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By BobLevine, September 20, 2006

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My 03 Corolla's driver's headlamp was looking very worse for wear. The other side was changed a couple of years ago on warranty for leakage.

Tried wet sanding and another brand of plastic polish. Not too bad results but started to weather again.

Used Meguiar's Plastx without wet sanding and the headlamp is very close to new appearance. No hard rubbing needed.

New headlamp was about $200 + labor. Plastx cost $6.44 + tax at Advance Auto.

Product delivers as advertised.

Bikeman982

My 03 Corolla's driver's headlamp was looking very worse for wear. The other side was changed a couple of years ago on warranty for leakage.

Tried wet sanding and another brand of plastic polish. Not too bad results but started to weather again.

Used Meguiar's Plastx without wet sanding and the headlamp is very close to new appearance. No hard rubbing needed.

New headlamp was about $200 + labor. Plastx cost $6.44 + tax at Advance Auto.

Product delivers as advertised.

 

Will it work for my 7th generation headlights??

Mine are plastic and looking very yellowed.

Where is it available??

Should work for any plastic lens.

See comments on meguiars.com. You can order there too if you can't find it locally.

One person mentioned PepBoys. If you live near the home of Manny, Moe & Jack, they may have it. Got mine at Advance Auto in raleigh, NC.

Other product I tried before was gritty and messy to use. Plastx is the opposite. Easy to apply, leaves no residue after wiping.

Also used it on instrument panel lens to remove light scratches.

Go Meguiars!

[

Will it work for my 7th generation headlights??

Mine are plastic and looking very yellowed.

Where is it available??

 

I have seen Meguiar's Products in the target...If there is no auto store nearby...

Max

Plast-X isn't too readily available in many stores here, even auto parts stores. Ordering direct from Meguiar's online is a good idea, and these guys are good, too:

www.superiorcarcare.net/megprod.html

Does the yellowing of plastic headlamp lenses reduce light transmission from the bulbs? If so, by how much?

Some Fords fail safety inspection because of yellowing.

Reduction in light output depends on degree of cloudiness in a particular lens.

NHTSA should start recalling these crap lenses on all makes to get something done. The old glass sealed beams were available in halogen and were dirt cheap to replace. When you changed one, you got a new bulb, lens, and reflector.

Styling won over functionality. sealed beams had been mandatory since the 1940's. Progress??

Bikeman982

[

Will it work for my 7th generation headlights??

Mine are plastic and looking very yellowed.

Where is it available??

 

I have seen Meguiar's Products in the target...If there is no auto store nearby...

I have Kragens around the corner and AutoZone down the street. There is also a Target in town.

I will check in those places first and if not available I can get it online.

My AutoZone had another plastic polishing product - not Plastx.

Did some good but was gritty and far inferior to Plastx.

Better to order online if you can't find the real Plastx. Shipping in my case was quoted as $3.95 and Meguiar's charges tax based on your county & state.

I have used Plastx and didnt help one bit for my headlight covers default_sad. It's all foggy and has this "film" on it. Pretty gross. Does anybody else have this issue and what is it? Maybe its the carwash soap/wax stripping the plastic?

You might have to wet-sand the headlamp cover first to cut off all the oxidation, junk, and remove slight imperfections then polish it out (Mother's Powerball works get on this).

I've never tried this, but the host of a radio call-in show on car repairs said that Brasso will get rid of the cloudiness on the plasic lens covers. Anybody else heard this?

When mine was really bad, I did wet sand it with 1000 grit.

That might have helped the Plastx, but the sanding alone didn't produce a good result.

Thanks for the tip. I'll try wetsanding and then using Plastx on it. Makes sense in a way, you get rid of the film, then you polish it.

After the 1000, you might try even a finer grit for a final sanding.

Looked at mine just now in strong sun. Not exactly perfect but WAY better than before. I was pricing a new lens at 1sttoyotaparts and really didn't think the repair should cost that much.

The yellow reflector built into the lens was really dull before. Now it stands out like new.

The few blemishes on the clear part appear to be film from inside. Unfortunately, no way to get inside w/o breaking the water seal.

Bikeman982

I ordered two 10 oz bottles from online from an e-Bay seller. It came to $16 for me which includes shipping and handling.

I will give it a try on my yellowed plastic headlights.

Sounds like you got a good deal. Hope it works.

I used Plastx yesterday to get rid of a minor scratch on the clock face. Took it off great.

Good luck.

If you have heavy pitting from sand etc you'll have to also wet sand. Sounds like Plastx is a great product. I have it on my list and will use on a regular basis to keep the headlights performing well.

Here's how I did my 95 Corolla and 96 Voyager minivan.....

Jay in MA

====

1. When wet sanding, dip the paper in clean water often. You can also re-wet the lenses during the sanding process using a spray bottle.

2. Using straight horizontal strokes, wet sand the lenses with 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper to remove all deep pitting and even out the lens surface. If you have heavy pitting or severe clouding/yellowing, start with 240 grit. It will save you a lot of time and elbow grease. This phase is complete when all of the deep scratches and pits are removed. They should be very hazy at this point but consistently hazy.

3. Follow up using the same process but graduating through 600, 800, 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit paper. Depending on availability, you can skip some of the grits but it might require more sanding with the grits that you choose. They should be looking good now...shiny when wet but very hazy when dry.

4. Using a fine rubbing compound, buff the lenses to a nice smooth finish. Buff again with plastic polish following the instructions that come with the product. Meguire's PlastX and Novus will work well to polish them to a like new appearance. Try to use a polishing product that contains a UV protective finish.

5. I finished mine off with a coat of the Gel Coat product and was very pleased with the results.

I ordered two 10 oz bottles from online from an e-Bay seller. It came to $16 for me which includes shipping and handling.I will give it a try on my yellowed plastic headlights.

Bikeman982

If you have heavy pitting from sand etc you'll have to also wet sand. Sounds like Plastx is a great product. I have it on my list and will use on a regular basis to keep the headlights performing well.

Here's how I did my 95 Corolla and 96 Voyager minivan.....

Jay in MA

====

1. When wet sanding, dip the paper in clean water often. You can also re-wet the lenses during the sanding process using a spray bottle.

2. Using straight horizontal strokes, wet sand the lenses with 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper to remove all deep pitting and even out the lens surface. If you have heavy pitting or severe clouding/yellowing, start with 240 grit. It will save you a lot of time and elbow grease. This phase is complete when all of the deep scratches and pits are removed. They should be very hazy at this point but consistently hazy.

3. Follow up using the same process but graduating through 600, 800, 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit paper. Depending on availability, you can skip some of the grits but it might require more sanding with the grits that you choose. They should be looking good now...shiny when wet but very hazy when dry.

4. Using a fine rubbing compound, buff the lenses to a nice smooth finish. Buff again with plastic polish following the instructions that come with the product. Meguire's PlastX and Novus will work well to polish them to a like new appearance. Try to use a polishing product that contains a UV protective finish.

5. I finished mine off with a coat of the Gel Coat product and was very pleased with the results.

I ordered two 10 oz bottles from online from an e-Bay seller. It came to $16 for me which includes shipping and handling.

I will give it a try on my yellowed plastic headlights.

What grit sandpaper did you use??

Did you know that I lived in Hull and went to SSVTHS?? My first job was at Electro Switch in Weymouth.

I also worked at Norfolk Conveyor in Cohasset.

I would NOT recommend Plastx. It did remove the yellowing stain from the lenses. However, it left fine scratches that were not there prior to using the product. The scratches are noticable in bright sunlight.

I found Plastx similar to what one would describe as an "average product." It was okay, but I would not recommend it.

There must be a better product for removing the yellowing stain that accumulates on the headlight lenses.

Bikeman982

The Plastx removed most of the yellowing from my headlights, but not all of it. It was an improvement, but I would think new headlights would be a lot clearer.

I wet sanded before using Plastx.

Not perfect, but very big improvement. New light is over $200 at dealer and might just scratch the same way from dust.

After using Plastx, I lightly coated with ArmorAll. No need to replace at all now.

8th Gen headlamp lens seem to have the oxidation problem. I never had it with my 7th gen. Anyway, I used the method described here to remove the oxidation damage. Starting with 400 grit wet/dry and moving up to 1600 grit, then finished by using rubbing compound. Lenses 100% better. I didn't use anything else. I know i took some before & after pics, just cant find them now.

Cool, thanks for the heads up. Ill have to try it out. My headlights arent even too badly yellowed, for a 94, but ill do it anyway.

Bikeman982

Cool, thanks for the heads up. Ill have to try it out. My headlights arent even too badly yellowed, for a 94, but ill do it anyway.
I used it on my 1994 and it improved it, but only on a temporary basis.

 

I think I will have to use the sandpaper to make it more permanent.



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