Basslicks

We all know there are several products that are great for restoring those milked up, fogged, sun-faded headlights housings on ZJs and WJs, but these products aren't free - some are expensive and sometimes you just don't have the money.

I'm here to offer a solution that I've been using since before the resto kits even came to be.

All you need is car wax, a wax applicator, a buffing cloth, and you.

I've used regular polish (clearcoat) wax as well as carnuba and have had similar results. The key thing is to make sure you buff it off fairly quickly after applying it. You can use an orbital polisher and buffer if you prefer.

Here's the before...

And the after.

And a comparison


Again, this is not as permanent as the kits you can buy, but it will get you buy for a while until you can afford one and you'll be much safer on the road.

baseman

and does this work on an older (93ZJ) with the lines in the lenses?

jnicewan

My cheap ol method was using mothers wheel/mag polish but justabout any type of polish will do, even toothpaste. If they are real bad you might want something a little more aggresive like a metal polish or a gritty buffing compound, then you can always do a final coat in regular wax.

These methods work on all plastic lenses but the older and more faded they are the less your results will be or you might have to repeat apllications 2-5 times. Some of the fading can be on the inside of the lens which you can do anything about.

Basslicks

It should work on any plastic lense. The first time I did this, it was accidental. I was waxing my dad's '88 Sierra and I accidentally got some wax on his faded tail light lenses... when I buffed the wax off, I noticed they weren't faded any more so I did the whole lense. I then did the same thing on my mom's '97 626 with the same results... I've been doing this ever since.

As long as the fading is on the outside of the lense, it shouldn't matter if it has lines (I'm assuming you're referring to the diffusion cross-hatching) or not. I had '99 buick and the fading was occurring on the inside of the lense... so the only solution was to get new lenses.

x2 on this...

if your fading is really bad, it's just like waxing a painted surface that is really dull... a couple of coats may be needed... I've also heard of some people using ajax to take out oxidation in paint which, I would think would be a similar effect of toothpaste.

If your lenses are really bad off though, some sanding will probably be needed.

Bustedback

40 bucks from www.rockauto.com for a new pair of headlamp housings.

Basslicks

not a bad price... but again, this is a fix for those who need to see out of their headlamps and don't currently have any cash, but most likely have wax and rags at their disposal

baseman

thanks for all the suggestions...I got lots of tooth paste so I'll try that first...but I might try the www.rockauto.com
as it is low cost...thanks guys

jnicewan

After buffing the lenses you can also hit them with a coat or two of clear coat spray. Most people dont do this but I have seen some look really good after doing it.

Basslicks

not a bad idea... but is the clear coat gonna stick to the lense with the wax on it?

freegdr

blue magic headlight cleaner and 2,000 or finer wet sand papers cheap and works good....jm2cw

Basslicks

Yup... work real great... if you have the money at the time.

purplegrocerygogetter

All this wax talk, is giving me the urge to go wax my jeeps! And try this on the p.g.g.!

freegdr

wax on... wax off... grasshopper

Basslicks

okay, i feel like a tard... p.g.g?

EDIT: - nevermind... purple grocery getter - i AM a tard

lol... now you're gettin it

purplegrocerygogetter

TING!