Clean Headlights at Last
 

I've seen a post regarding cleaning headlights on a Max and I have wanted to clean mine up but just never got the time. Well, I finally had the time to do it. All I can say is WOW! I followed the directions that were posted and everything worked great. I used 600, 1000, and 2000 grit wet/dry sand paper and Mothers Plastic polish. Had a bucket with dishwashing liquid and water that I used to "dip" the sand paper in and went to town. The entire project took about an hour. Start w/ the 600 and used horizontal stokes with lots of dips in the bucket. Then worked my way up. After the 2000 I let the lens dry and noted that it "hazed" over pretty good. Then followed the instructions on the Mother's plastic polish using circular strokes and letting dry to haze then buffing. All this was done by hand but some guys have used buffers I think. Anyway the result is fantastic. I do have b4 and after pictures and the result is quite dramatic. I'd post but think the size is a bit large. Sorry, I don't have a program to scale them down.

My advice: do it. Very inexpensive, not labor intensive, takes an hour. You can't go wrong.

Cheers

pics? You can post pretty big pics on the forum

I've got the pics, just tell me how to post em.

Forum says I cannot post attachments. Hmm.

Send 'em to me
 

I'll even re-size them for you :)

PM for my address

Will this help if the headlights are a yellowish color??? Mine are yellow and I was thinking about getting new ones but they are costly.

This is done from the outside???

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=324906

Here you go

lookin nice! :thumbsup:

just wondering where u got the mothers plastic polish i have looked everywhere for some kind of plastic polish or cleaner but i can't find anything.

Picked up the Mother's Plastic Polish at Advance Auto or Pep Boys. Hmmm, think it was Pep Boys. Cheers

Yup! Believe it or not sand paper followed by plastic polish. The difference is incredible. It's like having new headlights. Cheers

I followed a tip regarding "Easy Off" oven cleaner to take the yellow off and it did work. Have to be carefull not to get any of it on the paint. Took the yellow out but I was still left with "haze" on my headlights. Try the sanding and the plastic polish it works. It's cheap, it's fast, it's easy. Cheers

Headlight pics
 

Wanted to thank "Future Proof" for hosting some pictures of the headlight work I did. He resized them and posted and hosted them so they'd be available. He posted the link in a reply but here it is again

http://www.keirsmith.com/headlightclean/index.html

Thanks Keir :grinno:

I've done a couple of mods and always felt good after their completion. Actually felt relieved when things went right and I didn't hurt my Max. After this one I felt great. A very visible improvement and so easy. Cheap materials and elbow grease. Chance of screwing things up.....minimal. Try it, you'll like it!

Cheers

Just wondering if it applies to glass headlights. I have a 96 Max with glass headlights. Nice work!!

I've been to DIY, AutoZone, Wally World, and Home Depot... no plastic wax anywheres. I'm reading my meguiars paste wax here and it doesnt say anything about *not* working on plastics, I'm gonna take a clear plastic cup and try wet sanding it and polishing it to see if it works.

***UPDATE***

DO NOT do what I posted... The cup isn't looking too pretty.
I tried three ways, wet sanding with 2000grit beforehand each time.

First just wax, no go.
Then meguiars #7 polish + wax, still no go.
Finally, Black Magic Scratch-X, Polish, then wax.. STILL DIDNT REMOVE ALL THE HAZE FROM THE PLASTIC.

Jeez, that plastic was stuff must have something amazing in it, gotta find me some!

I cleaned my lights today and I am very happy with the way they came out. Thanks for the great write-up. I think everyone should do this if they have the problem I had. I posted pics on my site so check it out.