awdordie

iTrader: (1)

We all know and love the plastic lenses that cover our headlights and tail lights especially on headlights for some odd reason. Every mitsubishi I have owned has seem to be the worst when it comes to the plastic oxidizing and turning that nice yellow color. I've seen many people ask how to get rid of this for good. There are many ways some work ok for a while others are permanent and the oxidation never comes back ill go over a few and I personally feel the mods should sticky this. Im not sure how it is on the evo ix's and x's but my viii started to look horrible after only a year and I finally was fed up with it. I also had to do my previous eclipse however I did it another way than my evo and I will cover 3 ways that work surprisingly well. We will start with the easiest and most temporary I performed on my eclipse.

Things u will need:
wd40
Paper towel
and 2 minutes of your time

Spray wd40 on the towel and wipe over your headlights or taillights with oxidation and your done. I did this countless times and seen no adverse effects on the plastic on my eclipse, however this is temporary. I did this before shows for a quick fix since after 4 to 5 car washes u will need. To reapply. It will withstand the rain due to the wd40 being water repellant but with soap eventually it will wash off. This is the ghetto way but it works.

A more permanent way and how I did the evo for now. Im hoping this last as long as my next method I will explain but I decided to try this and it turned out well. Now I will wait and see if it can withstand the test of time.

Things u will need:
Mothers aluminum and mag polish
microfiber cloth
10 minutes of your time

Apply mothers polish to a corner of the microfiber towel and rub away. Be sure to cover the entire surface evenly and scrub the surface evenly for best results on each plastic cover. Do not allow the polish to dry to a haze or it will be harder to remove. Turn cloth over and wipe residue away. I suggest doing one headlight/taillight at a time to prevent wax from glazing and drying. Also do not get this polish on your paint, if you do wipe it away immediately with rubbing alcohol and a paper towel. I do not know the affects it will have on your paint nor will I be held accountable so do this at your own risk since I do not know the adverse effects if any. Here are some before and after pics of my driver headlight using mothers.

Before picture
http://m.myspace.com/home.wap?bfd=we...14111/26672673

After picture
http://m.myspace.com/home.wap?bfd=we...14111/26672678

And finally the only method I have tried and found the most successful so far depending on how long the mothers holds up is the following method. This method is the most difficult but after completion the headlights never once attempted to oxidize again. My old eclipse was the test subject and it still to this day has not oxidized after selling the car 3 years ago and I had owned the car a year and half after trying this method. I got tired of going through wd40 and decided to find a good permanent solution. So, here it is.

Things you will need.

All the appropriate tools to remove your front bumper and headlights/tail lights <obviously wont need removal of front bumper if performing this on tail lights.
2000 grit sandpaper
A professional painter prefferably or I have tried duplicolor clear on a friends headlights which worked ok but not as good as having a professional painter do this with quality clearcoat.

Start off by removing your bumper assembly. If you need the how to it can be found easily by searching. Next remove your headlights which is also found easily by searching. Next wet sand each plastic cover with your sand paper evenly. You don't have to sand for 30 minutes just remove any bugs and to insure any small rock craters are sanded out, now have your painter in my case my friend spray them with any clearcoat that has a uv protectant and let them dry for a couple of days to allow the clear to harden. If you do not allow the clear time to dry install them and you run the risk of scratching or leaving marks in the clear. Not to mention if you drive with the clear still soft any bug that hits it will leave impressions and guts and it will become impossible to remove. This happend on my first attempt. When I did my friends we didn't even sand the headlights and it turned out ok, not as good as mine but he didn't really mind. When we did my eclipse we didn't even need to remove the headlights since we had re painted the car we simply unmasked the lights and cleared the whole car, however I suggest removal if you are not repainting your whole car to avoid overspray. Sorry but I no longer have any pics of the before and after of this method but it does work the best and will not fade again.

I have also tried various buffing compounds on different headlights with various results none as good as the three I have mentioned though. U could also try using a buffer with the mothers polish for an even better result. It should be a variable speed buffer like used to buff after color sanding a car, not an orbital buffer aka jitter buffer, but one that the pad rotates and does not shake. Use a low speed setting and do not apply alot of pressure or u will burn the plastic and leave an ugly yellow brown burn mark that will never come out. I have done this on cars accidentally as I use to work for a major car auction doing detailing. I did not use a buffer on the mother only light pressure so if anyone else tries this post ur results and before and after pics using a buffer. Also if anyone has before and after pics of clearing the headlights please put them up since I have none. Also for best results when clearing the headlights wet sand with 2k grit and buff them out to remove any debri just as you would after painting a car. Hope this has helped some of you and these methods of course work with any cars so let's see your headlights go from yellow to clear again.