96 Caravan Headlites,,,Covers are YELLOW !

My wife drives a 96 Grand Caravan...which now has 160,000 or so miles on it...Van still runs just fine and looks fine....HOWEVER the plastic headlight enclosers are now foggy and yellow... Not nice and clear... Just looks bad..

I think I would have to buy a new complete headlight assembly to fix them....not really sure ...but a quick search last evening showed these things cost more then 200 bucks. each... way too much to spend on a 9 yr old vehicle with all those miles...

Any solutions? Tried using Nexus Plastic polish..which is used to clear scratches in aircraft windshields etc...with little luck...

Thanks Bob Griffiths .

Reply to
Bob G.
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One of my co-workers has one of these vans with the same problem. He went out and use acetone on them and made a huge improvement. I don't know where he got the idea of using acetone, but it seems to have worked well for him.

Reply to
John Smith

The polish creams only work on very light scratches and the spray can stuff like Plexus is not much more than a cleaning product. They are intended for daily cleaning and polishing so they can't be very abrasive. I've used Micro-Mesh kits to remove heavy scratches on acrylic aircraft canopies with great results. We had a young airman who once decided to scrape the frost off of a stretched acrylic canopy with the metal polish can. It took him a while to realize that he was destroying the canopy finish. The Micro Mesh cleaned up all of the damage from that fiasco. Micro Mesh makes an automotive headlight kit that I suspect will work very well.

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've never heard of anyone using acetone until now. I haven't tried it but I heard mag wheel polish works too so it might be worth trying first.

Reply to
Nosey

Try ebay, I saw some new ones on there for around $150 for a pair.

Reply to
b.clausen

ive seen people sand the lens and spray some sort of acrylic over the lens. dont know exactly what they used but the result was a nearly crystal clear lens.

Reply to
Christopher Thompson

Thanks.... to everyone

I went out today and used 1500 grit sand paper (wet/dry) on them followed by Nexes No 1 paste then Nexes No 2 paste.... Actually worked rather well...(on the outside...)..

Now if I can find a way to get at the inside surface ....

Bob Griffiths

Reply to
Bob G.

Had the same problem with my 96 Ram diesel. My parts dude, talked me into some Head Light Resurfacer/Restorer stuff made by Symtech Corp. Cost $50 CDN. They say - 3 easy steps and less than 5 minutes to do. I agree with the 3 easy steps but more like 10-15 minutes a light. Worked great, they are now as clear as the side lights. They have a web site

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The insides of the lights are good. Good luck, and no I'm not an agent or anything of the company, just a retired diesel driver. LJB

Reply to
LJB

Yes, I may be crazy, but try Colgate toothpaste in the bottle.

I used it and now I can actually see the lightbulb inside the holder!

The next night trip I took, I could really tell the difference/

Reply to
DW

I have personally used the Micro-Mesh with great results. I recommend it, but you will have to take some time and elbow grease to get them shining. That micro-mesh works on plastic car models or anything else that needs to be shined or scratches removed. Would not recommend to use it on Eye Glasses, Watch Crystals, or window glass, but works good on most everything else.

Reply to
Wulfdog

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