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.

[33driver]

good tut, I use plastic polish to the same affect, the problem I now have it that after sanding/polishing, we have taken off the UV protective coating so it will yellow and craze again faster. I'm yet to find a way to recoat them other that those 'skinz' which are clean and UV protective, but they cost a small fortune lol.

[Chang]

Finished product:

See your done four easy steps to restoring your headlights. Now before you tackle this, you should like me and take photos. It not only till you compare the before and after do you see the difference.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Now you’re done. See, under $10 and you saved a considerable amount for your other mods. Although your arms have lost feeling by now, it’s well worth it. Don’t you agree?

[viet_boi]

really nice right up, and will give it ago on my mates car..

[NeboRdChick]

Toothpaste works too.. if its not badly coloured, or just polish.

[stevenified]

before & after shots look the same?

cant really see much change..

any photo of the pass side headlight after you polished it up ?

[Chang]

It's sort of hard to depict the yellowness in photos. My headlights weren't as terrible as some out there but enough to see a yellow tinge.

None of the left unfortunately, as I thought the right one was worse and show a better before and after.

Edited January 1, 2009 by Chang

[INVRTD]

a great writeup,

meguiars plastic x will clear up the lenses a bit better then the deep crystal polish, but either will make a good noticable difference. The sanding is well worth the effort to smooth off the dulling caused by grit in the air whilst driving

alex

[dori34]

so i had a crack at it today, used meguiars plastiX & scratch X didnt really do much as i used it before and got alot off but headlight is still yellow (which im pretty sure is all in the inside now)

so gonna have to open up the headlight and do the same for the inside.

i used a orbital buffer/polisher as well.

good write up tho & applies to ppls headlights with slight yellowing/fogging.

keep rubbing and rubbing till no more yellow crap comes out on the rag, if headlights are still yellow then its all in the inside. thats how u can tell wehther its in or out

Edited January 11, 2009 by dori32

[Turbotonic]

I've done this processes three months ago but the yellow keeps coming back

[dori34]

don't know why nissan didnt even bother making 34 headlights in glass !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SLY-25T]

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/He...ng-t248378.html

just incase anyone reading this hasnt seen this yet. well worth it.

[daineisdabomb]

u ill probably find that ur headlights will go back to yellow after a short amount of time coz mine did wen i sanded n waxed them. there is a product i bought from the auto salon that i used on mine and it worked mint andthey r still perfectly clear. its called GLASSYLITE not sure where to get it but if u googe it u would find it. it cost me $20 and my lights hav been perfect for like a year now and it actually seals the lights so they dont go yellow again.

[wisey18]

http://www.glassyliteusa.com/

Is this the product you're talking about danielisdabomb?

[1C3B3RG]

Hi Chang

Dude, thank you so much for this write up! I followed the instructions, except i used meguiars plastx to polish the lenses instead of normal polish. It looks brand new, simply amazing. Altogether it cost me $27 for plastx ,$5 for sand paper and $2.50 for polishing cloth!! Job took 1 hour, my arms also look like Arnold Swarzenegger's now!!

[dori34]

there is so much you can do before you realise its actually the inside that needs to be polished up, then you will have to take it to a specialist to open it up and clean it.

[1C3B3RG]

there is so much you can do before you realise its actually the inside that needs to be polished up, then you will have to take it to a specialist to open it up and clean it.

Yeah whatever!! Mine looks brand new, i'm happy. Specialist.....pfft!

[R34GT-T]

Hi Chang

Dude, thank you so much for this write up! I followed the instructions, except i used meguiars plastx to polish the lenses instead of normal polish. It looks brand new, simply amazing. Altogether it cost me $27 for plastx ,$5 for sand paper and $2.50 for polishing cloth!! Job took 1 hour, my arms also look like Arnold Swarzenegger's now!!

You better keep working out cause in 3 months you will be at it all over again... you have just successfully damaged your lights, wasted money time and energy. save yourself seal em with glassylite now!

[Chang]

Oh forgot about this thread.

Hi Chang

Dude, thank you so much for this write up! I followed the instructions, except i used meguiars plastx to polish the lenses instead of normal polish. It looks brand new, simply amazing. Altogether it cost me $27 for plastx ,$5 for sand paper and $2.50 for polishing cloth!! Job took 1 hour, my arms also look like Arnold Swarzenegger's now!!

Your welcome mate, glad I could help.

You better keep working out cause in 3 months you will be at it all over again... you have just successfully damaged your lights, wasted money time and energy. save yourself seal em with glassylite now!

Dude, what crawled up your ass. My headlights have been out in the Summer for 2 months now. Still looking as new as ever.

A regular polish then wax will keep it going.

Keep your negitave comments to yourself.

[drpheel]

I like to use Novus plastic polish ! Realy easy to use you can check it out on youtube ! the full 3set kit costs about 15$usd on ebay !

http://www.novuspolish.com/

I also did my r33 headlights using this guide I googled up hope this helps some one out !

http://www.mkiv.com/techarticles/headlights/index.html