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Headlight polishing inside and out

27K views 24 replies 13 participants last post by  themast 
#1 ·
After all the threads of headlight cleaning/polishing and trying those solutions with no success, I tackled the undocumented:
Cleaned and polished the inside of my Coupe's headlights!

This is a crazy involved job as you need to remove the front bumper cover to get the lights out.

I will document the procedure once I complete the project. But in the meantime, here are some before and after shots.
 

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#3 ·
Wow what a great job!! I'm having problems with my drivers light where it get cut off and basically I have no distance and I find it extremely unsafe. I hope this clean may help. I just need to first understand why this is happening. It's very annoying
 
#7 ·
Headlight lens removal

  1. Use a blunt stiff putty knife with rounded edges
  2. Cut through the black RTV silicone by placing the knife between the lens and black housing
  3. Keeping the knife perpendicular to the lens, slide the knife around the entire seam.
  4. The first pass keep the knife close to the lens, then the second pass keep it close to the housing
  5. There will be about a 1/8" gap between the lens and housing and a strip of RTV that you can begin to remove using a hook shaped tool.
  6. Once the clean out the gap, use the putty knife at an angle to get between the lens the the groove in the housing. Slide the knife around multiple times.
  7. Use the hook tool to clean out the gap. There will be A LOT of RTV in the groove.
  8. Once the gap in the housing is clear of RTV, begin to pry between the lens and the housing using the putty knife.
  9. Pry with the most force in the areas were the housing groove is thicker and backed up my more plastic to avoid braking the groove off the light. WARNING even though I was very careful, I broke the groove on the top side of both lights.
  10. I found that a plastic tire iron for a bicycle worked well to be some more leverage.
  11. Go slow and take your time
  12. Once the lens is removed, separate the painted light shroud by cutting the RTV
  13. Using a plastic glue, fix any cracks in the housing.
  14. On to polishing...
 

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#8 ·
Plastic lens polish

I used:

BlueMagic Headlight Lens Restorer to remove the crud on the inside of the lens.
Meguiar's PlastX for any scratch removal.
Meguiars Headlight Protectant as the final step.

Use a very soft buffing cloth. I also used a foam polishing head for deeper scratches.

I did inside and out.

Be very careful on the inside as it is easy to scratch.
 

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#9 ·
Headlight projector lens and refelctors

Don't forget to clean the projector lens and reflector for the high-beam.

I used a 50/50 mix of distilled water and isopropyl alcohol on a disposable soft foam paint brush. Then a soft polishing cloth to dry.

Note the reflector chrome is very thin, do not rub.
 

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#13 ·
Sechack I would like to ask you after all these years you have done this great job are the lens still in good condition? I have heard that lens from the inside have a special membrane which shouldnt be destroyed. Have you discovered something like that?
Thank you in advance for your response [emoji6]
 
#14 ·
Just to help (maybe) I think the membrane you may be referring to is the coating on the outside which is designed, I understand, to protect the lens from ultra-violet. This itself breaks down in UV light, but can be removed with polishing kits. You can then polish any damage to the plastic. Won't last indefinitely but is certainly sustainable (at least in the UK!)

C
 
#16 ·
Good plan :) Thinking about it I found myself wondering if in fact, the UV exposure was greater from the Xenons than ambient sunlight. Would be interesting to measure perhaps, but not that interesting :)

I think in this case 'less' is still likely to be 5 years or so.

C
 
#18 ·
Does anyone know who makes the headlights for the 2002 - 2006 Maserati'S? It ought to be possible to contact the manufacturer and get them to produce replacement lenses for our Maserati's. I'm sure they still have the molds and they probably run off production runs every so often for Maserati so that the stealer's ... I mean dealers ... can keep headlights in inventory to sell for thousands of dollars.

It's crazy to have to spend several thousand dollars to replace a headlight just because the plastic lens is damaged or faded yet all of the other parts are in good condition.

I'm surprised the Chinese haven't started selling aftermarket headlight kits for Maserati. Pretty much 100 percent of all the cars manufactured between 2002 and 2006 have bad headlights and would be a market for being replaced if someone made a replacement lens. You can buy aftermarket headlights for high volume cars like an F150 for $50 each so it's obvious the problem isn't the cost of the materials.

If anyone has their headlights out of their car the name of the manufacturer is probably stamped on the back. ... is it Magnetti Marelli?
 
#20 ·
Carello, but I have found this...

"The history of Magneti Marelli lighting division is based on the acquisition of Carello SPA in 1988 and therefore can be traced back to the beginning of 20th century. In 1912 began the production of electrical automobile headlamps in Italy. A significant progress was the invention of “Bosch-Lighting” in 1913. Today Automotive Lighting is a full subsidiary of Magneti Marelli Group."
 
#21 ·
I am trying this project out and I agree this is not fun. Not easy and I am really trying to do this without damaging the lens.
I also noticed there are places where the lens slides into the housing (kind of like aligning blades).

Do you have advice on how to do this ? Should I use goo-gone to help breakdown the silicone ?

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks
Paul
 
#23 ·
My headlight is broken and at $2000 to replace with none in stock...I had to try something else.
I found one cheap in good condition and I am trying to remove the clear lens and use it for my current headlight.

I tried to take it apart but without the dental tool...it has been a struggle and I am really tearing the case apart....something I could not do with the the headlight I need to fix.

If you have any suggestions or advice on how to do it.....please share.
 
#24 ·
I dug through some old chat logs - and copied some stuff I sent to someone else. It might seem a bit janky because they're all PMs, but you should get the gist of it.


So read this guide first How to: Front Bumper Removal It has some picture which will help.
  1. Tape up the bumpers around the headlight using cloth tape (not masking tape, it won't help you) to protect the paint.
  2. Remove the undertray from the front bumper
  3. Remove the front wheels and arch liners.
  4. Refer to the link for how to remove the fog lights, with one change, you'll use a hooked awl to remove the fog light. Get the awl behind the edge of the glass - one on each side and pull forward. It would come out very easily, it isn't anywhere near the big deal people make it out to be.
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  5. Disconnect the cables to the headlight.
  6. Undo the bolts three bolts holding the light in place.
  7. Undo the mounting point at the rear of the headlight and remove it completely. I've highlighted it below, it is held in by a single bolt from underneath.
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  8. Push the headlight forward to allow you to rotate it in such a way that you can pull it out through the wheel well. Removing it from the rear should allow you to protect the paint, especially if you have the Xenon headlights which have a ballast attached to the bottom.
Just some things to keep in mind:

  • You may need to push the light forward to remove the rubber gasket before you can get it out the back.
  • Be patient getting the headlight back in.
  • Only tighten the bolts in loose when you do your headlights until all three are located. If you fully tighten one bolt at a time you'll never get it lined up.
As I said before, I haven't tried removing it from the back, as I didn't realise till I was nearly done, but doing it this way seems so much more logical once you get at it. If you find this works let me know and I'll write up a full headlight removal guide.

Also, if you want to ship your headlights to Australia, I can refurbish the lenses and send them back to you.

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I have opened them before. It is a difficult task. Before you start, do you have proper polishing equipment? You can't polish acrylic by hand, it just won't work. If you don't have the equipment to do it properly then I would advise you against it.

This is the thread I followed to do mine Headlight polishing inside and out

Some other things to keep in mind:

1- Polish the outside to completion before considering opening the headlight. You want to be certain the inside is deteriorated before you do anything.
2- You will need to get the coloured insert resprayed, the paint will flake off as soon as you touch it.
3- Be very careful with the chrome rings, just rubbing them will rub the chrome off.

I'm all about DIY, so believe me when I say this is a difficult job and you should reconsider doing it DIY if you don't have the right equipment.

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You only need to pick out the silicone at the red edge. Once you can get your fingers in there you will be able to pull it apart - it will take a bit of force, but it will work!

Once I got into the gap I was able to wedge it apart progressively and it was pretty easy. What I did have an issue with though was the paint on the insert flaking off, so I had to get them resprayed. If that happens to you, be very carfeul with the chrome rings because the chrome will come off when you touch them.

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The lens is some kind of acrylic - it is very soft and will be very difficult to bring to a nice finish.

For mine (which were far more degraded) I started at 80 grit, then went down to 8000 grit. After that I used a cut, polish, finish and then used a UV protectant spray over them. However, I'd suggest using a Clear Protection Film (basically a car wrap in clear) instead as it is easy to replace that every few years and provides more physical protection. The only way you will be able to get the polish to a decent standard is to use an random orbital, or orbital polisher, with fittings that will reach to the areas you want. I strongly suggest that once you have finished polishing it you wipe them clean with a decent solvent or polish remover while wearing gloves and using a lint free cloth. You won't want dust and fingerprints on the inside lens. I'd also suggest that you finish the inside 100%, then glue the whole thing back together, then do the outside, that way you won't risk scratching or dirtying the inside of the lens again. Another suggestion would be wrapping the main body of the lens in cling film to prevent it getting any dust on it - remember what I said about how if you touch the chrome it will come off? - well don't let it get dusty and you won't need to clean it!

As for the sealant, I used an automotive body sealant. Sikaflex®-227 I wouldn't be too pedantic though, just find something suitable for automotive use and go with that. If you search around you'll probably find more suitable products that soften in the oven!


P.S. I spent 12 hours per lens!
 
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