays has killed that layer and it is "dead". Washing your vehicle with anything other than car wash soap can also aid in the yellowing of the lenses as well - so again - use the proper product per the situation.

In order for the lenses to look like new again, that dead layer of material needs to be removed and then restored properly.

Here's what I do: I mask off all surrounding paint with blue painter's tape. NO DUCT TAPE guys and no electrical tape, especially in hot weather. Use painter's tape and cover the paint about 2 inches back from the lenses.

The lenses need to be wet sanded to remove the dead/yellow material. The grit you start with depends on the severity of the oxidation. Typically when sanding I'd recommend using 1000 grit followed by 1500grit and I finish with 2000 grit. Pesonally, I only use 3M sand paper - it's personal preference and I believe they make a quality product. Keep a spray bottle of water handy and be sure to keep the sand paper wet as you are sanding - don't let the sand paper dry. If your headlights are severly oxidized, you may need to use a more coarse grit below 1000 but I find that most of the time 1000 is a good starting point and I always start with the least aggressive method first - on some occassions that means I have been able to clear mildly oxidized lenses starting at the compound stage alone but that is because I use a high speed polisher which makes extremely quick work of it.

Here's where I may loose some of you unless you have experience using a high speed polisher. You can do it by hand but it's going to take longer and you probably won't get as good of results as using a high speed. If you hand sand, I'd recommend finishing with a finer grit than 2000. After sanding, using a high speed polisher, I use 3M compound on a white 3M foam compounding pad to remove the sanding scratches.
After compounding, before moving on to the polishing stage, all splatter and any trace of the compound MUST be removed by wiping it with a microfiber towel - I use a slighly damp towel. Compound contains abrasives (I know some of the new stuff doesn't feel gritty but it is still intended to be agressive and you don't want to carry any trace of that into the next/polishing step) and you want to remove any and all traces of it before moving to the next step.

Next, to remove the compounding scratches, again, using my Makita high speed, I use 3M Foam Pad Polishing Glaze (I believe it's been discontinued but I bought a large amount a while back!) or 3M Machine Polish and work that over the lense and when you are done you should have a perfectly restored lense.

The lense does need protection at this point and I apply two coats of a polymer sealant followed by two coats of a good wax to the lenses. One of the sealants I use is from Pro Products, called Polymer II (you can read about it at prowax.com). For wax, I like Satin Creme Wax, it's a favorite of mine, again from Pro Products. Use foam applicators to apply the products and you will get good, efficient results with minimal product. What I do for a foam applicator is when my 6.5" pads for my Porter Cable wear out, I remove the velcro from the back which makes a giant applicator or you could cut it into smaller pieces if you like. If you have a Porter Cable DA, by all means use that - that's what I do because it produces far superior results vs hand application and in far less time.

As some have mentioned, if you wax your vehicle regularly, waxing your headlights is a huge step in preventing the yellowing lenses in the first place and I highly reccommend doing that - it literally only takes a couple extra seconds to do! I wax my Astro almost bi weekly just becasue I love doing it, not that it needs it and I wax all windows, headlights, brakelights, side view mirrors, antenna, wheels, badging/nameplates, grill, windshield wiper arms - everything that is non-porous gets waxed.

You can also be careful how you park. If you are always parked facing the sun, your headlights are going to take a beating. Look around - there are cars with one yellowish and one crystal clean lense - it's because the sun hits the yellowed side of the car every day and takes its toll over time.

As far as products to use, I would offer a word of caution regarding using a chemical that is not intended for a particular situation. You simply don't know the side effects or long term effects that it will have AND what it will do if it touches the paint on your car. My thoughts are unless I've done research to confirm, I dont' know if it's safe to use a particular product ouside of what it's advertised and designed for. Be careful!! I have heard toothpaste and peanut butter work but think about this - If the dead layer of material needs to be sanded off and physically removed to properly remove it, how is peanut butter going to do that? Some of the "fixes" for restoring lenses are just temporary and the yellowing will return soon and you'll have to do it all over again. Peanut butter may appear to work becasue the oils in it may wet the dead layer of material - just like products that claim to "remove swirls" don't becasue they just have a bunch of silicone in them and silicone hides but does not remove scratches - that's a whole article in it'self but trust me on that one - don't use polishes with silicone in them if you want to remove scratches.

Also, once you have performed the headlight restoration process, the lenses will need to be waxed on at least a somewhat regular basis because remember, that original UV coating, which was inevitably much much thicker than waxes or sealants is now gone and if not waxed on a regular basis, the lenses will eventually yellow again.

I hope this helps and I have tried to be brief without turning it into a book but there are so many specifics I wanted to add! I sure hope leaving those little things out didn't confuse anyone. I enjoy anything that has to do with detailing and maintaining a vehicle cosmetically. If you have any questions, please ask. I am busy but I try to check in here as much as I can but I do have a storm of work coming in over the next couple weeks :eek:)

I should note that the products I mention here are actual products that I use and I have been using for nearly the entire time I've been detailing. I am not associated with them in any way other than using their products on my client's vehicles. 3M can be pricey but it is worth the price. Pro Products has been around for a very long time and has some absulutely awesome products. Don't go cheap on products - you get what you pay for. I have tried all kinds of products and the better ones may cost more but for me it's worth the efficiency and "works as advertised" that I get from purchasing good products.

I can restore a pair of headlights/lenses in about 30 - 45 minutes, depending on the severity of the oxidation. If you do it all by hand, it should take maybe an hour, hour and a half but you can do it, it's not really that difficult. If you have another vehicle that has this problem, be efficient with your time and do them both at the same time. Now get out there and get to it! LOL
 
#42 ·
One thing I forgot to mention.....I would think twice before putting any salt inside the lense. Salt is abrasive (that's why we gargle it for soar throats, right?) and to some degree will scratch the inside of that lense and I can't think and easy way to polish the inside of the lense to remove those scratches. I would look for an alternative - tie or tape a microfiber towel to a wooden dowel or plastic handle of some sort and push that around in there but be careful, but I would not recommend using salt in there.

The idea is to restore the lense and not have any scratches - it should be oxidation and totally scratch-free - as viewed in direct sunlight - the real judge of scratch removal from any surface is direct sunlight!

And ONLY use microfiber towels when detailing. No shirts or dish towels, no shop towels and especially not paper towels - they WILL all scratch. I tested a terry cloth towel on a newer black Mustang a few years ago (immediately prior to a lengthy exterior detail to remove scratches in the paint) just to demonstarte this to the client, I wiped a dry 100% cotton CLEAN terry cloth towel on clean paint and it caused scratches. Next I used wiped the microfiber on the paint - no scratches. Looking back on that, I should have recorded that.
 
#45 ·
webcat said:
Theres a bunch of videos on you tube showing how to clean them and alot of people clean them and then hit them with a 1000 grit wet sandpaper and then 1500 wet sandpaper and then polish them out with whatever you choose
It depends on how bad they are. 1000 might work, but you also might be there all day trying to sand them down if they are bad. If they are bad, most of the time 600 grit works perfect. You want to sand in one direction, and when you change to a lighter sandpaper sand in a different direction. Always use plenty of water, and when you make it back to 2000 grit then you can bust out the polisher and compound then polish. Then wipe it down with acetone, then spray your clear coat or wax them.
 
#46 ·
I just did mine today. I cleaned them off real well with soap and water, I used Mother's plastic polish by hand, took like 10 minutes per light, did a good job but I wasn't happy. I hit the lights with 1000 grit sandpaper, wet-sanded and used Mother's plastic polish again. A lot better. Cleaned them off real well again, let them dry and hit it with 2 light coats of clear coat

Before
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After
2.jpg
 
#47 ·
I had to remove the grill and turn signal/parking lights to replace the condenser for the air. my lenses looked nasty all yellow and foggy. I went to auto zone and for $7.95 got 3m headlight restoration kit. it came with 3 little polishing pads different grits the compound and the polish/protector. a little round pad with velcro to hold the pads. a little rubbing with each grit pad lite wipe with a clean cloth and a coat of polish and they look like new. well worth the money and still more than half left. the best part was only took 15min a side.
 
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