I bought my 03 mini in Arizona, where the sun pretty much destroys everything. Apparently the owner parked the car with the driver side facing the west every day, as the drivers side lamp covers, front and rear, are cloudy, while on the passenger side they are perfectly clear.
What works to fix this?

 

im not sure if the property of the plastic changed or not but you can try some ScratchX with a foam pad and lots of elbow grease. I would pull out my 3" random orbital and let the machine do the work.

if that fails check the classified section. there might be someone selling theirs.

 

There is a lot of magic potion crap on the market, I'd like to know if someone knows if it actually works before I spend money on anything.
I read something about 1500 grit sand paper followed by rubbing compound and polishing compound. That sounds like a winner.
I don't have a 3" random orbital :(

 

try the 1500grit sand paper and rubbing compound.

your arm will fall off by the time you're done polishing by hand.

 

Mother's makes the following product -

PowerBall 4Lightd Headlight Restoration Kit

http://www.mothers.com/02_products/07250.html

Never used it so I don't know if it works or not.

 

I've used the 3M headlight restoration kit on two vehicles. One was my Audi allroad, with headlights that are notoriously prone to rather severe hazing.

The result, frankly, was fantastic. But I have two tips for you: less is more, and protect the areas around the headlight very carefully.

Because a 3-step polishing is involved, a certain amount of plastic is removed on each pass. It takes a certain amount of restraint and patience to make sure you take a level portion off in each step.

 

Hi there

My husband used the Mother's kit mentioned by mini4rb and it worked really well. I have had 3M clear bra applied to the front end of my MINI, including the headlamps, and it really stops the haze from forming. I also had it on my previous car as well, and after 5 years, no haze! You can learn about the 3M product at http://www.autosupershield.com/, the business where I had my clear bra installed.

 

+1 for ScratchX and a high speed buffer.

 

Your local chain autopart store probably has a couple of choices on the shelf


... EASTWOOD has a couple in their catalog
http://search.eastwood.com/search?as...&p=Q&ts=custom

I've seen guys set up shop and do it at flea market parking lots.

Bottom line in my experience for all these products and systems is you are going to remove the outer most surface which has deteriorated and become rough. Rough is dull .... smooth is shiney.

Some products simply work thru a series of 'grits' of abrasive to grind away a bit of the plastic then polish the newly exposed surface. Some use a chemical to soften the old surface and make getting that bad layer off a little easier then do a similar polish to finish off. Same result either way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCP6XQc65xo&feature=fvw
As stated, protect the surrounds and like BBQ, slow and low is better....

If you don't want to DIY I'll bet a local detailer would handle it.

Cheepo hint - tooth paste

Yes tooth paste

Tooth paste is 'rubbing compound'

Put a good glob on the lens and rub well - not gel ... paste .... floride does not matter.

Rinse well. I'd follow up with some sort of a polish (a finer rubbing compound is what this is) but the tooth paste is aggresive enuf to scape the crud off your plastic lens. Check YouTube for a video

p.s. a Martha hint - rings dull, hit 'em with the toothpaste and a soft toothbrush . . .

 

my headlights happen to be starting to haze on my 05. Would cleaning them up this way then putting something similar to lamin-x or 3M covers on keep them clear? I know they will help with the pitts but will it prevent further sun damage?

 

I would think any auto parts store that carried McGuires products could sell you one.

You Mini Owners that still have nice clear lens covers and the people that get theirs nice and clear should go to WWW.ZAINOSTORE.COM and get a produck named "Z CS Clearseal" and use it on the covers as well as all of the plastic trim on your cars. It will protect the plastic from UV rays and is very easy to use. You just put it on and walk away. I use it on the whole car, Paint & Plastic plus the front & rear lens covers. I live in Florida which is the absolute worst UV rays in America. We also have "Love Bugs" but that is another reason to use this product.

No , I do not own or work for Zaino.

 

I ended up buying a 3M lens restore kit at autozone for about $20, like this one:
http://www.amazon.com/3M-Headlight-L.../dp/B001AIZ5HY

It comes with 500, 800, and 3000 grit papers, rubbing compound, a polishing sponge, and the nice drill mounted padded disc that holds the papers and sponge with velcro. It worked great. Mechanical polishing beats any magical chemical potion.
For keeping them clear, I heard that car wax has enough UV protectant in it to prevent future fogging.

 

I've used the mother's recently on a 14 year old pickup truck I have with plastic lens headlights. One side was yellowed a bit and the other was not. Both were hazes up pretty bad.

Surprisingly, it took about 90% of the haze out and almost all of the yellowing. Know someone that has used this stuff and if I do it a few more times you shouldn't be able to detect any hazing anymore.

I was skeptical but pleasantly surprised. Be aware the lenses were pretty bad but not cracking. The truck has only been garage kept the last 2 years. Before that always outside. Nine years in the Florida sun.

 

Just used the 3M kit on my '02 bugeye Subaru WRX, and it worked quite well. The lens was very foggy, and yellowed. Now it is no longer yellow, and the lens is 97% clear. It isn't like putting in a brand new headlamp, but it most definitely works.

Take your time, and make sure to mask off around the lens.

The only downfall is that this system works great on circular or oval-shaped headlamps, but any kind of sharp corners will mean you cannot get to them with the circular abrasive pads. But a MINI headlamp will be perfect for this system...

 

I used the McGuire's kit (pad for drill, polish, microfiber cloth) and it got about
70% of the cloudiness out of my wife's 2001 VW Cabrio headlamps.
The lamps on my 2003 MINI Cooper are still near new looking at 7 1/2 year old. They seem to hold up well.
On the other hand, every Dodge Neon I have ever seen has had headlight lenses cloudy as hell.
I will try again another day and see if I can get it better yet on the VW.
I wonder if some of the haziness is on the inside.

 

That's what I suspect also. My headlight lens became crystal clear, literally like brand new, and it was very yellow and hazy. My brake light lens on the other hand, is still not crystal clear after the treatment, so I'm pretty sure that the haze is on the inside surface.

 

I read once about taking the housing off, and soaking them in vinegar overnight. I think it was a 50/50 mix with water and you had to use the white distilled stuff. Supposed to removing any yellow tinting on the lens.

Than being said the lenses had to be easy enough to remove, Have an opening where the stuff could get inside (yellowing was from the inside by what I read), and the opening be large enough they could dry out after they were soaked and rinsed.

Never tried it myself but have always wondered. Tried to find the article again without luck.

 

YES! I had previously driven an Infiniti G35 that was 5 years old, and the 3m clear bra headlamp kit kept them clear, and looking brand new the entire time I owned the car. Even the Infiniti dealer commented on the lights when I brought the car in for servicing.

 

Just my two bits but, I've been an industrial designer for the auto industry for the last thirty-four years and the last thirteen of that in injection molded plastic automotive lighting, I could maybe shed a little light on this subject. (sorry, couldn't resist) I was looking for some info on this subject and it turns out maybe, I can give some.

First off, the PC polycarbonate lenses are both UV stabilized in the PC and hard-coated on the outside surface to protect from the sun and physical abrading. The hard-coat is a clear coating poured over the lens outer surface and cured. Any polishing not done in a gentle and very uniform manner across the surface will effect the uniformity of optical performance looking down the road, possibly leaving a result even worse than the weathering and road wear.

I would not recommend anything but a plastic lens polish, Mothers, Meguiar's, etc applied with a rounded edge buffing wheel sponge. Follow their directions and take it easy. A little tip: if you cover the chrome lens surround and nearby painted sheet metal with blue painters edge tape it will help keep you from damaging adjacent surfaces while on your quest to make the lenses better.

Also you need to understand that like the sun and road wear, polishing will remove the hard-coat and leave the lens even more vulnerable in the future. So once you've started down this path it is important to keep a good coat of UV protectant wax on those lenses or they will really go wrong. I guess I have been as bad as anyone in not doing the preventative measure of waxing them to start with. Shame on me. It is a good part of regular maintenance in my opinion. Like with most things in life... your on your own here.

I could not agree more than with capt_bj analogy to BBQ!

A new product called Weathertech Lampguards looks kind of interesting. I thing after I do my 100k polish job, and with a little further study to see that these appliques don't play games with transmission or refraction they might be a good thing.

So best of luck, take it slow and easy, don't forget the wax and happy motoring.