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headlights failed inspection


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Guest FlyStyle

hey all

 

common problem caught up with me couple of days ago. went to go get inspected, and i failed the headlamp part. they said they were too foggy. well they are but i never realized just how. before i spend 300 on 2 brand new lamps, does anyone have some spare 94 legacy sedan lamps for sale, or better yet detailed instructions on cleaning them up??

 

thanks and any help would be appreciated.. i have less then a week to get this sorted (failed tags expires then)

 

Ali

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Guest wrxsubaru

My dads 90 legacy head lights were horible to, even with high beams on other cars would not flash us. We cleaned them with oxe clean it worked pretty well it made a noticable diffrence in the aperance of the lences, and how they aculy worked. I heard that nail polish remover workes well to. I would try alot befor forking over the money to buy new lence covers.

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Guest sullione

Get with Josh (Legacy777). He has detailed instructions on how he cleaned his but I believe it's (the post) on the legacy central board.

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Guest Legacy777

yeah....I've got a post on the legacycentral bbs. check it out. It'll require a little elbow grease, but it'll save you some dough.

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Guest gbhrps

I'm assuming that the lenses are clear plastic and are yellowed and dull. If that is the case, I've had excellent success with polishing sets of headlights over the years, on many different makes of cars. I've used Turtle Wax Chrome Polish, Fibre Glass Boat Gel Coat Restorer, and Maguiar's Clear Coat Scratch Remover, and either a power buffer or by hand. All three of these products have a mild abrasive in them, and whether you tackle the job by hand, or use a buffing wheel on a power drill or a real buffing wheel, you get fantasitc results in very short time. Its amazing. Just don't use TOO MUCH pressure with a buffing wheel, as the friction heat may melt the lens. Good luck.

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Guest andywatson

I had a friend who was trying to clean the inside of his headlight assembly and he put some kind of chemical inside the assembly and sloshed it around. When he poured it out, it also took out the shiny chrome reflective material and he had to get whole new assemblies. I don't remember what kind of car or what kind of chemical it was.

 

I've noticed that the headlights on my 98 suby are getting pretty foggy. Which would you guys recommend? Sanding/polishing or sloshing chemicals around in it?

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Guest Legacy777

Don't do anything to the inside. It'll just make things worse.

 

You can try a light rubbing/polishing compound first and see if that helps. If not, the sanding/painting method should work.

 

Sanding alone won't make it any better, when you sand you create scratches in the surface that either need to be polished away or filled. That's what the clear coat does.

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Guest FlyStyle

hey all,

 

thanks for the help, i got some crome polish and buffed it enough to pass inspection. now im going to finish touch them and put some clear coat. as for sanding, that seems like it would scratch too much, or is it just me??

 

thanks again for the fast replies

 

Ali

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Guest Commuter

Someone had posted on here about sanding the lenses... It might even be in the archives. He used a "wet" sandpaper and started with 800 grit and moved up to 2000 grit (or something like that). Finished with some sort of clear coat IIRC. It's just a question of how fine the sandpaper (or grit in a polishing compound) is.

 

This is something that I really need to do to. I've compensated by using higher wattage bulbs... (shhhh)... ;)

 

Commuter

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Guest 1 Lucky Texan

As a general rule, to polish or improve the finish on anything will require starting with a grit approximately 1/2 to equal in size to the deepest scratch or pit, and then progreesing up (finer) in grit size to a level depending a lot on the hardeness of the material being poilished and the agressiveness/hardness of the abrasive in the polish. Of course with plastics there are also solvents and waxes/polymers that will help. As a faceter, I can polish corundum from a 600 or 1200 grit finish, but I'm using diamond to polish with!

You might also check any large pet/aquarium supply place. many marine tanks are acrylic and a polishing kit is sold to remove scratches. If you decide to try something, start with -say- 280/320 wet/dry paper (wet-flushing with water will help remove the grit from the area and keep the surface cool). Then the finest w/d you can get - 600/1200. Then try either the clay bar usually sold for paint finishing or borrow some Zam or rouge froma a local jeweler. I'd try to experiment on a piece from a junker first. Shoot, I bet some stuff sold for polishing scratches outta CDs would work. There are a lot of possible paths to success here.

As a genral rule on inspections, try to always use the same place - they will recognize their own number on the previous sticker. NEVER ask to watch. Even better to try to drop off when they are busy and pick up later. Ya see, they never know when the State is sending in a 'plant' to test their thoroughness.

If you're new there and stand where you can watch they HAVE to do EVERYTHING. get it?

Carl

1 Lucky Texan

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