Bought 3M lens renewal kit
09-20-11, 08:21 AM
#16
The clear coating is a urethane film.
The urethane breaks down over time, or even some polish over run from panel polished can degrade it quicker.
You want to sand it completely off, the 3m kit is great, then re coat with a optical coating like Oligo Silane.
In Australia we have a product(kit) called Glassylite that contains Japanese formulated Oligo Silane for final coating.
There was also another product that i could not get anyone in the US to send to me, its a clear urethane spray can, that sets up in UV light or even out in the sun.
Ah thats right: http://www.renulite.com/
The urethane breaks down over time, or even some polish over run from panel polished can degrade it quicker.
You want to sand it completely off, the 3m kit is great, then re coat with a optical coating like Oligo Silane.
In Australia we have a product(kit) called Glassylite that contains Japanese formulated Oligo Silane for final coating.
There was also another product that i could not get anyone in the US to send to me, its a clear urethane spray can, that sets up in UV light or even out in the sun.
Ah thats right: http://www.renulite.com/
I have heard once you start sanding the lights, you have to do it on a regular basis. Mine are not that bad and I don't want to have to do them monthly or even quarterly.
09-20-11, 10:40 AM
#17
Pit Crew
Before:
Pretty cloudy. The South Florida sun really does a number on these.
After:
Conclusion: Much better than before, but still not perfect. There is still a little cloudiness, but I will live with that for now. I am also going to put on some blue magic headlight sealer which should keep it looking good. I will also probably do the process again in a few months when it is cooler here. It was a little bit of a pain. Took about 2 hours.
One other thing. On the 99LS that I had the lenses were almost mint, and it had 190k on it when I sold it. To my knowledge they were never done. I wonder if Lexus changed materials in those lenses after the 99 model year.
Pretty cloudy. The South Florida sun really does a number on these.
After:
Conclusion: Much better than before, but still not perfect. There is still a little cloudiness, but I will live with that for now. I am also going to put on some blue magic headlight sealer which should keep it looking good. I will also probably do the process again in a few months when it is cooler here. It was a little bit of a pain. Took about 2 hours.
One other thing. On the 99LS that I had the lenses were almost mint, and it had 190k on it when I sold it. To my knowledge they were never done. I wonder if Lexus changed materials in those lenses after the 99 model year.
09-22-11, 11:38 AM
#19
I don't see anywhere on the website that you can order the Renulite. I sent them an email but haven't heard back from them yet.
I have heard once you start sanding the lights, you have to do it on a regular basis. Mine are not that bad and I don't want to have to do them monthly or even quarterly.
I have heard once you start sanding the lights, you have to do it on a regular basis. Mine are not that bad and I don't want to have to do them monthly or even quarterly.
ReNulite does not sell to individuals. They only sell to businesses. This was unfortunate since I think a spray on urethane would work much better than a polish that has to be reapplied every few months just like wax.
09-23-11, 03:24 PM
#21
Driver
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Im sure there is someone on CL that could help out with this.... anyone know a detailer/ painter here on CL??
09-23-11, 08:29 PM
#22
Moderator
If you keep you car washed on a weekly basis and waxed a couple of times a year (including headlight lenses) and it is garaged you should never have yellowing/fogging of the exterior headlight lens. I usually keep my cars a minimum of 10 years and have never had a lens get yellow or fogged on exterior but my cars are always garaged (even during the work day most of the time) and I think that makes a huge difference. Cars left dirty for extended periods that are not garaged will almost always have fogged/yellowed lenses in just a few years. Exposure to pollution, temperature extremes, surface contaminants, and harsh UV light will do it.
09-24-11, 06:53 AM
#23
Lead Lap
This isn't the first discussion about plastic headlight lenses where I have noticed that people who live in more moderate climates (Texas, Hawaii!) think it's easy to keep plastic headlight lenses from deteriorating. Very funny, guys.
09-24-11, 04:05 PM
#24
If you keep you car washed on a weekly basis and waxed a couple of times a year (including headlight lenses) and it is garaged you should never have yellowing/fogging of the exterior headlight lens. I usually keep my cars a minimum of 10 years and have never had a lens get yellow or fogged on exterior but my cars are always garaged (even during the work day most of the time) and I think that makes a huge difference. Cars left dirty for extended periods that are not garaged will almost always have fogged/yellowed lenses in just a few years. Exposure to pollution, temperature extremes, surface contaminants, and harsh UV light will do it.
However, my 99 Saturn is the exception to this. It's been outside since 2003 and the headlights still look brand new
.
09-25-11, 03:19 PM
#25
Driver School Candidate
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i bought the 3m kit yesterday and did my headlights today. very impressed. altough i will say, mine were so bad anything would have been better lol. i also did my tailights to remove the tinting teh previous owener did.
before...
after...
tailights...
before...
after...
tailights...
09-26-11, 05:58 AM
#29
Moderator
Looks great, nice work!
... Need to polish again..