[sechack]

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.

 

[MaseratiGSGB]

They look good so far...

 

[barrym]

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

 

[sechack]

YES! I had to drive around with my brights on to be able to see farther than 10-15ft.

 

[ahvlanico]

nice job !

 

[TravisJ]

Fantasic. Great DIY info is very valuable to the community!

 

[sechack]

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...

 

[sechack]

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.

 

[sechack]

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.

 

[FlyinBrian]

Great work !

 

[Rocketman]

Does anyone know if it is possible to buy the clear headlight lens new without buying the entire headlight assembly?

 

[Catmanv2]

I doubt it. They are sealed units. You can take them apart with a knife and an oven, but it's not a simple job

C

 

[Specialized]

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

 

[Catmanv2]

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

 

[Specialized]

Thanks a lot Chris
Will last even less here in Greece with the sun.. Basic reason for keeping my lady always down in the garage hehe

 

[Catmanv2]

Thanks a lot Chris
Will last even less here in Greece with the sun.. Basic reason for keeping my lady always down in the garage hehe

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

 

[Specialized]

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

It depends what is the Watts of the Xenon. I have retrofitted after market xenon (to improve the not great lighting of the lady) and after searching it found the 35w more appropriate than 55w that most would fit. Oe xenon is also 35 instead of 55 with normal and this is probably to balance the extra heat arising from the Xenon lamps..

 

[Rocketman]

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?

 

[Catmanv2]

It's a sealed unit.

C

 

[Chaba]

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."