TA22 Flat light/Bubble light restoration

[king-szeitszam]

Hi guys,

I just invested in a pair of flat lights for my 22 and am not completely pleased with their condition. I thought this may apply to some people with bubble lights as well.
My main problem is that even after an hour of cleaning, one of the lenses still appears dull and foggy- while the other looks pristine;



I've used all manner of cleaning products and cloths. I eventually fell into a state of despair and sat rubbing the lense with a dish cloth and a bottle of windex for over an hour- to no effect. It still looks as dull and dirty as it did when i picked it up!


What's the trick here? I'm getting worried that it's a different 'series' of flat light that's some how duller and I have a mismatched pair. Anyone got any tips for clearing these lenses up and making them nice and shiny?

Cheers
Frank

[celicapain]

paint them both black

Seriously though they look like they have been tinted differently(maybe one had more uv damage than the other)
I could only suggest trying to tint them both slightly differently and trying for a color match that way(headaches+illegal)
Unfortunately once you run out of dirt and scratches cleaning really ceases to help-
best of luck!

[king-szeitszam]

Damn, that's not what I wanted to hear!
This flat light idea of mine may be short lived! I'd hate to go down the track of tinting and accidentally wreck a pair of these lights.

[Dan_k36]

It's normally from the exhaust, is the dull one the lh side lense?

[mynameisrodney]

You can get a mother's tail light powerball kit thingo which does ok, but if they are bad you need to rub them back with a few different grades of wet and dry before you start polishing. It's not a quick job.

[king-szeitszam]

Dan-k36- Yeah mate it's the left hand side- that'd explain it

mynameisrodney- someone recommended i buy 'Meguiars Plastix headlight cleaner'- it supposedly removes 'yellowness and dullness'. Would the powerball kit work well with that kind of thing?
I don't mind if I have to sit down for a few hours and polish away, I'm used to polishing brass and boots in the same fashion! Just chuck the telly on and zone out for a while.

luckily it's only one lens or i'd be in for a long day.

[mynameisrodney]

I'm not sure if you need to use special polishes with the powerball or not. I wouldn't use it inside in front of the tv though, makes a damn mess!

here is the kit I'm talking about:
http://www.mothers.com/02_products/07250.html

comes with the powerball itself, a bottle of polish, and 2 sanding pads. For my bad lenses, even the harshest pad was too slow cutting it back so i used regular wet and dry paper.

[king-szeitszam]

Haha- I didn't realise it was a drill powered applicator- definitely won't be bringing that inside.

I think i'll give it a crack and post the results on my thread. Wet and dry seems to be the way to go for a last resort.
time to use my supercheap chrissy giftcard woohoo!

[king-szeitszam]

Small update on this- the red polished up very nicely on the duller tail light- looks just about the same as it's friend.
However the amber indicator portion didn't respond at all- even when I took wet and dry to it.

upon closer inspection the amber section doesn't appear to be toyota genuine- at least, it has no part number.
The red and amber parts of the flat light should be 7207 and 6207 respectively, stamped on the front at the bottom.
My left hand amber portion has no toyota stamp or id number anywhere

Damn! where to from here?

[mynameisrodney]

I'd be very surprised if it was a reproduction part (and if it is, would love to know where it was made!) Maybe you are not the first person to polish it and it has already been rubbed off?

Cheers,
Chris

["Z" UTE]

When all the polishing and use of so called wonder products and zoom zoom balls fail, set yourself up with some 800 wet and dry paper a bucket of soapy water and get stuck into sanding the outside of the lense. Use sugar soap as the detergent as it has excellent oil, wax and grease removal properties.

When you have a nice even dull surface on the plastic, dry it off and give it 2 to 3 coats of clear acrylic lacquer. If you have access to 2 pak products the 2K clear is the way to go, 2 coats of that and you will be absolutely amazed. Many Celica tail lights and Crown tail lights have left my garage looking almost as good as the day they left the factory.

Check out the latest light refurb on Stitty's Fastest Fridge in the Galaxy.

cheers Chuck.

[king-szeitszam]

I'd be very surprised if it was a reproduction part (and if it is, would love to know where it was made!) Maybe you are not the first person to polish it and it has already been rubbed off?

Cheers,
Chris

The thought has crossed my mind! But if that's the case then whoever did it must be a sanding and polishing wizard!
Were there different tints on flatlights belonging to different years by any chance?

When all the polishing and use of so called wonder products and zoom zoom balls fail, set yourself up with some 800 wet and dry paper a bucket of soapy water and get stuck into sanding the outside of the lense. Use sugar soap as the detergent as it has excellent oil, wax and grease removal properties.

When you have a nice even dull surface on the plastic, dry it off and give it 2 to 3 coats of clear acrylic lacquer. If you have access to 2 pak products the 2K clear is the way to go, 2 coats of that and you will be absolutely amazed. Many Celica tail lights and Crown tail lights have left my garage looking almost as good as the day they left the factory.

Thanks for the advice mate. I ended up gettig the Meguair's kit which comes with 3 wet and dry pads- but I don't think they're harsh enough. Even the roughest grade failed to frost the plastic up at all.
No skin off my nose as I got the kit for free.

Hadn't even thought of the lacquer. I'll have to track down some of this 2 pak stuff.


Even if the lights are somehow mismatched, at the very least they'll be incredibly shiny.