Very ingenious on your part Heima. Do you think I can get the lumin-x in a midnight blue to match my C4S?

Philooo, your car looks amazing...nice touch making the cut smaller.

 

Lamin-x has 4 color options, if you go to their web you can check them out. They do have a blue.

 

damn Phil - your car looks great!

 

BAd news after removing the tinted film from my headlight, because they started to peel a bit from the side.

I see that the film must have had a bad interaction with the headlight lens and accelerated the wear.

I had the film everywhere except the center of the main projector, and I can see a clear difference of wear between the two.

Strangely it is not the usual fogged lens type of damage but instead mini cracks. I wonder if those will buff right out... doesn't look like it

any input on what to do next ?

 

You could come with me Phil and bang your head against this wall. It may help...... God dammit. That sucks.

 

I don't get the try to hide the head light thing. I think it's ugly. Do a front end conversion if you want 60's lights.

 

Oh damn...that sucks dude. Maybe one of those headlight polishing places can buff that down to clearer plastic.

 

That definitely sucks. I would try polishing a small spot with some fine polish and a dremel buffer (just a small test area) to see if the defects are removable.

Keep us updated and good luck!

 

Are you sure those micro cracks aren't adhesive remnants?

 

Almost looks like it froze overnight w/ crystals - but not likely in Miami...they might polish right out.

 

Was that caused by Laminex headlight film, or was it another brand?

 

I bought my tinted headlight film on ..ebay.. yes I know ...
So I don't know the brand of the film.

The headlight plastic is soft to the touch, even where the scratch appear, so it seems a bit deep in the plastic. I'll try some buffing but I don't think it will come off.

 

I would try the 3M lens polishing kit (can find them online also walmart carries) - to see if they come out.
Spend a little more time with the early grit polishes.
I would remove the headlights from car to make it easier - good luck.

 

could it be that those cracks are from the heat used to apply the tint???
i had body work done on the fender of another car i owned and the shop did not remove the headlight when baking on the new paint and it look very similar to this.

 

That's some very interesting pattern, especially the longer ones in pix 1 & 3.

Years ago I applied some temporary low tack adhesive film to the leading edge of the bumper on my car before installing the removable vinyl bra, the intent was to prevent scuffing between the underside of the vinyle bra and the paint on the hood.

Within two years the film deterioated to the point it dried out and fused into the clearcoat of the paint....., I had to have the hood repainted.

It's possible the eBay tint film you used reacted with the plastic of the headlight housing, before you give up on them, it's possible some good old fashion elbow grease with multiple grade of sandpaper can remove enough of that mess before polishing the surface to as-new condition.

I guess we've got to remember the tint film is usually attached to glass surface which is pretty inert and will not react chemically with the adhesive.

If you do sand and polish, then you should use Xpel or Lamin-X film to protect the surface from UV yellowing, although it would be tough to get the same look you had before, unless you either apply two layers (clear than tint), or apply the clear, mask it, and then use one of the spray tint to get the same effect.