Any way to remove pitting from glass lenses??

[1990lumina]

Hey guys, the Milly got hurt the other night - well, I bought it damaged and it finally crumbled the other day.

 

What do I mean? My passenger side fog light lens is smashed, so I will need to replace it - and I have a part lined up, but if I replace the passenger side, the driver's side is gonna look out of place due to the main pitting it has in the glass lens.

 

Is there anything I can do to remove/sand down the pitting to make it less noticeable? The whole front of the car is fucked from highway/gravel road driving, but one new lens in a bunch of old smashed up ones is going to look out of place.

 

The lenses are glass, so I'm sure that'll make a difference. And I have to remove quite a bit of the car to take the fog lights out, so I want to do this right the first time.

 

Here are some pictures of the pitting (car isn't clean in these pics, it's raining)

 

 

 

Mods, if for some reason you feel this shouldn't be in this section, please move it to Other Cars - but I felt other people can gain from it being here as the procedure to fix this, if there is one, is probably universal.

 

Thanks!

[slick]

Take out your fog lamp assembly, then follow these directions. It will work for glass or plastic: http://www.w-body.com/forum/index.php/topic,55586.0.html

[1990lumina]

Take out your fog lamp assembly, then follow these directions. It will work for glass or plastic: http://www.w-body.com/forum/index.php/topic,55586.0.html

 

Thanks Slick..my searching methods must suck!

 

 

[slick]

Well, I just remember the thread because I created it!

[GnatGoSplat]

For glass, you would need to use a cerium oxide based polishing compound.

 

[1990lumina]

For glass, you would need to use a cerium oxide based polishing compound.

 

 

Thanks for the heads up Shawn! I still have to get this stupid lens so it'll be some time before it gets replaced....once it is replaced I'm gonna put that 3M headlight film stuff over the fog lights as they seem to take an ass raping down on the ground!

 

Any idea where I could buy this product?? Name of one particular compound??

[GnatGoSplat]

For glass, you would need to use a cerium oxide based polishing compound.

 

 

Thanks for the heads up Shawn! I still have to get this stupid lens so it'll be some time before it gets replaced....once it is replaced I'm gonna put that 3M headlight film stuff over the fog lights as they seem to take an ass raping down on the ground!

 

Any idea where I could buy this product?? Name of one particular compound??

 

I don't know if this is the best place to get it, but I found it here:

http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/glass.htm

 

I bought the kit and was able to take scuff marks out of the glass on my truck. Be sure to use a respirator because cerium oxide can have some radioactive particles in it.

It might not work well if the pitting is very deep. 3M has a product called Trizact that's supposed to be able to remove deeper scratches or pitting from glass, but I never found a place that sells it.

 

[1990lumina]

Am I able to wetsand and polish glass? I don't even know. I'll sand the shit out of this one lens if I have to, it can't get much worse than it already is IMO..then go higher grit working my way up, and finishing with either that product in the link, or something else?

 

The pitting isn't that deep, there's just a lot of it.

 

I finally figured out how the fog lamps come out too, which is a bonus for when I attempt this.

 

And I think after the fog lights are done I'll move up to the headlights (plastic) and give it a try using Slick's link above!

 

Fucking highway car lol

[GnatGoSplat]

Yeah, you can wetsand then polish glass. It's a lot more work than plastic though. I think you have to use a really fine grit sandpaper or else it'll put scratches in the glass that are too deep to easily remove with cerium oxide buffing compound.

 

[1990lumina]

Yeah, you can wetsand then polish glass. It's a lot more work than plastic though. I think you have to use a really fine grit sandpaper or else it'll put scratches in the glass that are too deep to easily remove with cerium oxide buffing compound.

 

 

Okay, thanks Shawn! I'll let everyone know how it goes once I finally order the lens and get the other one done.

[rockfangd]

that lense is plastic right. My cutty fog lamp lenses both broke. Lol ghetto. i had to change both

[1990lumina]

that lense is plastic right. My cutty fog lamp lenses both broke. Lol ghetto. i had to change both

 

Mine are glass

[1990lumina]

Okay, so it begins...making this:

 

 

Look like this:

 

 

 

I doubt I can make it look like the new one...as long as it's close I'll be happy..

[1990lumina]

Well, after sanding this thing for like 3 hours straight barely anything has changed..so fuck it, one's going to look new, and one is going to has 170,000km on it

[jeremy]

wow those are bad

[1990lumina]

wow those are bad

 

Yeah I guess I never had the new one to compare..I didn't think the old ones were that bad..but christ I was sanding for 3 hours straight and theres not a chance in hell of being able to cut the glass down to where a lot of the pitting is..they are a lot deeper now that I have looked at the lens for a while lol...w/e though..nothing really I can do - thoguh I am going to put the 3M headlight film over the lenses...I bet that'll make it look worse yet since there will be areas that aren't adhered due to the pitting..but w/e I 'd rather have it like that and not have to buy another $200 lens

[GnatGoSplat]

You could probably try one of those 3M Trizact discs if you know where to get 'em. They're supposed to be for glass. Regular sandpaper doesn't really do much to glass except put lots of scratches in it.

 

[1990lumina]

You could probably try one of those 3M Trizact discs if you know where to get 'em. They're supposed to be for glass. Regular sandpaper doesn't really do much to glass except put lots of scratches in it.

 

 

If I decide to try again I might look into that...but after comparing the two lenses that one is in very bad shape lol...probbaly just repalce the whole thing when I run into a spare $200...or maybe I'll follow a gravel truck and hope the passenger side lens gets chipped up to match lol

[kuwaitliberation]

ebay. search for 330120197961 under $100.

[1990lumina]

ebay. search for 330120197961 under $100.

 

Thanks. I had contacted him about the passenger side light...he wanted $40USD to ship it to me..so that's $120US, plus exchange which isn't too bad right now..plus brokerage fees...it would have equalled to the same price almost..

 

But I appreciate the search!

[kuwaitliberation]

ebay. search for 330120197961 under $100.

 

Thanks. I had contacted him about the passenger side light...he wanted $40USD to ship it to me..so that's $120US, plus exchange which isn't too bad right now..plus brokerage fees...it would have equalled to the same price almost..

 

But I appreciate the search!

Canada.. Go figure.

[1990lumina]

ebay. search for 330120197961 under $100.

 

Thanks. I had contacted him about the passenger side light...he wanted $40USD to ship it to me..so that's $120US, plus exchange which isn't too bad right now..plus brokerage fees...it would have equalled to the same price almost..

 

But I appreciate the search!

Canada.. Go figure.

 

Yeah yeah, I know.