I am detecting a very slight yellow tinge in my headlight plastic starting to develop.

Just wondering what others have done about this.

I do see ads for some type of polishing compound that claims to restore headlight plastic to full clarity. But mine aren't that bad.

e.g.
http://www.autos.ca/forum/index.php?topic=57534.0

Have others even started to notice this happening yet? Especially those with hotter climates and are parked outside a lot?

 

That stuff actually works pretty good. I used it on my van and daily and it cleared them up a lot. If yours isn't that bad, then the liquid will probably clear it up easily. Need to put some sort of sealer on it to keep it from happening again. I had a turtle wax headlight kit that had some sealer in it.

 

FYI: Almost all headlights and most tailights are made with polycarbonate lens covers. PC has a tendency to yellow slowly with UV and this can be polished away while its not bad. They also develop microscopic cracks and these will get far worse over time until they are a clouded mess. The chief cause of this is the application of hydrocarbons. This will cause the cracks to get worse and accelerate. The chief sources of hydrocarbons are things like Windex and most low cost or cream car waxes.

Avoid cleaning your lights with Windex and never wax them.

Jim

 

Mine were filled with micro cracks when I got the car and haven't found anything that fixes it.

 

Use something like Flitz or one of the other plastic polishing methods to get them as clear as possible. Then put Lamin-X etc on the headlights. That slows it down a great deal.

Jim

 

Wish I could just replace the lens/cover

 

I'm not even sure that's possible. I did it with the glass lenses on my 993. But plastic lights are almost always sealed. Usually with silicone. But truthfully, I haven't looked at these (996TT) at all.

Jim

 

Tight post, Jim, Point up for you!

 

Any pro detailer can clean them up for you. Also apply a film to protect it going forward. I have had the protective film on all my cars some over 4yrs and always in the sun with no yellowing.

 

Novus makes a selection of really good plastic polishes that work well for this. They also make a protectant for when you are done. If it's only slight the Medium grit (#2) will clean it right up.

 

Where do you buy the protective film for the headlights on your TT ?

Thanks and PLS advise - JIM

 

I have dealt with Lamin-X for many years and recently bought a set for my own headlights. Sadly, for those of us with headlight washers I am sad to report that the product is just unsuitable. The problem is in their cutting method which does not cut out the washer area into a separate piece. Instead, whatever they do to it to cut or score it does not go all the way through and instead makes the cutout line hard and stronger than the surrounding material. Trying to pull out the washer cover part of the film was difficult and the film actually tore in the main body of the film instead of the score line! I didn't believe it when it happened on Saturday.

This was with their thicker material. I don't know how their process works with the thinner material in this application.

I would still recommend it in non-washer applications. But they had a non-response when I reported the problem and didn't seem interested at all in a solution to their problem.

Personally, I'm going to just get a local provider with an X-Y cutter type service to do them for me.

Lamin-X lost me as a personal customer this week. I've got a new Mercedes and it won't be going on that either since they don't seem to be bothered by their problem.

Jim

 

My headlights had some yellowing... I took some zainos windshield polish and smoothered it around the headlights w/my hand and then buffed it with my polishing pad attached to my drill. I half-assed it but it does look better then before...when I feel like it i'll go at it and get to 100%.

 

You have to pop off the chrome washer cover first. You lay the laminate with the washer recess laminate piece in place. This will allow you to line up the laminate and carefully trim the washer recess with an exacto. You can tape all aroung the washer hole on top of the laminate to protect the surrounding area.

To pop off the chrome piece you carefully lift on the front of the washer cover and it will pop up. Then slide the cover aft with the front lifted to un-hook the rear part of the cover.

 

It wouldn't have worked.

What you describe should work except the plastic where they attempted to score it was so hard that an exacto knife wouldn't cut it. It kept sliding off to the side. The normally soft plastic was as hard as a rock. Whatever they did compressed the material instead of slicing it.

After getting a short, 1/4 inch wavy line I attempted to pull the material gently while cutting and the main material tore.

In any event, taking the cover off is entirely too much work when they could have simply cut the piece out and it could be applied separately.

When I was a Ston-Gard distributor, way back, the 40 mil product wasn't even as difficult to work with. If they had just cut the pieces out it would have gone on slick as could be.

Jim