Tail Lights Hazing?

Blame the Texas sun, but the upper red parts of my tail lights on the 96 RMW are hazing. Anyone else have this issue?

On my Caddy Catera the headlights yellowed and I bought a "de-hazing" kit that was some fine sandpaper and polish, and it worked well on the headlights. Was considering trying this on the tail lights, but don't want to make them worse.

Ideas?

If worse comes to worse, anyone have a good set of used tail lights hidden away? Would rather fix mine....but if they can't be fixed, will replace them.

Let me know gang!

-Mike

Personally Mike I think you are imagining it because you just need to change something on that wagon,You already
know it spotless and youre trying to find something wrong with it.
Just Kidding and Dont You Change A Thing
Jim Gordon

Mike, You're on the right track. Wet sand with 1500 and/or 2000 until it's smooth. The spray with rattle can clear coat. I did this recently on a third brake light assembly from an Astro. Cleaned up nicely and looks brand new now.

^ Does that work for headlights too? Mine are pretty crappy right now and it's bugging me at night.

I'll defer to our resident detailing experts on headlights but I believe so. I have a set I need to do myself but haven't gotten to it yet. They key on hand sanding is wet sanding, not dry.

You can also get liquid polishes designed specifically for clear lenses, works well if you have a buffer/polisher.

I don't, I'd be going the by-hand route.

Sounds like a weekend project ahead. Thanks!

I had that happen once...I sold the car.

And by "weekend" he means RIGHT THE F**K NOW because Mike, by nature, cannot stand to view imperfections on his vehicle.

Just messin' with you man - I love your threads, they're awesome.

Hahahahaha! Damn Right!

I've got the car pretty nice, but it's far from perfect. It's the little stuff bothers me. In addition to the tail lights, I've still got to re-paint the wiper arms black, the lower front bumper has a lot of bug/road stains that flat won't come off, and some of the black paint on the roof rack is starting to age-check. I also need to re-paint the black pad on the top of the rear bumper, and the white paint there is scratched from kids climbing in and out of the 3rd seat.

I keep the car waxed and clean, but it IS my daily driver and is 14 years old and has 85K miles on it....and I have two kids....who have friends I lug around too. I really try not to be too anal about it. Especially when my wife keeps calling it "The ugly hoopty car in the driveway". Grrrrrr.

The door panels bother me the most. They've been bad since I got the car, and I figured they would be one of the first things I fixed, but I'm still not finding the parts. I still have that crack in front of the arm rest on the driver's door, and I'm telling you the cracked trim around my interior door handles is driving my bonkers. I don't mind SEM'ing used trim, if I could just FIND the trim in the salvage yard. All the door panels on the 94-96 are broken, and all the other cars are 91-93...won't work!

I get mad every time I look at the door panels. : (

Deep breath.....happy thoughts. I love the car, but again, it's far from perfect. Ha!

Yeah, my rear bumper coating was crap so I taped it off and flat-blacked it. Looks much better. My roof rack is grey with sun age, and it also bugs me - but I have a lot of other things I would love to do to the car long before the roof rack gets painted.

Someday... maybe next year

It's all good. If I didn't have things to fix on it I'd get bored with it and sell it. I have to have projects or I'm just not happy. ; )

Got any idea when you are going to start the GTO restoration.Now that is going to keep you busy for years to come!
Who knows we might evevn see a dirty wagon?????
Just kidding you Mike
Jim Gordon

Stingroo wrote:

^ Does that work for headlights too? Mine are pretty crappy right now and it's bugging me at night.

Yes. I did it on the plastic covers on my Jetta. Came out good. What I did is got a spray bottle of water and spritzed the lights before I sanded them, helped a lot. After I sanded I applied plastic/ headlight polish. Both lights took maybe 20 minutes.

Hmm... maybe I'll give it a try tonight then.

Plus I can put the rest of the can of clear to use in my spray paint art. So it'd be a win-win.

If you're going to clear them, two things of note:
1. I would highly recommend getting a bodyshop to spray them with a "real" UV-resistant clear, or buy a can of the good stuff yourself from a bodyshop supply place. I have heard bad things about the "rattle can clear" that most consumers have access to.

2. My painter friend said it was worthless to clear the headlights because you have to wetsand them with 1000-grit before you can get the clear to adhere, and that you'll see those scratches in the final product. Not sure I agree with him, but he's not the head painter at a local Toyota dealership for nothing.

Jim the 67 GTO is sitting in my garage, safe and dry, but no, I've not done more than clean it up. Once I start on a project I tend not to stop, and I can't afford to start that one right now....but it will happen! ; )

Decided against clearing - I read some stuff and I guess rattle-can clear isn't worth it. Don't know where to get a can of the body shop stuff, and really, I don't think my headlights even look bad. They're not yellowed at all, and I can't see any hazing - I just hate that my light output is so crappy (even with BRAND NEW bulbs).

Sorry for hijacking your thread, Mike. lol

Not at all. I've never been happy with the low beam output on my lights either. High beam works well though. You'd tink a vehicle designed for police use would have better headlights. ; )

I know right? My high beams are what I would expect my LOW BEAMS to be.


The low beams are downright useless. Can't see but three feet over the hood. WTF is that?

As for the taillights.... WET sand with 800, 1200, 1500, 2K, then 5K paper, then polish like the paint, clear. Works every time.

I have pics in another thread on the subject.........

As for headlights, get some quick hardening clear from a body shop (or NAPA) and use one of these: http://www.preval.com/shopping/preval-spray-system

Thanks!

The guys at candlepower forums recommend DoubleHorn Products. I haven't tried it myself.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=266292

My friend Jason just started a side job de-hazing headlights and such...a good business in Texas, the sun is brutal here. He offered to do my tail lights for free if I would hand out business cards at the car shows. Done!

Check this out! Woo-Hoo! Nice! Sure is good to have car friends!

Came out nice...........

I polished my daughters subaru headlights that were hazed badly. Taped off the hood, fenders and bumpers, then I used my Porter Cable 7474xp polisher and polished it like paint. Meguires 105 then 205. Then I put a coat of wax on them. That was in June or July and they are still gorgeous. I did my tails the same way. No clear coat at all.......

I suppose you could use some swirl remover by hand and do just as well. But it is going to take a while.

I'm going to keep them waxed and hopefully they won't fog up again.

Ha Ha,. the difference in logistics and related problems,.
North east guys worry about building floor boards and frames, so their feet don't have to sit on the transmission,.and the car doesn't fold in two,. South western boys worry about polishing their taillights,.
*sigh*,..

Nick

Hey I spent six years living in New Jersey. I've used torches to break bolts loose and busted my knuckles trying to remove corroded parts, got rust in my eyes, nose, mouth and hair working under northern cars, and watched my fingers turn red and go numb from Nov-April..... I served my time!

I have nothing but repsect for all you salt road folks!

.......and I'm proud of my shiny tail lights........... ; )

Southwestern issues: taillights haze, roof and hood paint bakes off, tint and A/C are necessities, rubber and plastic parts get brittle a lot faster, and some places make washing your car illegal.

On the good side, there are almost no muffler shops in town. Since there's no rust, the factory muffler lasts the life of the car. When I want parts in the U-Pull-It, I just loosen the bolts and they come right out. And in the time since I moved from NH, I've never had to lie in icewater to work under my car.

Car ownership is a lot easier here.

Don't remind me of my baked roof and hood paint. It makes me sad.

My wagon is the only car I have that sits outside....I wax it once a month, have the windows tinted, and use a windshield shade whenver it's parked. The sun is brutal to cars here, but nothing rusts.

My main worry on the Roadmaster is that the wood is going to fade of peel.... ; )

I refuse to own any vehicle without tinted windows for the rest of my life. You have no idea. Our Mazda doesn't have them, and when I first got in the wagon I was like "Oh, my god, this is such a wonderful feeling."

Like i've always said. My next wagon is coming from TX or Cali. I'd much rather have to repaint a car than chase down quarters and gas tank straps.

Tell me when to start looking for you....just need year, color, and budget. ; )

I love chasing them down!

81X11 wrote:

Tell me when to start looking for you....just need year, color, and budget. ; )

I love chasing them down!

OCC, any color but red. 94+ Roadie WB4, 94+ Caprice no wood Sadly, this wont be for awhile

i think i'll move to texas,. polish tail lights and headlights and redo headliners,..and dash's

Nick

phantom 309 wrote:

i think i'll move to texas,. polish tail lights and headlights and redo headliners,..and dash's

Nick

And you could make enough greenbacks to finally park that KW for good......

Nick add install window tinting to that list and you could have a heck of a business down here...