I got in on the group deal for chrome Cefiro headlights for $190 shipped. I believe these are plastic, not glass, so what measures can I make to make sure these things stay crystal clear for as long as possible?

* So far I'm pretty sure I should only use my headlights when necessary (night time) because the heat from the bulbs is attributed to turning them yellow on the inside.

* I think I should probably wax/rain-x the headlights because acid rain is also attributed to turn plastic headlights yellow and the wax/rain-x will seal the plastic from any type of acid rain.

Any other tips?

 

Seal the gaps with silicone, and keep them clean with some polish once in a while.

 

normal halogen lights shouldn't affect the plastic... if they are cheap plastic then UV light from sunlight would probably be more of a problem than anything else.

Normal water/rain shouldn't do anything unless it leaks into the lenses.

 

The plastic headlight lenses are usually made from Lexan. This is a very impact-resistant material, but it does get scratched. The scratches catch dirt and that causes one kind of yellowing. The other kind of yellowing is related to UV light.

I have had good luck on my other car with plastic cleaners and polishes. Meguier's #10 and #17 if I remember correctly. One is a cleaner, the other is a polish. Restores plastic surfaces to clear, almost new condition.

 

if the cefiros are made of the same plastic as the stock lights, you can get rid of the yellow by using 3m fine cut rubbing compund followed by meguiars scratch-x on an orbital buffer (or you could wetsand them, if you've got some time to kill). as far as keeping the yellow from showing up, my best guess would be a few good coats of wax.

 

dont worry about them turing yellow anytime soon. I had a set of '97 style heads on my car(1996) that i bought brand new back in '98 and just recently got new ones due to rock chips, etc... but no fading or yellow fading what so-ever. Just make sure you polish them and wax them whever you wax your car and you will be fine

Ant

 

Do you guys think maybe putting on a clear coat might help?

 

dude they wont turn YELLOW calm down!!

Ant

 

Yeah, that never even crossed my mind when I bought them. To protect them, there's a GD for these plastic covers that go over headlights, fog lights etc that protect them from rocks up to 120 mph. I'm sure they would help keep the surface nice a scratch free. They're pretty cheap too. I would look into those. And hey, some Rain-X can't hurt.