Yellow Fever (restoring R33 And R34 Model Headlights)

[Chang]

Hey again,

Over the past couple of weeks, while surfing the net, I’ve seen numerous amounts of people asking about yellow headlights and how to restore them to factory fresh. I’ve even seen as far as people setting up group buys for $150+.

Now this really annoys me, as it’s a very simple process to do. Then you get people saying it’s really bad when they turn on their lights, so quickly come to the assumption it’s inside of the headlight. I guarantee 99% of the time it’s just on the outer surface.

This guide offers you guys a simple, cheap (talking about less than $10 here) yet equally effective solution. I’m talking no buffers, no special chemicals, no tricks.

Now, for those who don’t know, here’s a low down on why headlights turn yellow. It’s plastic! Simple. Like any plastic, as it ages the clarity disappears.

This really only happens on R33 and R34 Skyline’s due to the plastic housing headlight, unlike the R32 which is made of glass. Hence, this tut applies to all R33 and R34 Skylines.

Right:

Tools needed:

-Wet Sandpaper / Automotive sandpaper. You can pick this up at your local hardware store or auto paint supplier. You’ll need 1000, 1200, 1500 and 2000 grit. Just one of each will be more than sufficient.

-Car wax. (Just any reputable brand should do, or any you have lying around your house)

-Masking tape

-2x Pieces of cloth, preferably something not rough.

-Strong buffing arm

Step 1: Sandpaper / Preparation

Start by ripping considerable pieces of same paper (of each grit) and let them soak in a bucket of water for a good 20 minutes.

Whilst the sandpaper is softening now’s a good time to mask of the car. Now this is a very important part as you want to mask off nay part you don’t wish to sand. You can never be too careful or use too much masking tape.

HINT: Instead of masking your bonnet, have it open all the time, that way you can save time and don’t F*ck it up.

Step 2: Initial sanding

Start with the highest grit 1000 and start sanding the headlight. You should sand the headlight for a good 3-4 minutes on each grit. Now do you see the yellow particles you’re sanding off, yep that’s a good sign not just an illusion.

NOTE: When sanding you should only be sanding in one direction, i.e. left – right or up – down. This prevent swirls and deeper scratches.

Also while sanding always keep the sandpaper constantly wet to prevent clogging.

When finished, give it a wipe with some tissues. It should look like this a very dull finish.

Now your probably thinking at this stage “What the F have I done, it’s ruined. I’m going to kill that Chang guy” No no, don’t worry it’s all part of the process. Just keep reading.

Step 3: More sanding

Now after using 1000 grit slowly progress down, 1200, 1500, 2000 till it looks like (After final 2000 grit)

Step 4: Polishing

Now I’m sure like me, majority of you don’t have any special chemicals or buffers. Too expensive, too difficult, too lazy, too can’t be f’d

Anyway, get your polish that you’ve got and polish it like you would a car. But really get into in. I mean rub it hard. Use a lot of elbow grease.

Till it looks like this

NOTE: You should be polishing in a circular motion, as opposed to the sanding technique.

Use the second cloth to wipe away the wax as per normal. You should be waxing until you can’t feel your hand or about to pass out.

[Russcoe]

So how long did they stay clear for?

[Russcoe]

Or are they still shmick.

Edited February 17, 2009 by Russcoe

[Murry33]

Great DIY,

i've done this plenty of times on my cars in the past, lasts a long time, if it happens again just repeat the process, at least it keeps the headlights clean!

[tridentt150v]

For light yellowing, you can get away with a product that Just Jap sells. It is a japanese polish specifically for headlights, with japanese writing all over it. You can also use a generic headlight/plastic polish from companies like 'Mothers', it will do the job, but is slower and requires a lot more patience than the Just Jap tube. In the old days we used to use toothpaste and then car polish. The old 750cc Suzuki two strokes [waterbottles] had a plastic lens on the speedo and tacho, the toothpaste/polish thing worked fine [probably prevented decay and gave a fresh mint finish as well.......lol].

[Luciano]

autosol ftw!

[rocketboy]

autosol ftw!

I use Autosol to polish acrylic, so I'd expect it to do a good job on headlights too. May even be less elbow grease than car polish. Also, Maguires do a plastic polish/restorer which may work easier. Great tut! Must have saved peeps lots of $$.

[SLY-25T]

ive done mine twice with meguiars scratchx

first time didnt last that long but the second time i did a couple weeks ago and they still lookin good. pretty cheap, not much effort (push hard and scrob until u hear it squeeking( squeeky clean lol)) then wipe with a clean rag and ur done.

[Chang]

Hey guys, thanks all for the comments.

This thread was posted accidently twice. So anyone want to post anymore info please keep post in the original thread There's more pictures in the original post as well

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/Ye...-R-t249906.html

Oh and a slight edit. I noticed I posted "CAR WAX" lol. You should only be using polish. As polish removes scratches, not wax. So anywhere it says wax I mean polish.

Edited March 5, 2009 by Chang

[Carbon 34]

beware some/lots car polish isnt good for plastics, some oil or silicone based can turn them yellow faster ?????

if you want it done right, use aircraft windscreen polish found at just about any airport. the headlights are not normal plexiglass plastic but high impact lexan like plane windows

I used Megs M105 on my R34/Supra to get out scratches and haze then Megs plastic polish to tidy up the shine a bit.no sandpaper needed

perfect like new and they stay that way now for over a years while stored outdoors in salt(a few houses from beach), Adelaide sun

for the cost of new headlights, I wouldnt use shonky products or cheap sandpaper either.

[C.T_07]

Dunno if this has been said, but another great alternative is 'GlassyLite'. This product would restore your head lamps back to its factory condition. With the added bonus of UV coat, to prevent your head lamps from yellowing any time soon. I have given this product a go and it was just excellent !

I would highly recommend giving this a shot

Here's the DIY link:

Edited March 6, 2009 by C.T_07

[bryce19]

i used cut and polish on mine yesterday and it came up great way better than i expected i wish i took befor and after pics

[dori34]

hmm so i went thru a drive thru car wash last night, now the top & bottom sections of inside of the headlights are fogged up.

anyway to get rid of the fogging ?

[Carbon 34]

hmm so i went thru a drive thru car wash last night, now the top & bottom sections of inside of the headlights are fogged up.

anyway to get rid of the fogging ?

inside i take it? pull a bulb out and use a hairdryer or heat gun on no or low heat to dry inside.

if the seal is broken that will happen again when washed or rains?

[dori34]

inside i take it? pull a bulb out and use a hairdryer or heat gun on no or low heat to dry inside.

if the seal is broken that will happen again when washed or rains?

yeh its in the inside as ive stated.

its strange cause it never happened before when i washed it myself by hand & bucket.

maybe the carwash sprayed at an angle wear the seal is broken on bottom of headlight perhaps.

i said it before and ill say it again, nissan failed BIG TIME with plastic headlights for R34

[DRFT31]

quick cut and polish always works a treat.

[arhithi]

Hello,

You dont need wet dry paper

you dont need tape

you dont need nothing but 10 mins of your time

you need 1 rag and some fine polish ( 3M Finesse )

if you dont have a rag you can use ya old jocks

if you dont have polish go buy some this polish can be used on your car from paint to rims

start polishing within no time Ching Ching shinny new headlights

cheers

[marks33]

Is there anything you can put on them to stop them going yellow again? I just used the polish on a buffer on my drill worked good as but dosent seem to last.

[arhithi]

no not really mate

its good to hand polish your car once a month to get the most out of your paint, when polishing your car just polish all your lights also front and back easy as that.

[SLY-25T]

in the group buy that was offered a while ago (and sadly got shut down) if u want to go all out to stop it from happening, they were going to clear coat the headlights. so if u can be bothered, clean the lights as much as possible and u could take them down to spray painters and ask for a quick clear coat. not sure if it effects the light coming out by displacing it or anything like that but worth a try.