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Headlight restoration: Foggy/yellow Inside?

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Old 06-23-2011, 10:06 AM
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Default Headlight restoration: Foggy/yellow Inside?

I bought a 3m restoration kit yesterday (yeah yeah I could have just gotten the sand paper etc.) and went to my parents house. I sanded the headlights and got great results on the passenger side. I did the process twice on the driver side headlight but did not get the same results. When You look at the light you can tell the yellowing is gone on the outside. But there is still what appears to be a yellowish haze on the inside. Has anyone had this happen?

driver side before
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passenger side during sanding
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Passenger side done compared to untouched driver side
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passenger side done
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driver side done
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You can tell the driver side has all the yellowing gone in this photo though.
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Looks like the inside has yellowing and UV damage. Once again has anyone had this happen?
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Old 06-23-2011, 11:21 AM
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this shows the haze on the inside that I am talking about.

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remember this was sanded with 500, 800, wet sanded, then polished twice. Notice the top and bottom are clear on the lense.
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Old 06-23-2011, 11:34 AM
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Since the sun can easily get in and shine off those reflectors, there's no reason to not assume that the inside couldn't also weather and get yellowed at the same time as the outside. That's probably exactly what's happened.

For what it's worth, I use rubbing compound to do this. 3M fine cut. It works great. Then I finish with a rotary buffer (not the random orbital kind, the one that can eat through paint). You might consider taking the lights off the car if you want to use a buffer.
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Old 06-23-2011, 02:22 PM
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Some plastics used yellow or discolor from UV light, so no amount of sanding will solve the issue. Most Mfg's are now using a good grade of Polycarbonate
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Old 06-23-2011, 02:23 PM
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I've refinished a few lenses with the 3M kit, but never seen one hazed on the inside. Can you put the light in an oven to loosen the glue between the lens and the body, and pull it apart? I know that some lights can come apart that way.
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Old 06-23-2011, 02:29 PM
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Just leave it and pretend to be a LMGTe car. Brum brum
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Old 06-23-2011, 03:13 PM
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Maybe see if you can buy new lenses from Mazda?
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Old 06-23-2011, 08:08 PM
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Originally Posted by Oscar
Just leave it and pretend to be a LMGTe car. Brum brum
FTW
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Old 06-23-2011, 08:33 PM
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Originally Posted by Louis
Some plastics used yellow or discolor from UV light, so no amount of sanding will solve the issue. Most Mfg's are now using a good grade of Polycarbonate
this guy knows nothing about plastics.
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