Head/tail light lens reconditioning

[volpe]

I've seen some products available for reco-ing plastic headlight lenses (when they get minor scratches/foggy looking). Has anyone had experience with these? Do they work?

I have flat-type TA22 tail-lights that are looking a bit sad.
Not particularly willing to experiment with them, considering their rarity!

Cheers.

[Draven]

I'm about to give a new-ish product a try on my supra.. will let you know

[volpe]

Thanks mate.
There must be a few people who've tried, as i've seen plenty of mainly import supras/soarers which suffer from this problem......

[TERRA Operative]

I've seen stuff in repco in a kit. Has polish and uv stabiliser and stuff. I'll probably give it a go on a spare headlight to see how good it is.

I've also been meaning to try this out. Looks pretty promising.

http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/

Apparently it removes the bromine from the plastic (the stuff that makes the brown colour) and replaces it with chlorine which bonds far stronger to the plastic molecule and is far more UV resistant.
It can be made from normal supermarket chemicals and is just painted on as a gel or paste, then washed off afterwards.

[SilverRA23]

I polished the lenses of my RA23 with autosol. Came up a treat. I have also had suggestions that Brasso works equally well.

And my paint shop guys highly recommend a rub all over with very fine scotchbrite and then a nice coat of clear. I have seen the results on a mate's rx2 and that worked as well as the autosol.

Some pics towards the end of my ra23 build thread (in signature block) show the difference the autosol made to my taillight lenses.

[SilverRA23]

Scratch that, I didn't put a before and after photo up of the lenses. Still I know it worked well, and one of the other guys on here has it done it recently also with similar results.

[TERRA Operative]

I use brasso then Mothers plastic polish at the moment. Works well, but because the fresh plastic is exposed to oxygen/ozone and UV, they go back to brown pretty quick.

[Draven]

the kit I purchased supposedly has a uv coating thing in it.

[3jcelica]

I have used toothpaste in the past, any toothpaste is fine, I prefer colgate whitening for that fresh smell. It works well just don't let the misses know. She is already onto me for cleaning engine parts in the dish washer.

[TERRA Operative]

Heh, I do that, but I'm single so no one is there to get upset.

[fade-e]

you can just buff the lenses the same way you do a car. you need to use the soft compound and the fine pads so as not to leave buffing marks

also as stated above, once done and all clean, you give both sides a coat of plastic primer and then clear if you are going to use automotive/car clear. plastic primer is transparent so wont change the colour, though you can get plastic clear which wont need the primer at all.

apart from that, i remember visting a site where they put the lenses in the oven for 20 minutes but i cant for the life of me find it again. it had the temp and specific time to put it in there and i guess it cooks the crap off or something. this is no joke i personally saw the site and read it but never booked marked it. though i have not been able to find it since...

cheers

[Draven]

fade: the oven bit is just to un-set the glue/sealant that holds the plastic/glass lens to the body of the light - it doesn't actually "treat" the light in any way.

a light buff will remove the yellow sheen, but within a few months it will need re-doing.

[Draven]

ps: rant to come about light fractures/gouges in my lens covering.

Resulting from some ****0r throwing an unknown liquid at another douchebag on the fwy.

Can brake fluid fracture plastic? ('cause it looked like a brake fluid container)

[river]

Hi,

I've used Maguire's Plast-X, which is designed to rejuvinate plastic lenses.

If really faded then use their Scratch-X product, then use Plast-X. Scratch-X is for removing small scratch's from paint, but works a treat on really faded plastic.

But, as can be seen in this thread, there are numerous other things which seem to do the job also.

seeyuzz
river

[AlexT]

I also have some headlights in need of restoration.

Searches on various forums have yielded several recommendations for Meguiar's PlastX.

Has anybody tried GlassyLite? Their web site has a certain dodgyness about it, but maybe it works?