cleaning car headlights
 

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

cleaning car headlights
 

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

Brasso used to be recommended for cleaning cloudly plastic windows in
flexible soft tops on convertibles. Might be worth a shot.

Tim

cleaning car headlights
 

On 20/10/2011 18:00, 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
I have had good results sanding with wet and dry paper followed by a
machine polish with a Dual Action type machine.

--
David

cleaning car headlights
 

If its actually gone yellow though its probably UV damage.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff -
Note:- In order to reduce spam, any email without 'Brian Gaff'
in the display name may be lost.
Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Tim" wrote in message
...
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

Brasso used to be recommended for cleaning cloudly plastic windows in
flexible soft tops on convertibles. Might be worth a shot.

Tim

cleaning car headlights
 

Surely that only works on glass, not plastic?

Brian

--
Brian Gaff -
Note:- In order to reduce spam, any email without 'Brian Gaff'
in the display name may be lost.
Blind user, so no pictures please!
"gremlin_95" wrote in message
...
On 20/10/2011 18:00, 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
I have had good results sanding with wet and dry paper followed by a
machine polish with a Dual Action type machine.

--
David

cleaning car headlights
 

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.

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

e.g.

http://www.autogeek.net/3mperllrubco.html

cleaning car headlights
 

Brian Gaff wrote:
Surely that only works on glass, not plastic?

Brian

You can polish plastics OK too.

cleaning car headlights
 

In article ,
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? :-)

It would depend on whether the yellowing is just on the surface or all the
way through. Brasso or another general purpose metal polish would be the
cheapest way to test. Specialist ones are likely similar,but with a
specialist price. ;-)

You might also check if new lenses are available from perhaps a specialist
or Ebay. They sometimes are, although the car maker doesn't list them as
spares.

--
*I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

cleaning car headlights
 

On Thu, 20 Oct 2011 17:00:41 +0000 (UTC)
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

When I was in the US, the stuff you want was regularly advertised on
TV, made by a well-known company. I'll try to find out what it was
called.
--
Davey.

cleaning car headlights
 

After serious thinking 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? :-)

If you wet them and the murk improves, then all they need is a mildly
abrasive polish - Brasso, T-cut, Autosol or any similar mild abrasive
will work fine.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

cleaning car headlights
 

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.

cleaning car headlights
 

On Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:41:46 +0100, Davey wrote:

On Thu, 20 Oct 2011 17:00:41 +0000 (UTC) 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

When I was in the US, the stuff you want was regularly advertised on TV,
made by a well-known company. I'll try to find out what it was called.

Yep, they advertise it all the time, although it's one of those "but
wait! Get another can free!" type of TV deals that smacks of taking
months for delivery and then turning out to be total crap :-)

(my favourite of those at the moment is that flexi-seal "rubber in a can"
stuff, where they cover a screen door mounted into the bottom of a boat
with the stuff - they don't say how many billion cans they used doing
that, and I noticed that delivery time is a whole 6 months)

cheers

Jules

cleaning car headlights
 

On Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:21:49 +0000 (UTC)
Jules Richardson wrote:

On Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:41:46 +0100, Davey wrote:

On Thu, 20 Oct 2011 17:00:41 +0000 (UTC) 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

When I was in the US, the stuff you want was regularly advertised
on TV, made by a well-known company. I'll try to find out what it
was called.

Yep, they advertise it all the time, although it's one of those "but
wait! Get another can free!" type of TV deals that smacks of taking
months for delivery and then turning out to be total crap :-)

(my favourite of those at the moment is that flexi-seal "rubber in a
can" stuff, where they cover a screen door mounted into the bottom of
a boat with the stuff - they don't say how many billion cans they
used doing that, and I noticed that delivery time is a whole 6 months)

cheers

Jules


Could well be, I never needed it, so have no personal knowledge of it.
Oh well.
--
Davey.

cleaning car headlights
 

On 20/10/2011 23:02, Davey wrote:
On Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:21:49 +0000 (UTC)
Jules wrote:

On Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:41:46 +0100, Davey wrote:

On Thu, 20 Oct 2011 17:00:41 +0000 (UTC) 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
When I was in the US, the stuff you want was regularly advertised
on TV, made by a well-known company. I'll try to find out what it
was called.
Yep, they advertise it all the time, although it's one of those "but
wait! Get another can free!" type of TV deals that smacks of taking
months for delivery and then turning out to be total crap :-)

(my favourite of those at the moment is that flexi-seal "rubber in a
can" stuff, where they cover a screen door mounted into the bottom of
a boat with the stuff - they don't say how many billion cans they
used doing that, and I noticed that delivery time is a whole 6 months)

cheers

Jules

Could well be, I never needed it, so have no personal knowledge of it.
Oh well.

Could it be Meguiars PlastX?



--
David

cleaning car headlights
 

In article ,
gremlin_95 wrote:
Could it be Meguiars PlastX?

With a 1000% markup...

--
*No I haven't stolen it , I'm just a **** driver*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

cleaning car headlights
 

On Thu, 20 Oct 2011 23:27:33 +0100, gremlin_95 wrote:
When I was in the US, the stuff you want was regularly advertised on
TV, made by a well-known company. I'll try to find out what it was
called.
Yep, they advertise it all the time, although it's one of those "but
wait! Get another can free!" type of TV deals that smacks of taking
months for delivery and then turning out to be total crap :-)

Could well be, I never needed it, so have no personal knowledge of it.
Oh well.

Could it be Meguiars PlastX?

Ahh, brain finally engaged - Fast Brite is the stuff I keep seeing
advertised (but probably different to what Davey remembers - it doesn't
seem to be made by any "well known company").

Some further googling seems to suggest that it's generally regarded as a
load of ******** :-)

cheers

J.

cleaning car headlights
 

In article , Jules Richardson jules.richard
writes


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

A Mondeo perchance?

It's because the wrong bulbs have been fitted, you need the 'proper'
Ford ones which don't emit UV, which causes the plastic to yellow.

--
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

cleaning car headlights
 

On Thu, 20 Oct 2011 23:27:33 +0100
gremlin_95 wrote:

On 20/10/2011 23:02, Davey wrote:
On Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:21:49 +0000 (UTC)
Jules wrote:

On Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:41:46 +0100, Davey wrote:

On Thu, 20 Oct 2011 17:00:41 +0000 (UTC) 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
When I was in the US, the stuff you want was regularly advertised
on TV, made by a well-known company. I'll try to find out what it
was called.
Yep, they advertise it all the time, although it's one of those
"but wait! Get another can free!" type of TV deals that smacks of
taking months for delivery and then turning out to be total
crap :-)

(my favourite of those at the moment is that flexi-seal "rubber in
a can" stuff, where they cover a screen door mounted into the
bottom of a boat with the stuff - they don't say how many billion
cans they used doing that, and I noticed that delivery time is a
whole 6 months)

cheers

Jules

Could well be, I never needed it, so have no personal knowledge of
it. Oh well.

Could it be Meguiars PlastX?




I don't think so. I seem to think it was Simonize.

But try this, from 3M, which is quite a large company.
http://3mcollision.com/how-to/detailing-department
--
Davey.

cleaning car headlights
 

In message , Mike Tomlinson
wrote
In article , Jules Richardson jules.richard
writes


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

A Mondeo perchance?

It's because the wrong bulbs have been fitted, you need the 'proper'
Ford ones which don't emit UV, which causes the plastic to yellow.



Surely you are likely to get more UV from sunlight than driving with the
lights on?
--
Alan
news2009 {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

cleaning car headlights
 

En el artículo , Alan
escribió:

Surely you are likely to get more UV from sunlight than driving with the
lights on?

You would have thought so. Perhaps there's a UV-filter coating on the
front of the lenses, but not the rear.

I do know, though, that the main cause of yellowed headlight lenses on
Mundanos is due to using the wrong bulbs.

--
(\_/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

cleaning car headlights
 

In article ,
Mike Tomlinson wrote:
En el artículo , Alan
escribió:

Surely you are likely to get more UV from sunlight than driving with
the lights on?

You would have thought so. Perhaps there's a UV-filter coating on the
front of the lenses, but not the rear.

I do know, though, that the main cause of yellowed headlight lenses on
Mundanos is due to using the wrong bulbs.

What was so special about either the Mondeo bulbs or headlights?

--
*Frankly, scallop, I don't give a clam

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

cleaning car headlights
 

En el artículo , Dave Plowman (News)
escribió:

What was so special about either the Mondeo bulbs or headlights?

Why don't you ask Ford or JFGI?

The headlights are plastic, so yellow with UV exposure. The bulbs Ford
supply (allegedly) have a UV filter to prevent yellowing of the lenses.

--
(\_/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

cleaning car headlights
 

On Fri, 21 Oct 2011 11:23:04 +0100, Mike Tomlinson wrote:

In article , Jules Richardson jules.richard
writes


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

A Mondeo perchance?

Huh, I thought I'd replied to this, but I've not seen it show up - sorry.

Anyway, it's a Toyota (an Avalon, which shares a lot of parts with the
Camry - both of which may or may not have ever been available within the
UK, or may have been so but under a completely different name :-)

After toothpasting things are definitely better - I put about 500 miles
on it on Saturday and there was quite an improvement.

cheers

Jules

cleaning car headlights
 

On Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:09:48 +0000 (UTC), Jules Richardson
wrote:

After toothpasting things are definitely better - I put about 500 miles
on it on Saturday and there was quite an improvement.

Wasn't Pepsodent, by any chance, was it?

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/422100.html

cleaning car headlights
 

On Mon, 24 Oct 2011 20:26:07 +0100, Grimly Curmudgeon
wrote:

Wasn't Pepsodent, by any chance, was it?

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/422100.html

http://www.archive.org/details/ClassicT1948?start=359.5

cleaning car headlights
 

In article , Grimly
Curmudgeon writes
On Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:09:48 +0000 (UTC), Jules Richardson
wrote:

After toothpasting things are definitely better - I put about 500 miles
on it on Saturday and there was quite an improvement.

Wasn't Pepsodent, by any chance, was it?

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/422100.html
Ah! - I remember chanting; "you'll wonder where your back teeth went if
you clean your teeth with dry cement"*

*DIY content.
--
Chris Holford

cleaning car headlights
 

In article ,
Mike Tomlinson wrote:
En el artículo , Dave Plowman (News)
escribió:

What was so special about either the Mondeo bulbs or headlights?

Why don't you ask Ford or JFGI?

The headlights are plastic, so yellow with UV exposure. The bulbs Ford
supply (allegedly) have a UV filter to prevent yellowing of the lenses.

But how do they stop the UV in daylight etc yellowing them? Only use the
car at night?

--
*Corduroy pillows are making headlines.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

cleaning car headlights
 

In article , Dave Plowman (News)
writes

But how do they stop the UV in daylight etc yellowing them? Only use the
car at night?

Again; Why don't you ask Ford or JFGI?

Googling for 'Mondeo yellowed headlights' brings up the answer to your
question in the first result. The headlight has a glass front with the
plastic lens behind it. That's why sunlight doesn't yellow it.

quote:

"Yellowed headlights on Mk1 Mondeos can cause MOT failures due to a poor
headlight image. This was down to the plastic inner lenses in the
headlights 'fading' due to non-UV-filtered bulbs. Replacement lenses can
be purchased from Ford. FINIS codes a

RHD: LH 7 304 999, RH 7 304 997
LHD: LH 7 304 998, RH 7 304 996
and the UV-filtered bulbs you need: 7 304 995"

--
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

cleaning car headlights
 

On 26/10/2011 15:33, Mike Tomlinson wrote:
In , Dave Plowman (News)
writes

But how do they stop the UV in daylight etc yellowing them? Only use the
car at night?

Again; Why don't you ask Ford or JFGI?

Because it's an interesting enough question to be answered here. If
everybody JFGId then it would be a much more boring group.