how to remove yellow headlight haze

[Buellwinkle]

I've polished a lot of plastic as I used to do a lot of polyester finish repair on pianos and polished keytops. What I used is my faithful Makita rotary but instead of using the flat part of a foam or wool pad like you would use on a large flat paint finish, I used the edge of a loose 10" cotton wheel (it looks like a metal polishing wheel but those are stiched, for plastic polishing they are loose or unstiched) and plastic rouge. You have to move quickly as the slightest heat build up can distort/melt the plastic and set the rotary buffer at the slowest settings. You will be amazed as to what that can do. For those that already have a rotary this is a small investment (about $10 for a good wheel and rogue is also cheap). Here's what the wheels look like -



Here's what the rouge looks like -

[Tim Lingor]

Hey Buellwinkle

Thanks for the tip!

I know the green rouge is for stainless, the jewelers rouge--silver/gold, etc... Which bar do you use for plastic?

Tim

[Buellwinkle]

Blue is recomended for polishing plastic. I would use white for cutting. Like Mike always says, use the least aggresive material that will do the job. Just like a bench mounted buffing machine, you dress the wheel with rouge and then polish lightly, let the rouge do the work. Like any buffing pad, use a different pad with different rouges.

I get my stuff from piano parts supply houses but here's a place on the net that has fairly inexpensive pads (I think they were 2 for $11).

http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/index.html

[Tim Lingor]

Hey,

Again, thanks for the tip. I will have to try that out!!

Tim

[FlaresideLariat]

Here's a tip that might save you some money.

If you have a PC, take some of your polish (Or maybe even PlastX) onto your polishing pad and polish your lights. My lights haven't got that yellow haze but it makes them clearer.

[JeepZJlover]

i just recently got an idea on how to restore the clear crud [edited for langauge] on the head light and whatever little scratches i put in it filled i went and got deft wood finish with a brush and just aplied it to the lights its been on there for about 2 months now or whenever i started this post i had gotten this idea off the jeep forums that i love so much. Im sure your thinking im nuts but it really works very well.