Headlight lens

Chuck 98 RT/10

Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 15, 2000
Posts
17,923
Reaction score
0
Location
tampa, fl USA
After 116,000 miles my headlight lens look like they've been in front of a sandblaster for a while. Are there any ways of restoring them?

Note to those of you with low mile Vipers, you might wanna try some 3M clear bra stuff for the headlights and fog lamp covers (pre 99). That should preserve them without affecting anything cosmetically.
 

Warfang

Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 27, 2004
Posts
6,912
Reaction score
0
Location
California, East Bay
After 116,000 miles my headlight lens look like they've been in front of a sandblaster for a while. Are there any ways of restoring them?

Note to those of you with low mile Vipers, you might wanna try some 3M clear bra stuff for the headlights and fog lamp covers (pre 99). That should preserve them without affecting anything cosmetically.

....but do they make the Viper faster? :D

(just bustin ur chops):rolaugh:
 

treesnake

Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 19, 2006
Posts
2,288
Reaction score
2
Location
St.L
When I tinted my lenses with clear paint it "fixed" a lot of the small nicks and scratches etc. I used a couple drops of dark brown to tint the lacquer but you could leave it clear.
 

xlrashn

Viper Owner
Joined
Sep 21, 2007
Posts
817
Reaction score
0
Location
Marion, Iowa
3M makes some products for polishing out headlight lenses. We have used it here in the shop on customer cars and it works well.
 

viperman303

Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 13, 2008
Posts
63
Reaction score
0
Location
travel in motor coach
Chuck: I'm back in Florida. Just repaired those lenses on my motor coach. Wet sand with 600. Wet sand with 1000 or 1500. Then buff out with a good compound and then polish. Sure cleared these lenses. Depending on how bad they are, you might try SoftScrup first and then go to all the wet sanding.
 
OP
OP
C

Chuck 98 RT/10

Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 15, 2000
Posts
17,923
Reaction score
0
Location
tampa, fl USA
Chuck: I'm back in Florida. Just repaired those lenses on my motor coach. Wet sand with 600. Wet sand with 1000 or 1500. Then buff out with a good compound and then polish. Sure cleared these lenses. Depending on how bad they are, you might try SoftScrup first and then go to all the wet sanding.

Thanks. I never thought of sanding and polishing. It's just plastic. Duh.
 

GTSnake

Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 26, 2000
Posts
2,748
Reaction score
20
Location
Motor City
Isn't there anything that they make to fill deep scratches? I have a few pretty deep ones that you can catch a fingernail in.
 

ViperTony

Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 3, 2006
Posts
7,554
Reaction score
0
Chuck, Eastwood sells a headlight refinishing/polishing kit for $19.99 and it works great. I've used on my daily drivers with much success. This stuff got rid of the yellowish tint that formed on the lens. i think if you used a harsher buff it will definitely get rid of nicks and scratches.
Eastwood Co. - Headlight Refinishing Kit
 

dave6666

Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 18, 2007
Posts
14,975
Reaction score
0
Location
Explaining Viper things to you
I have buffed lenses before using a loose cotton wheel with a white stick compound. It worked very well, as long as you work slowly to manage heat buildup etc.

That Eastwood kit looks like it would be the way to go.
 

99 R/T 10

Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 4, 2001
Posts
10,314
Reaction score
0
Location
Enterprise, AL USA
You could always get those smoked headlight covers. Covering them up will make it as good as new...................... :D :D
 

Newport Viper

Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 17, 2000
Posts
4,657
Reaction score
0
Location
Newport Coast, CA

Tom F&L GoR

Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 3, 2000
Posts
4,983
Reaction score
5
Location
Wappingers Falls
Of course. The rough surface of the sandblasted lens creates an aerodynamic drag coefficient of 2.543.

No, Chuck, no, no, no. A dimpled golf ball with a rough surface travels farther and faster than a smooth golf ball. This is the reason I almost never wash my Viper - it's an old tired '94 that still beats all the waxed and polished Vipers at local autocross events. There, I had to let out my secret, but I'm doing it for you Chuck. Godspeed!
 

GBS

Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 19, 2007
Posts
637
Reaction score
0
Location
South Florida
If they are bad I usually wet sand the with 1000, 1500 2000 grit paper. I then buff them out with a cutting pad, polish and polisher. If they not real bad I'll go right to the polish. Polsihes and pads also have levels of cutting abilty to you have a not of variation to work with. It's really very easy to buff them out. It just takes more or less time depending on their condition.
 

treesnake

Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 19, 2006
Posts
2,288
Reaction score
2
Location
St.L
The clear coat on top of paint is usually a urethane not a lacquer. I would imagine that multiple coats would be OK to build up to fill a scratch given adequate dry time between those coats.

You mean the same clear coat that goes on top of paint? How thick can it fill?


"lacquer"... hmmm, not sure where that came from.:dunno: That's a term from the old days...

We used clear urethane with 20% flex and a little brown for tint. We sprayed several different proportions to get the right shade. I know it works on scratches because we had to scuff the existing lens for paint ...

I am going to try and spray the rear window in my SS. There are a couple of areas on my rear window that need "attention" from the buffer that accidently happened during body install.. By spraying a similar solution on the rear window, I hope to;
1. tint the window
2. fill the scratches
3. Hide the orange defroster element in the glass

This photo shows the degree of tint I chose to use. . The tinted lense in photo is from other side of same car. You can see some of the dullness was removed after the "painting" of the lense.

The Urethane is tough. It polishes and shines a lot better than the plastic lense too. You can see the difference in the shine between the two lenses. The difference is evident in this photo

06_blue-street_serpent_004.jpg
 

GTSnake

Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 26, 2000
Posts
2,748
Reaction score
20
Location
Motor City
Where can I get some clear urethane? Do the auto part stores carry it in a spray can?
 

treesnake

Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 19, 2006
Posts
2,288
Reaction score
2
Location
St.L
Where can I get some clear urethane? Do the auto part stores carry it in a spray can?

Wish it was that easy...

Not sure about the spray can I don't know how you would mix in the color though. The tinting was done and sprayed by the painter that does the bodywork on my cars. I did all the lenses on the car.
 

Glen97

Enthusiast
Joined
May 7, 2006
Posts
438
Reaction score
0
Location
Valley Springs, CA
Chuck: I'm back in Florida. Just repaired those lenses on my motor coach. Wet sand with 600. Wet sand with 1000 or 1500. Then buff out with a good compound and then polish. Sure cleared these lenses. Depending on how bad they are, you might try SoftScrup first and then go to all the wet sanding.

I did the wet sand on my 97 gts as viperman303 then buffed then finished off with meguiars clear plastic polish. Turned out good. When you buff with a wheel keep it moving over the whole area to long in one area will make a lot of heat and will mess up the lense. I removed my head lights from the car when I did mine.
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
153,197
Posts
1,681,909
Members
17,695
Latest member
kmagnuss
Top