Hello! (again)

T

THERUSE

New member
hi,



i am a daily reader of this great :up :up forum,



my car 94 camry v6, had one of the front lights replaced (main housing, and corner blinker), now the opposite side looks really yellowish. and is driving me mad. the paint looks beautiful (z2, and z5 3m smr and clay:bounce :bounce ).



i have tried regular abbrasives on it (3m smr, meguiars fine cut, and 3m plastic polish) without much luck. i guess it would work a lot better if i did the inside also.



but the lens does not seperate from the reflector. i was thinking of dremeling it off and then gluing it back on. but the side blinker would be very hard to do, this is not my top choice for a solution!



so i am turning to peoples opinion on here. what can i do to make it look better?, any response is greatly appreciated.



is the yellowing on the inside or the outside mainly?



later,
 
Normal weathering and UV exposure.



Don't even consider trying to take them apart.



You will need to wet sand them with 1000 to 1500 grit wet dry.



With a rotary buffer and a lambs wool polishing pad, set the buffer at 1000 to 1200 rpm and use a mild polish.



Buff, taking your time to remove the sanding marks and restore the clear finish.



The sanding removes the damaged plastic material, but you will need a rotary buffer to polish out the sanding marks.



It is one of the techniques we teach in our PrepExcellence Course.



Ketch

:up
 
Huy has an excellent article on the subject:

http://www.mkiv.com/techarticles/headlights/index.html

This pic from Huy's article shows what the lights looked like when he was done:
aftercleaning.jpg
 
...and a completely detailed Supra! Spent 6 hours cleaning that thing...my buddy totally neglected it for a year and that was its first thorough cleaning. Needless to say, he was a happy camper!



Huy
 
i will try wet sending today, ( i probably should before i eat the turkey:) ).



so from what you guys are saying: the discoloration is on the outside?, correct me if i'm wrong.



i reall think some is on the inside too, especially on the little corner blinker.



i'll let you know how it comes out.



happy thanksgiving.
 
Just a tip. I assume you have a rotary buffer to work with. I would say this, before you wet sand, do a search on the archives and the forum on wet sanding, especially plastic. I wetsanded a very small spot on my Mustang's lower rail panel. I did this very carefully, of course this was before David B posted his information about flex/plastic painted parts. Anyway, I now have a very small dulled area from the sanding that I can not really remove even with 3M rubbing compound.



The point is this, yellowed lights look much better than sandblasted looking lights from wetsanding. I would say be very careful before you sand your headlight lenses. Especially since it is a part of the car that is VERY visible.



SJ
 
Hey guys, this is xconwrathx, just under a different name. I doubt many of you remember me, I joined last fall and only had a few posts to my name. I haven't been on here in months and decided it would be best to reintroduce myself under a new handle (I've been using the last one for too long!).

Hello!

I'm not exactly sure how I found this place... but here I am!

I live a few minutes outside Madison, WI and am currently going to school for Architecture at Madison College (formerly Madison Area Technical College). I used to work at a local dealership as a "detailer" but got sick of all the ******** and quit. Right now I'm a delivery driver for a local Jimmy John's sub shop, it's kind of a lame job but it pays more than twice as much as the dealership did, so that's good.

I do some detail work on the weekends or whenever I have time, I like it alot more than delivering subs thats for sure! Still learning and trying different things out, but I'm having fun while I do it.
Click to expand...

Not much has changed since before, although I'm detailing alot more than I used to and am in the process of getting a business license and some liability insurance (all this extra business means I can afford to be legitimate!).

Here are some of the cars I've had the pleasure of working on over the last year...

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Sorry for the ton of pictures, but they speak louder than words!
 
Welcome back, we were wondering what happened; glad to hear that you are ok and have been busy.
The work looks fantastic!

I believe this year's BMW Octoberfest is being held at Lake Elkhart or something like that, in WI - I'll get the Roundel out and re-read that.

DanF
 
It's nice to have you back.

Your work looks great. I love that hard wood garage floor:thumbup:

Hope to see more from you soon.
 
Thanks for the warm re-welcome guys!

Regarding the name change, I've been using the screen name xconwrathx for years and years, since I was 13 I believe. I just felt like it was time for a new, more understandable/respectable screen name, call it 'growing up' I suppose!

Stokdgs, I'm not all that well versed with my BMWs, is BMW Octoberfest THE BMW event of the year? Are you thinking of Elkhart Lake, home of Road America?
 
Yes, it is the Annual BMW event that is in a different place every year and Yeah, I believe its at Elkart Lake, there will be hundreds of Bimmers up there in October, a good place to be if you want to pass out your business cards for future bizz, if this location is close to you.

I got hooked up with a really great Independent BMW repair shop that I take my 2 Bimmers to, and now I detail all their customer's cars that want the best detail done while its at their shop. :)

Hopefully someday, I can work it out where I can have a stall in their shop and do all the work there, etc., and not have to use my garage anymore

Dan F
 
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