On Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:11:01 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Jules Richardson wrote:

We've got about 210,000mi on the car at the moment, and the clear
plastic lenses for the headlights are getting decidedly yellowed/murky
after so long - they're getting to the point where taping candles to
the front of the vehicle might be more effective

I keep seeing ads for some sort of restorative polish stuff (which may
well be snake oil) - but it got me wondering if a DIY concoction might
be worth a try - e.g. I've found in the past that combinations of
toothpaste and baking powder work very well for removing scratches from
CDs, for instance, but I wondered if anyone can recommend any other
home remedies? :-)

cheers

Jules
Problem is jules, that the yellowing may actually be in the body of the
plastic itself. Due to UV degradation.

Yes, I suspect so - but it's a question of whether it's a thin layer on
top (which it might be possible to polish out) or if it goes deeper.

(I actually wonder if the restorative stuff is just a polish, or if it's
something along the lines of that retrobright stuff which claims to
tackle UV-damaged plastics)

Expect to have to buy new lenses, but try a bit of T-cut on the old ones
first

Hmm, I don't think I have any t-cut, but I do have various other odds and
sods with different abrasive properties, so maybe it's just a case of
experimenting a bit :-)

Replacing the lenses is a definite possiblity, atlhough they might be
"too expensive" for a vehicle that's travelled considerably past one
light-second ;-) (but maybe I can find ones in a junk yard that are
better - our car's spent much of its life ungaraged too, on top of the
high number of miles)

cheers

J.