I`ve fixed hazed headlights before, but what about this?

[kberkel]

I`m doing a projector retrofit in my car, so everything went from chrome to black.



With the chrome and my old xenons, there was tons of glare regardless so everything looked alright.



But now with the projectors, it looks awful!



When you look up close, it looks like standard clearcoat failure you`d see on a body panel.



Here`s with the light on:



http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/9066/photo1nde.jpg



When looking directly at it, it looks good, for instance:



http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/6328/photo1pxz.jpg



But lit from the back, and you see this:



http://img542.imageshack.us/img542/3880/photo2os.jpg



Up close it has this clearcoat failure pattern:



http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd323/tuscaroradave/96ChevyBerretta001.jpg



I almost wanna use 800 grit sandpaper and just go to town, but I`ve never seen this problem before and I`m not sure if dehazing them will work :wavey



Is this just typical hazing and i`m losing my mind? It`s weird how it`s not hazed but looks bad when lit

[imported_truzoom]

Can you feel the pattern? Also, can you purchase a new lens for less than the gamble you`d take on trying to repair the current ones? I`m not sure how much clarity matters with projectors, but if you have to remove a significant amount of material in order to clean it up, and that causes issues with the light quality, then it may be time to weigh your options.



FWIW, I helped a friend do a similar retrofit on his RSX-S. He gave me his reflector housings and I spent a week sanding them down and then finally blasting with high temp black paint, which was then baked. He then had to use a lot of glue and clamps to seal the housing and the lens back together. Quite a project but the end result looked great.

[kberkel]

Can you feel the pattern? Also, can you purchase a new lens for less than the gamble you`d take on trying to repair the current ones? I`m not sure how much clarity matters with projectors, but if you have to remove a significant amount of material in order to clean it up, and that causes issues with the light quality, then it may be time to weigh your options.



FWIW, I helped a friend do a similar retrofit on his RSX-S. He gave me his reflector housings and I spent a week sanding them down and then finally blasting with high temp black paint, which was then baked. He then had to use a lot of glue and clamps to seal the housing and the lens back together. Quite a project but the end result looked great.

Thanks for the quick reply.



It`s an older car so the only way to get lens is to buy used head lights in good condition and baking them to pull off the lenses. Could be done for probably $150 for a good set, I think I`ll cope with what I have now though.



I ended up sanding as low as 400 grit all the way to 1500 :heh: Then buffing with meguiars 105 and plastx



I took a lot of material off! They are clean as sin, and I think I really improved them, but you can still see the weird reflections etched into the middle of the lens.



I feel like I got enough off that I can live with it.



Here`s the results:



http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/1237/photo4xc.jpg

Looks like fingerprints, but it`s etched in between the plastic. Weird.



http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/9729/photo3ni.jpg

http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/3852/photo5s.jpg

Can`t see a huge difference there ^ bad lighting. I`d say they went from 40% clear to 80% up close



Anyone seen anything like that before?

[kberkel]

Well I`m concluding that it`s just crazy sun damage



after taking all that material off, it looks good. You can still see all the little dots, but the haze is gone, which is all I really wanted.



http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/1686/photo2nlv.jpg



Missing the inner black shroud, but you get the point.

[SpoolinNoMore]

I would have gotten new plastic casings since you already went through the pain of getting them off, but nice results. To me it looked like the plastic was getting little micro-cracks in addition to the haze. I`d make sure to hit your headlights with some sort of LSP or dedicated plastic sealant every few months (or every time you wax your vehicle).

[kberkel]

I would have gotten new plastic casings since you already went through the pain of getting them off, but nice results. To me it looked like the plastic was getting little micro-cracks in addition to the haze. I`d make sure to hit your headlights with some sort of LSP or dedicated plastic sealant every few months (or every time you wax your vehicle).

Thanks man. I`ve dehazed headlights on my old car in the past so I got used to coating and dehazing every year after.



Here`s the finished product.



Not bad for a 14 year old car :)



http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/9579/photo2mc.jpg

[imported_truzoom]

SVT Contour? Very nice! Like you said, it`s a 14 year old car.. it`s going to look like one in some aspects, and there`s nothing wrong with that. :rockon1:



Slick ride!

[Legacy]

The hell with the headlights...I like that deep glow that paint is giving off.

[JohnAndrew]

Very nice, bookmarking the page in case I ever need it. The shine your car paint is giving looks nice.