As I'm sure many of you have noticed, as cars get a bit older
the clear headlight covers seem to start to get a bit dirty.
Is it easy to remove the headlight covers on the 02/03 Max
and clean them up?

If so, any how to tips?
If not, any ideas on how to clean the insides of the headlight covers?

Thanks

 

Headlight covers? 2k2 & 2k3 headlights are 2 pieces, the only way to clean the inside of the housing is to open them up......i.e. bake them.

 

you can try 3M plastic polish to clean the outsides of the plastic lenses... been meaning to do this myself... there shouldn't be any reason to open them up to clean them...

 

3m is all i know of, but i cant say that there is any way unless you replace the cover. Waterspots, scratches, scuffs depending on the severity are usually not fixable, the only thing i can recommend is to care for your lights on a regular basis and be careful. Actually more harm can be done in the effort of cleaning the lights.

 

Scratches, skuffmarks, water spots, etc can all be removed from the outside of the clear covers by using rubbing compound or paint cleaner paste both of which have various courseness (sp) levels of abrasives suspended in them.

Start out with a mild abrasive and be sure to add plenty of elbow-grease as frankly this is the most important ingredient. work it for 10 or 15 min and then wipe clean & see if you can tell the difference.

Mr. Peabody

 

Thanks guys, though my lens covers aren't too bad, they don't look as "clear" as they once did. I'll try the 3M stuff and see how that goes!

Gotta say, once again, not having the SEARCH option on this site, bites REALLY bad!

It absolutely stinks having to scroll through 3 pages of threads to find the thread I just posted YESTERDAY!
It's really lame and no excuse for it. Forums with much more traffic have search options, it's very un-userfriendly not to have it.

 

With all due respect, the search option is available to donating members, it's my opinion that if you truely like this website and praise it then you should take an effort in trying to preserve it and help develop it. Just not use it and not give anything back to it.

But i know how you feel, that's how i felt before i donated.

 

where can the clearner paste bu purchased??

 

The 3M cleaner does work pretty good. If you did decide to go the route of taking the lights apart, I wouldn't use anything but soap and water to clean the inside. Otherwise it will always look hazy. I need to take mine apart sometime to fix this. How do you like your Legacy btw? Those cars are sweet looking.

 

Thanks for the clarification on donating and then getting the search option.
Guess that makes sense.

 

Just take it to the dealer, they'll clean them for you. At least here they do that for you...

 

I used a clay bar system on the headlight plastic and it worked okay.. its worth the 5 min it takes it looks a little better..

 

I do agree the search would be nice as it would cut down on the number of redundant posts, but I do understand the reason behind it.

However, to answer the statement quoted above, you are correct there is no excuse for having to do that. In fact, there is a very easy solution. That solution is to click "Thread Tools" and click "Subscribe to this thread." In the new screen you will then have the opportunity to select if you want email notifications or if you want the notification to only appear in your "User CP." Either way, just going to the "User CP" will show your subscribed threads. Give it a whirl.

 

But great point! these points should be required sticky reading. Donate, or subscribe, or scroll. I don't mind scrolling, I usually find more info I needed on the way.


Anyway, Mr. Peabody is correct with rubbing compound. I saw a thread where a guy got his yellowish/scratched HL lenses looking brand new by trying different compounds.