narcotix Posted August 9, 2011 Posted August 9, 2011 Hey all, Recently I noticed that the headlights on my '04 Zed have started to get a bit cloudy near the top corner ... Has anyone else experienced this? I'm not sure if it's on the external casing of the lens or internal ... but it doesn't look good at all! I will take some pics and upload them later on in case that helps ... Quote
rtbiscuit Posted August 9, 2011 Posted August 9, 2011 if its moisture in ternally, then pop the bonnet on a warm day, turn the wheel in, get at the back of the head light behind the liner, and pop the cover off. and see if it evaporates. Quote
Coppz Posted August 9, 2011 Posted August 9, 2011 The same is well known with the FTO as they are now pretty old, they can be polished out. The worst cases needed a few stages of different grade wet and dry. If done correctly they will come up like new. Also you can buy headlight polishing paste - http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_nkw=head ... m270.l1313 Or Moisture as above! Oh! Did you like the lights?? Quote
narcotix Posted August 9, 2011 Author Posted August 9, 2011 It doesn't look like moisture on the inside ... I've attached a picture so you can see what I mean ... I remember having to do them on my FTO a few years back ... pretty scary when you start using the wet & dry paper on them Think I'll try polishing them up with some T-Cut first ... and then see whether I need to go any further with them ... BTW Coppz ... I've been meaning to message you ... the lights came through fine! I fitted them within 10 minutes of recieving them LoL ... I had to modify my existing connector slightly but they look and work Brilliant! Thanks! Quote
rtbiscuit Posted August 9, 2011 Posted August 9, 2011 meguairs do something called plastx which is designed for plastics, i used it on the honda lights and it brought them up a treat. also if you have a DA polisher use it with that, should fix the problem. Quote
Coppz Posted August 9, 2011 Posted August 9, 2011 What year Zed do you have? I had to modify my new lights to connect those to the Zed..Mine is a JDM '03. Wonder what the doner car was originally..?! Good luck with those lights! Quote
HEADPHONES Posted August 9, 2011 Posted August 9, 2011 There's a thread somewhere where quite a few of us have done polishing of surface oxidation using MEGS NXT METAL POLISH. Did mine on the recommendation by hand using this and a MF cloth. No sanding needed. No swirls. Quote
narcotix Posted August 9, 2011 Author Posted August 9, 2011 What year Zed do you have? I had to modify my new lights to connect those to the Zed..Mine is a JDM '03. Wonder what the doner car was originally..?! Good luck with those lights! My Zed is a UK '04 plate .. It could possibly be due to the JDM and UK difference ... Did you have to shave off the plastic on the outside of the connectors? Quote
narcotix Posted August 9, 2011 Author Posted August 9, 2011 There's a thread somewhere where quite a few of us have done polishing of surface oxidation using MEGS NXT METAL POLISH. Did mine on the recommendation by hand using this and a MF cloth. No sanding needed. No swirls. Do you think Autosol would have the same effect? I'd be doing it by hand too ... wasn't sure if metal polish would be too abrasive ... Quote
ChrisS Posted August 9, 2011 Posted August 9, 2011 Search for a post by Graham 'glrnet' think it was him who said about Megs all metal polish working? Autosol may be too abrasive. Quote
bronzee Posted August 10, 2011 Posted August 10, 2011 Turbo Wax does a fantastic 3 step Headlight Restoration kit, can be done by hand as well. Easy to use. You should still mask around the area as with anything you use on the headlights, so you protect the paint. http://www.turbowax.com/prod/turbo-wax- ... ystem.html Quote
M13KYF Posted August 10, 2011 Posted August 10, 2011 Search for a post by Graham 'glrnet' think it was him who said about Megs all metal polish working?Autosol may be too abrasive. +1, tried and tested and works a treat. keep the autosol well away from the headlights though Quote
HassanZ Posted August 10, 2011 Posted August 10, 2011 You've got exactly what I used to have on my headlights. I used Meguiars Ultimate Compound on my Kestrel DAS6 polisher on speed 2. The headlights came out brand new!! They will need doing again soon though... Have a look at my detailing thread for further details: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=48935&hilit=hassanz Quote
Karlp Posted August 10, 2011 Posted August 10, 2011 Use brasso and elbow grease or any sort of hard cutting polish will do the trick t-cut, meguairs compound etc Quote
jim Posted August 10, 2011 Posted August 10, 2011 I used AG SRP on mine and it worked fine - just needed a little bit of elbow grease. Quote
Chris`I Posted August 10, 2011 Posted August 10, 2011 You've got exactly what I used to have on my headlights. I used Meguiars Ultimate Compound on my Kestrel DAS6 polisher on speed 2. The headlights came out brand new!! They will need doing again soon though... Have a look at my detailing thread for further details: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=48935&hilit=hassanz Did that not take a while on speed 2? Thats rather slow! Normally use speed 2 to spread the compound about and then work up to 4/5 to work it in on my DA6, then back down to 3 to burnish it at the end when the compound has done its stuff. Quote
M13KYF Posted August 11, 2011 Posted August 11, 2011 Use brasso and elbow grease or any sort of hard cutting polish will do the trick t-cut, meguairs compound etc you'll scratch the hell out of them with what you've recommended. Quote
Dicky Posted August 11, 2011 Posted August 11, 2011 Mine was the same. Its a film that develops on the outer surface and I just rub it with Duraglit metal polish (the type that comes soaked in a wadding material) and it shifts it great. Mines returned a couple of times but its easily got rid of Quote
Karlp Posted August 11, 2011 Posted August 11, 2011 Use brasso and elbow grease or any sort of hard cutting polish will do the trick t-cut, meguairs compound etc you'll scratch the hell out of them with what you've recommended. Used brasso and t cut on my is200 headlights they came up like new, was recommended by other is200 owners? Wont be much difference on the zed will they ? Quote
narcotix Posted August 13, 2011 Author Posted August 13, 2011 Thanks for all the advice guys ... I used T-Cut on my lights this morning and they have come up pretty good ... I had to go over them a few times to completely remove the cloudy film at the top ... but overall I am very pleased with the result. I think next time I will use the Megs Metal polish as recommended earlier though ... Quote
HassanZ Posted August 14, 2011 Posted August 14, 2011 You've got exactly what I used to have on my headlights. I used Meguiars Ultimate Compound on my Kestrel DAS6 polisher on speed 2. The headlights came out brand new!! They will need doing again soon though... Have a look at my detailing thread for further details: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=48935&hilit=hassanz Did that not take a while on speed 2? Thats rather slow! Normally use speed 2 to spread the compound about and then work up to 4/5 to work it in on my DA6, then back down to 3 to burnish it at the end when the compound has done its stuff. Sorry for the late reply Chris, didn't realise you replied Apologies, my bad! You're right, I used speed 2 to spread the ultimate compound around then increased the speed to 3/4 (I've got a bad memory!). I didn't keep it on too long just incase I overheated the plastic and damaged the lens permanently. On the bodywork I used speed 2 to spread then speed 5 to buff. My headlights are beginning to haze again. Considering I wax them often, they have started to haze again VERY quickly. Might need to pull out the polisher again soon... Quote
HassanZ Posted August 14, 2011 Posted August 14, 2011 are the lexus ones glass or plastic I used to own the Lexus IS200 also, the rear lights were glass. Zeds come with plastic headlights so it would need to be treated differently in comparison to Lexus IS200 taillights... Quote
bronzee Posted August 14, 2011 Posted August 14, 2011 My headlights are beginning to haze again. Considering I wax them often, they have started to haze again VERY quickly. Might need to pull out the polisher again soon... Curious why you wax your headlights? Or am I mis-interrupting? Quote
Wasso Posted August 14, 2011 Posted August 14, 2011 I wax mine also, keeps them cleaner for longer. There's no harm in doing it. A mate of mine used to wax his windscreen, odd I know but did a surprisingly good job, until I introduced him to RainX. If I polish and wax the headlights they come up brand new, and stay that way too Quote
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