Question about headlight and rim.

[KHIEM]

my rolla is a 05 one. I think my headlight protectors (the plastic part of the headlight) are quite blurry.... that means when u look into the "eyes" of my car, it's not very clear. I think its because of some scratches by some reasons from the previous owner. I think my question makes sense :D.

second question is: My alloys are sliver, can I get it panted black (glossy and beautiful black)? Can I paint my brake red too? Is it easy to paint rims? How much does that cost and where can I have that done?

Cheers.

[SQU-47N]

depending on how bad your headlights are, some one told me you can buff them..not to sure tho as i havent done this...take your wheels to a smash repair shop to get them sprayed and just grab some high temp brake paint and wax and grease removed to paint your brakes...all pretty simple

[KHIEM]

depending on how bad your headlights are, some one told me you can buff them..not to sure tho as i havent done this...take your wheels to a smash repair shop to get them sprayed and just grab some high temp brake paint and wax and grease removed to paint your brakes...all pretty simple

The headlights are not really bad, it is just not as clear as a normal 05-rolla, looks blurry hence depreciate my car :(. Can we just buy and change the plastic thing? not a whole headlight.

If they spray my rims, how much that gonna cost me? how bout the quality of that? Does it look glossy and shinny as if a real black rim?

Thanks for your advice,

[KHIEM]

any1 has a clue on this :(.

If I want to buff the headlight, then where can i get it done and how much apprx it would cost me? :(

Cheers

:(

[TRDYUS]

If you want to change the colour of your wheels, best bet would be to get them powder coated.

This way it lasts longer and will not peel off easily.

You can take off the headlight protectors.

Edited September 24, 2008 by TRDYUS

[KHIEM]

If you want to change the colour of your wheels, best bet would be to get them powder coated.

This way it lasts longer and will not peel off easily.

You can take off the headlight protectors.

Hi,

Thanks for the advice,

What do u mean by "take off the headlight protectors"??? :(. So we take if off and what do we do next? or change a new one?

Thanks for that

[SQU-47N]

Post up some pics of what you mean bud...will make it easier for us to no what you mean haha

[KRS71N]

my rolla is a 05 one. I think my headlight protectors (the plastic part of the headlight) are quite blurry.... that means when u look into the "eyes" of my car, it's not very clear. I think its because of some scratches by some reasons from the previous owner. I think my question makes sense :D.

second question is: My alloys are sliver, can I get it panted black (glossy and beautiful black)? Can I paint my brake red too? Is it easy to paint rims? How much does that cost and where can I have that done?

Cheers.

hi!!! try this one, use metal polished and apply to a small portion (mainly on the sides of the headlight just for a try-out), i've tried it on my headlights and seems to get the blemishes or scratches off a bit, making it look better, and a bit clearer........

cheers!!!

jermaine

[KHIEM]

getting worse :(....

I went to SuperCheap Auto (auto store) near my house to purchase a Headlight restoration kit this morning. I forgot the name of the kit, but it has several sand paper (with different number/level on it, depends on how bad are the headlight). I choose the lightest one to start with. I did exactly as the instruction... but after I finished my headlight (left one) just looked very terible :(. Becasue this medthod use sandpaper, so my headlight had more scratches after doing this :(.... I tried to apply the polish in the kit as the instruction told me to do so, but it didnt look any better :(.

Do you guys thing the normal Car repairer or any thing like that will know how to buff headlight or anything to rescue my situation :(... it just looks worse than before I started :(....

Here's the picture, I captured by my phone, the cloudiness of my headlight cannt be seen very clearly though :(

thanks for helping guys :(

[KHIEM]

anyone knows where should I get my headlight restored?

Please help

Thanks in advance

[Jay.]

a car detailer might be able to help you

[Kenneth.]

I believe our headlights have a UV protection coating on it. Once you buff through it, it will always end up like that after a period of time. You'll need to continuously rebuff it all the time. LOL

But if you want to buff it, try autosol. =)

[JJCRU23R]

did you follow the instructions exactly?

i read somewhere a while back that you are meant to wet the sandpaper... not just use it dry. check the back of your sandpaper.. is it wet/dry?

[KHIEM]

did you follow the instructions exactly?

i read somewhere a while back that you are meant to wet the sandpaper... not just use it dry. check the back of your sandpaper.. is it wet/dry?

Thanks guys for your answer.

Yes, it is wet sandpaper, so we need to soak that into water before sanding and I did it, i soaked in water for about 10 munutes (exactly as what they say in the instruction).

If the first time I sand horizontally, the second time (using finer sand paper) I need to sand in a different way, vertically. It says the second sand should remove all the scratches from the first time, which return the headlight clear and beautiful. But After doing all of that, it looks worse :(.

To KT668: Thanks for yoru answer. If i get my car buffed, u think I should do it in a regular basis? that's quite sad for me :(. How long between each buff do you think? But then why can't we put the UV protection on it after buffing?

How much does it cost do u think? I can't find a store called Autosol like u said, do u know where? Can i just bring it to a normal Crashrepairer or a general car repairer? Do they do this kind of thing?

Thanks all

[Kenneth.]

To KT668: Thanks for yoru answer. If i get my car buffed, u think I should do it in a regular basis? that's quite sad for me :(. How long between each buff do you think? But then why can't we put the UV protection on it after buffing?

How much does it cost do u think? I can't find a store called Autosol like u said, do u know where? Can i just bring it to a normal Crashrepairer or a general car repairer? Do they do this kind of thing?

Autosol is a metal polish, you can pick up a tube from your local Repco store. You polish it just like you would polish a car's body. And just re-apply the process once you find that the headlights are yellowing or fogging up agains.

I'm not sure if the UV protection can be added on again. But I think that is what keeps our headlights from yellowing in the first place.

Autosol, magical stuff mate! =D

[KHIEM]

To KT668: Thanks for yoru answer. If i get my car buffed, u think I should do it in a regular basis? that's quite sad for me :(. How long between each buff do you think? But then why can't we put the UV protection on it after buffing?

How much does it cost do u think? I can't find a store called Autosol like u said, do u know where? Can i just bring it to a normal Crashrepairer or a general car repairer? Do they do this kind of thing?

Autosol is a metal polish, you can pick up a tube from your local Repco store. You polish it just like you would polish a car's body. And just re-apply the process once you find that the headlights are yellowing or fogging up agains.

I'm not sure if the UV protection can be added on again. But I think that is what keeps our headlights from yellowing in the first place.

Autosol, magical stuff mate! =D

Thanks mate,

But what if the headlight has scratches on it (because of those damn sandpaper), will the polish still work? Cos physically, the surface of the headlight is damaged so i affraid that autosol won't work :)

[Blind Kid Seeks]

To KT668: Thanks for yoru answer. If i get my car buffed, u think I should do it in a regular basis? that's quite sad for me :(. How long between each buff do you think? But then why can't we put the UV protection on it after buffing?

How much does it cost do u think? I can't find a store called Autosol like u said, do u know where? Can i just bring it to a normal Crashrepairer or a general car repairer? Do they do this kind of thing?

Autosol is a metal polish, you can pick up a tube from your local Repco store. You polish it just like you would polish a car's body. And just re-apply the process once you find that the headlights are yellowing or fogging up agains.

I'm not sure if the UV protection can be added on again. But I think that is what keeps our headlights from yellowing in the first place.

Autosol, magical stuff mate! =D

Thanks mate,

But what if the headlight has scratches on it (because of those damn sandpaper), will the polish still work? Cos physically, the surface of the headlight is damaged so i affraid that autosol won't work :)

who reccomended to use SAND PAPER on a plastic surface.

your headlight is now ruined.

buy yourself some new headlights.

[Kenneth.]

The autosol will polish away the scratches left from the sandpaper. Just keep buffing it in circles using autosol and a clean cloth. Unless they are really bad deep scratches? Wet sanding should leave very fine scratches.

[KHIEM]

The autosol will polish away the scratches left from the sandpaper. Just keep buffing it in circles using autosol and a clean cloth. Unless they are really bad deep scratches? Wet sanding should leave very fine scratches.

Yea, i used the finest sand paper to sand and i think the scratches are really fine, not huge and deep scratches (I hope). I'll go and buy autosol tomorrow and try immediately, hopes that save my headlight. Thanks for that :(...

The instruction in the Headlight restoration kid tell me to use its wet sand paper to sand the headlight to restore it :(...

[JJCRU23R]

who reccomended to use SAND PAPER on a plastic surface.

your headlight is now ruined.

buy yourself some new headlights.

sounds a bit harsh?

anyhoo, i found the pdf that had info on polishing the tail lights. (i know, your talking bout headlights here, but im assuming its the same difference when it comes to this stuff).

im cutting and pasting as much of the article as i can.. hope this helps you out.

article starts now:

------------------------------------------

If you have ever polished a car and mistakenly applied some polish on your taillights or indicators, you may have noticed some dry white residue caught in the raised lettering on the plastics. Here is how to stop that from happening ever again and make your car’s overall appearance smoother and cleaner.

STEP 1

Start by removing the selected light assemblies. You could theoretically do it on the car, but the risk of sanding your paint is too high.

STEP 2

Most indicators should have two screws, or just clip out. Apply some masking tape to the body near the clip out indicators to protect the body.

STEP 3

Taillight assemblies are more difficult; after disconnecting the wiring, there is a combination of bolts and clips to remove.

STEP 4

Once you have all the parts off, begin sanding. Use 400 grit wet and dry sand paper with lots of water and light pressure on the raised lettering. Don’t worry about the scratches on the lenses, the next steps will remove them.

STEP 5

sing 2000 grit wet and dry, sand each lens again as this will remove the 400 grit marks. Make sure you spend more time here than you did with the 400 grit as it is imperative you remove as much of the scratches as possible.

STEP 6

Using some metal polish, buff the lenses to remove most of the scratches, take your time in doing so to remove all the scratches.

STEP 7

Follow the metal polish with Meguiar’s PlastX polish, this adds the final shine to the lenses.

STEP 8

Refit all the lights and lenses in the same way you removed them, connect all wiring and test that they work.

ASSESSMENT

Shaving off the moulded lettering in your taillights and indicators is achievable and easy to perform by anyone. All ten lights and reflectors on our MX5 took around an hour to sand and polish. The smooth appearance is quite noticeable and although you wouldn’t think so, it significantly adds to a cleaner and sleeker look.

what you need

400 grit wet and dry sandpaper

2000 grit wet and dry sand paper

Sanding block

Metal polish

Plastic polish

quick contact

Automotive colour and equipment

Head office: 66 marigold st Revesby NSW 2212

elephone (02) 97711600

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

im guessing this information came from "automotive colour and equipment". the PDF i got looks like it come out of a hot4s or autosalon mag or something. i wanted to post up the PDF coz it has pics but photobucket cant upload pdfs when i tried it.

hope this information helps.... the advice is not that much dissimilar to what others have suggested anyways so give it a go!

i was keeping this info for the day i get off my ***** to polish off the scratches i made on my headlights.

anyhoo, good luck.

[¥uri]

i thought you actually had "headlight protectors" that cover the whole glass housing.. its a completely separate product where its attached by screws (if it were genuine Toyota Parts) but you obviously dont :(

if its value your after, might as well source some replacement headlights in perfect working condition from the wreckers.. they're not cheap tho, so i see why you want to keep costs to a minimum..

[KHIEM]

J_J: yea, that sounds really harsh and scary to me :(. Thanks for your tutorial too, i am so so scared by the sandpaper right now so not sure if i m still brave to use them again :(... but i'll try..

Yuro: Thanks mate, i'll try the wrecker if the cost for buffing them is really high

But do you guys think a normal car repairer (like Crashrepair) can do this job? will it gonna be low price?

Thanks mate

[Kenneth.]

Headlights which are buffed will never look the same as the original one. A panel beater can perform this, but i'm not sure of the costs involved. You're probably better off using autosol and polishing it yourself.

There is a guide on using Autosol to restore headlights on ozhonda. I'll go find it and post the link here.

edit - here you go, here.

Edited October 7, 2008 by KT668

[JJCRU23R]

the 2000 grit is a really fine sandpaper which actually feels really smooth when its wet... hardly any friction which explains why you'd use it to smooth the surface and get rid off the visable scratches.

shouldnt worry too much coz your headlights still function! dont buy new headlights! the plastic is pretty strong and thick, so something like sandpaper isnt going to destroy it. just gotta keep sanding it down and eventually it should smooth out.

and dont sound too down about it.. having the wrong attitude when you are doing DIY repairs leads to a lot of work being undone.

YOU CAN DO IT!

[KHIEM]

Headlights which are buffed will never look the same as the original one. A panel beater can perform this, but i'm not sure of the costs involved. You're probably better off using autosol and polishing it yourself.

There is a guide on using Autosol to restore headlights on ozhonda. I'll go find it and post the link here.

edit - here you go, here.

Yea, i think so J_J

Thank KT668, i have just bought a tube of Autosol and it works for me :). The headlights look just light new, shiny and perfectly clear. I have 2 photos here:

All the scratches just disappear return a brand new look.

However, I have a question: will it be this look forever? esp. after car wash, where water and detegernt gonna wash the autosol out? Does autosol really remove all the scrathces and dirt, or it just makes them become invisible, so that we can see our stuff nice and beautiful?

Thanks everyone

Edited October 8, 2008 by KHIEM