First I would just like to say, I don’t have much experience with car lighting. My last car had popups, so as long as they worked I never bothered to look at them. That said, if this is a retarded question please feel free to berate me in the way only a car forum can. Anyway, the plastic on the lights is really cloudy, and has some pits and scratches. The HID lights are so pretty but the nasty plastic is driving me nuts. I have done some sanding and polishing but it hasn’t helped as much as id like. So is there a way to just replace the plastic? The lights work great; it seems silly to have to replace the whole thing just because of some scratches.

 

did u read the write up of how to wet sand and polish? if not, i think its in the stickys. But to answer your question, YES u can replace them. You would have to heat up the head light and pry the old one out. The thing is, you would have to buy a whole nother headlight. So ur stuck with getting a new one or try wet sanding again.

 

yes u can replace the plastic cheapest way would prolly be getting the ebay projectors and taking the plastic off them other then that u would just be getting a whole new light

 

i have an extra pair of plastic if interested

 

Use BlueMagic plastic & plexiglass polish.

 

[shameless plug]
Shoot me a pm if your ever interested in blacking out your headlights. Ive started doing them as a small side business to help pay for my own mods.
[/shameless plug]

As for cleaning....wetsanding, or Ive heard the Mothers powerball that you put on the end of a drill works well, combined with your own cleaning gel/polish of choice.

 

what many of you probably dont' know is that nissan sells JUST the housing, without the bulbs, ballast, and ignitors. significantly cheaper than the actually full set, but you do get a new housing. whether its cheaper than other alternatives is beyond me.

 

Have you ever heard of Plastx. It does a great job of getting off the yellowish haze and cloudiness.


I'll admit, I too am a newb. when it comes to all the lighting options for our cars. I haven't begun extensive research into it yet. With that said, If you can purchase just the housing, can the bulbs from the non HID be used in them?

 

ya if you get new housing just take all the bulbs out of your stock and put them in the new one simple as that. but like someone said above, getting those ebay projector headlights and just swap the clear headlight covers i think that might be cheaper than buying a set of oem headlights from the dealer =/

but if you can wait a couple weeks i'll have my oem headlights for sale since i got a new set to do a retrofit on

 

you can replace them. but u will have to put the headlights in the oven to pry them open. i did the same and replaced the headlight covers, and now the headlights look new. i recommend changing it although its hard. make sure u buy a sealer to seal the headlight after. try to get one of the covers off an org memeber.

 

i think it's safer to use a heat gun instead of putting it in the oven. that way you won't risk melting anything. all the professional retrofitters out there all use heat guns.

 

Funny this should come up tonight. I'm in the middle of blacking mine out and clearing the corners right now. The paint is drying as I'm typing this. They'll go back together tomorrow. I'm really excited about how the paint turned out.

If you don't feel like messing with polishing them yourself there are companies that can do it for you. Call any good sized car dealer and they can tell you who does it for them. I sell cars and I see them doing it all the time. They do a great job. Most of the time that's all they do so it's not like they're trying to figure anything out.

 

It's just as safe as putting in the oven if you do it right. To heat in oven, just keep the temperature low around 200-225 degrees and leave it in there for about 15-20 min and the glue will be melted and real gooey and the headlights will be easy to seperate. The only way to ruin the headlight using the oven method if you leave it in there for a long period of time or keep the temperature too high.

 

True, just make sure the oven is set to bake and not broil. Broil will cook the light from the top without the insulation provided by the cookie sheet or towel.

Wow, this sounds like a cooking forum

 

next week, how to cook lasagne in your tailpipe

 

keep the lights lens away from the sides of the oven...I had a small incident with mine being too close and it boiled the plastic at the inside bottom corner...it's white colored now on the edge in that specific spot. wrap the light in a damp towel and keep the towel away from the edges too. you don't want to start a fire in the oven!