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Best way to clean yellow head lamps


grandprix104

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does anydody know a good way to clean condensation out of the inside of headlamp enclosures/lense or a way to get rid of the yellowing plastic?

 

I was once tod you can use car wax to get rid of theyellowing but it didnt work that well. besides most of the problem is on the inside of the lense.

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If you find out let me know!! :D Man, me and GrandPrix34 have been tryin to find that out for a while now. I havent heard of anything that works except new covers.

 

Robby

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Ive been lookin aroun d on the net and most places suggest a good rubbing compound or wax with a finishing plastic treatment.

 

So far ive been tryin to get the composite foglamp assembly out of the damn car. Its more difficult than my Haynes guide illustrates. I almost got just the lense off using a screwdriver and some patience but the lense has a catch on the bottom that wont let go and since it was getting dark i coudnt see it. Well ill try again tomarrow and tell ya how it goes.

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i tried the rubbing comound by hand and buffer but the inside of the lightbar is not smooth, is has vertical plastic lines running thru the whole length of it...so you can still see some of the rubbing compound that got stuck beteween the plastic dividers which sucks....

 

i know i showed a pic to Robby of a GP 4dr that was riced out bad, but the guy made a good choice by switching the lightbar for a straight panel, probably off another GP. Robby, remember which one im talking about? the dude wit the wing and the white straight panel?

 

anywayz, im thru wit trying to clean up the lightbar, im looking for a Z34 grill to see if it will look any good (minus the bowtie, Pontiac Arrowhead in its place)

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i would try some MEK (methyl ethyl ketone) on it, but carefully cause it would ruin rubber seals or glue used to hold lenses on metal frames or whatever. MEK is used to strip paint off of boat hulls, but can be bought in smallish cans at any Loews or Home Depot. Also be caref ul becaus eit is extremely volitile, very fume-ish, and could possibly kill you. It will burn after prolonged contact with skin and melt plastic (I am assuming you are tlaking about cleaning glass lenses here)

 

In my major, we use it to glue plastic prototype models together after we design something.

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Robby, remember which one im talking about? the dude wit the wing and the white straight panel?

 

Yeah I remember, the lightbar looked good. That was the ONLY thing that looked good though. Huge ass wing, color change on interior, stickers, he did have dual exhaust though, if I remember right

 

Robby

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You sure it's on the inside? All the yellowing on my TGP is on the outside. If I take a white cloth dampened with lacquer thinner and wipe the lights, the cloth turns brown.

Hand buffing with 3M compound lasts a few months. For more permanent results, remove the light, wetsand, and buff with polishing compound using a mechanical buffer.

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Well ive used the 3m compund before. But your right it does ony last a few months. However i really buffed it well this time and the lights look almost perfect. Tomarow im going to sand with 600 then 1200 then 3m the suckers again with my buffer. (that is until it vibrates my hand so much it falls off) :? Does anyone have any trick for getting off a grand prix lights? I tried for hours sunday but the would not come out! I guess i need to remove the signal lenses but GM used those damn torx screws (as if anybody has torx drivers!) anyway I guess ill play some more tomarrow. Maybe ill get some pictures of the results.

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Are you doing this to the inside or the outside of the lens? My parking light lenses seem to have a film on them. I want to take them apart and clean them, and I think I may try this on the inside. Doing anything to them on the outside doesnt help me.

 

Jon

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hey grandprix104, which grand prix light? the lightbar in the middle? first take off the plastic covering inside the hood, you konw, the one that has anchor type screws...its black and it covers the hood release latch...second, there are like 5 or 6 hexnuts you can reach wit your hand...take those off...then the lightbar will come easily off...

 

to take the lightbar apart, you really have to pry at the sucker wit a screwdriver to get the clips unclipped then again literally pry open the lightbar to separate it from the sticky goo it has holding it together...

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Well i could have sworn it was film on the inside but i wet sanded the outside of the lights and then buffed them with 3M rubbing compuond and now the lights look absolutely perfect. While i was sanding you could see the old yellow plastic slowly coming off in the water. Im going to buff them one more time with 3M and then im finished. The lights look great!

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  • 2 weeks later...

YAY!!

 

I was over at the Dogeintrepid.net forums the other day, and saw someone talking about this same problem, espc. on the front. They mentioned a product called "Blue Magic - Plastic and PLexiglass cleaner". Its made for dashes, convert. windows, CDs, instrument pannels, andthing plastic and clear

 

I removed both parking light units (the ones closes to the grill), wiped down with alchol, and applied this stuff to em. Pics coming this weekend, as well as a quick write up for my website on it. did my headlamps too

 

It comes in a white bottle, with blue labels. Its only $3.99, and I really only saw it at AutoZone.

 

Jon

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