Ryan_U

Hi Guys,

My clear rear turn signals were crazed, hazed and dazed when I bought the car. I decided to go at them with different grades of sand paper and see if I could make them a little nicer. Finished it off with wipe of 50/50 uv varnish. They look amazing now. What do you guys think? Better before or after ?

dillon410021

Beautiful. I want some

Will Feather

Who still makes the clear rear turns?

Ryan_U

Here is a side by side... Sorry the pic is a little blurry. Camera phone sucks but you still get an idea of how bad the damage was. These lenses were I beleive are 3-4 years old and I have no idea who the vendor was but they did not hold up very well. When I sanded them, the plastic was very soft and could be scratched with your nail. I added a coat of Miniwax Helmsman Spar Urethane mixed 1:1 with mineral spirits. I have researched on this and it seems that this adds UV protection for about 2 years in direct Arizona sun so it should last up here in Canada. My car is garaged too so that will help.

Ryan_U

Hooked On Cars still sells them I think. They are a forum sponsor I beleive.

http://marketplaceadvisor.channeladv...96&i=232118507

I don't think mine came from HOC though. I bought the car last fall with the lenses on already and I have no receipts for the lenses.

Triple_T

Try this link...http://www.marketworks.com/StoreFron...96&i=232118507 These and the clear fronts are on my to-do list.

Crazy Eddie

Great job ... unreal ...

ausgeflippt951

Looks great!

I have similar lenses; prob same vendor. And they also degraded in the AZ sun!

I sanded em and polished em and they also look much better. I then threw a little clear coat on them. They've been holding up well...but truth be told the car has been in the garage on jack stands much more often than it's been outside anymore!

Rob, it's just a different polymer. The degradation is a polymerizing reaction causing the polymers to form a crystal structure in the presence of UV/heat. Not sure what the material is, but I'm sure it's some crappy Chinese variant of the good stuff the rest of the lights used.

Hell, our '05 BMW is experiencing the same phenomenon with its headlights.

drift a 944

Hey Ryan, awesome job on restoring those.

I have the same set on my car, and they look even worse than yours did! It's really been bugging me. What exactly was your step-by-step process? What grit did you finish off with?

Crazy Eddie

I had bought clear turn signal lenses so long ago, that they had to be glued on to your existing stock make light bodies ...
I just finished the 2nd set a week or so ago. I had done the fronts a few yrs ago ... They came out great...
I went to a place out here in CA called TAP plastics and they sold me a industrial strength glue called UV 6800 clear ..
The stuff is awesome, .. it dries crystal clear and remains flexible and I believe its UV resistant (hence the name)
Regards
Ed

Crazy Eddie

Here it is

reno808

Eddie what do you recommend for polishing up your taillights?

Crazy Eddie

Bud I never did that ..
I don't have those rear clear lens inserts...
I would guess that the kits they sell for polishing cloudy front headlight lenses should work.. but can't tell you for sure, as I have never done them .. ?
Seems that Ryan has it down

Grandpa#3

There are several DIY on You Tube on how to clear the headlights. you could use the same on the tail lights as well.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...43148975,d.eWU

Cheers,
Larry

Ryan_U

To polish the lenses I started with 150 grit because they were in very bad shape. Then I went up to 220, 600 wet, 800 wet, 1000 wet, 2000 wet. The grades of sandpaper depend on the condition and how much effort how want to put in. I then added two coats of a 50/50 mineral spirit and Minwax clear and glossy Spar urethane. NO need to polish any further than the 2000 because the urethane coat clears it up. I did all the sanding by hand but some use power tools. I also taped up the surrounding lenses with two layers of masking tape to avoid scratching the other lenses. I used Meguire m105 to polish the other lenses after and it gave them a nice shine.

The plastic was very soft and had a tendency to clump up so I had a spray bottle of water handy to wash away the residue. Some people recommended an IPA wipe before the varnish but it attacked the plastic too aggressively in my case so I wiped it down with mineral spirits. I used a folded blue scott towel to wipe on the varnish. You need to sand between coats of varnish.