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THIS DISCUSSION / SOURCE-DERIVED OVERVIEW
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YOUR RESEARCHHeadlight lens turned yellow
Reported or suspected cause
inside the cover
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No successful repair reported for this finding.
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Reported cause
The headlight COVER can be polished out as discussed above, unless the problem is INSIDE the cover.
Leading evidence: 'inside the cover' (1 discussions report identifying this cause; no attributable repair resolution). Across 1 matching discussions, the most frequently mentioned possible cause is 'inside the cover' (1 discussions; 1 report identifying it and 0 suggest it). The most frequently discussed action is 'Replace by itself' (1 discussions). For that action, 0 discussions report a resolution and 0 report an unsuccessful attempt. No action has an explicit, attributable resolution report under the current rules. These are forum reports and suggestions, not a confirmed diagnosis.
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I used the 3M headlight lens polish kit - about $15 from Walmart - with power drill - you go through 3 levels of polishing (coarse through fine) and then the lens becomes clear - I think I need to do mine a second time however to remove the rest of the swirl marks.
Use 3m perfect-it 3000 swirl mark remover......its a paint polish
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I used 3m Perfect-it 3000 Swirl Mark remover......its a paint polish but is extremely fine, works wonders
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Suggestion
After polishing to remove the oxidation using the 3M kit from Autozone, I applied plastic overlays ordered from Eckler's [phone removed]), which fit perfectly.
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed
I used the 3M headlight lens polish kit - about $15 from Walmart - with power drill - you go through 3 levels of polishing (coarse through fine) and then the lens becomes clear - I think I need to do mine a second time however to remove the rest of the swirl marks.
0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.
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Suggestion
After polishing to remove the oxidation using the 3M kit from Autozone, I applied plastic overlays ordered from Eckler's [phone removed]), which fit perfectly.
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I've noticed that my right side headlight lens is turning yellow. Anyone else with the same experience? Can the lens be replaced by itself? What's the procedure?
TIA
inside lens?
too hot of bulb, burning the plastic... seen it, owned 2 of them... searched for 6 months for a replacement lens.... sold lights for parts - there are no lenses available - there is a tread on 6speed about how to take the lights apart.. bake them at ~200 for something like 10 minutes and the front lens will come loose... to re-assemble use RTV ? seems flakey but they do it to paint he insides of the light... looks cool when done -
GL - find out what bulbs are in and get them out if they are not stock wattage
There are polishing kits available from I think shucks that will bring plastic lense back to clear. I have done it from the out side by hand and with a polisher, I dont know why it could not be done from the inside, but I havent tryed that. Halvin
You can polish them I do it all the time..take/remove the headlight from the fender start with slightly corse grit compound and work your way towards 'fine'..they'll be just like new
Yeah - UV light degrades the plastic over time. I used the 3M headlight lens polish kit - about $15 from Walmart - with power drill - you go through 3 levels of polishing (coarse through fine) and then the lens becomes clear - I think I need to do mine a second time however to remove the rest of the swirl marks. OR there are auto detail shops that will do this for around $69 if you don;t have the patience. I'd try that first and see if it fixes the problem ....
Be advised that the factory lens has a hard scratch resistant coating as well as a UV resistant one. Polishing will remove these coatings and leave a vulnerable unprotected polycarbonate plastic lens. Better than a cloudy OE lens but never as good as the original. I understand hard coatings can be applied to improve the durability of newly polished lenses but don't know the details. Possibly an autobody supply co can provide a product to do this.
I'd say if your lenses are turning yellow your UV coating is no longer doing its job.
Pilots have been using plastic polish for decades on
very
expensive windshields (acrylic, lexan, etc) with no ill affects. There are even kits that you can buy for your windshield with various grades of fine sandpapers and polishes very much like what's found for automobile headlights.
I sanded mine down with sand paper up to 3000 grit. Then I sprayed two coats of clearcoat on the lenses. It made them look perfect again and the UV protection is back now because of it.
I just did my A6 lenses:
1. 800, 1200 & 1500 sanding wet to remove all the old clearcoat & scratches
2. Meguiars Swirl X & Polish with a DA
3. Re-seal with UV varnish (Helsmpar Gloss I think) mixed 50:50 with minneral spirits ane applied with a folded paper towel.
They looked way better after the polish but the re-sealing really brings them up to looking like new. if you dont re-seal they will yellow much faster.
If you do go down the spray paint clear coat route, be sure to not polish the lenses before you paint. I polished them until they were perfect. Once I sprayed the clear coat, the wax in the polish messed it up. I had to use acetone to get the clear coat off, which hazed up the lens again, thus it needed to be completely redone.
There is a difference between headlight lens (as stated originally), and headlight cover, which now seems to be how this old thread has matriculated.
The browning spots on the headlight lens cannot be cleaned or removed for cleaning as they sealed inside the body of the headlight unit. They are simply "age spots" from the bulb inside. Just make sure you have the exact bulbs in there so they don't worsen quickly. The stronger bulbs cause accellerated brown spots.
The headlight COVER can be polished out as discussed above, unless the problem is INSIDE the cover.
After polishing to remove the oxidation using the 3M kit from Autozone, I applied plastic overlays ordered from Eckler's [phone removed]), which fit perfectly. Boom...a permanent fix.
relinuca
wow! this is some great info. Since I daily drive my 996, the lens covers have both become quite yellow over time. I figured there was nothing I could do about it other than buy new headlights = EXPENSIVE! This thread is being saved.
Im nervous about trying this on my own but am considering to add the projector lights..is there anyone in the Northeast (near Philly) who has done it and would mine doing mine..for a fee of course
