Headlight restoration 32 N1

[Ningen Kaijin]

Looking for suggestions and tools/parts waxes etc on how to restore the glass inside and out for N1 headlights on my R32 GT-R right now I have them completely disassembled anything helps

[Rusty Nuts]

I have cleaned the cloudy film off of mine with (believe it or not) Repellex personal insect repellant from Aldi. I used an old tee-shirt that didn't shed fibres. applied the Repellex to the cloth not the headlight, kept the cloth wet and worked fast, then used a baby oil soaked cloth to keep the surface moist. Wiped off oil then polished the lens with plastic polish. You must polish the lens often with car wax or they get cloudy again quickly. Did this in a cool shaded place if they are hot the cloth sticks. Strange but true!!

 

[Rusty Nuts]

I am only guessing but the solvent in Repellex used as the propellent  would be what removes the film, usually this is ethanol or propanol. Hope that helps.

[Rusty Nuts]

Apparently there is an Aldi in Osaka.

[emts]

32's are Glass I believe unlike your plastic ones.

the plastic are a real PITA

glass holds up much better but cost more so car builders moved to them.

the 20yo headlights in my S14 are heaps better than the sub 10 yo ones in wife's Mazda.

 

but back on topic What's wrong with the headlights themselves is it scratched sandblasted chipped?

[Ningen Kaijin]

They seem to have gotten cloudy and can't see to well after I installed them wondering if there was anything I can do to fix them and yes they are glass has very small nicks in them but nothing too noticable

[emts]

glass will be much harder, you will still need to sand down then finish up with a Cerium Oxide glass polishing kit.

basiclly work your way down in Sandpaper to very fine, then polish with the Cerium,

 

it won't be quick or easy, but it is doable.

 

best write up I could find:

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e39-m5-e52-z8-discussion/143993-diy-fog-light-sanding-refinishing-pics.html

 

[niZmO_Man]

Did the glass have 'night shade' sprayed onto it or something? You can bake the headlight apart and clean up the glass.

[PranK]

Please post how you go, this would be really helpful to lots of R31 & R32 owners. 

[niZmO_Man]

4 hours ago, PranK said:

Please post how you go, this would be really helpful to lots of R31 & R32 owners. 

There are a couple of threads for retrofitting, but I'll create a thread on how to take headlights apart... Once I become un-lazy.

[GTSBoy]

99% of R32 headlights are perfectly clear.  Being glass, as mentioned above, they never get cloudy.

[GTSBoy]

Sandblasting is the only way that glass lenses get "cloudy". Polishing glass is a different kettle of fish to trying to get rid of UV damaged polycarbonate.

[niZmO_Man]

I'm pretty sure the picture has nightshade or some sort of paint/plastic over it. R32 glass is pretty robust.

[GTSBoy]

Wow. I posted in response to a slightly inane followup and that post is gone, leaving mine sitting there straight after my previous post.

Weird.

I am prompted to ask something.....are the N1 lenses perhaps plastic, not glass? You know, for lightness?

[niZmO_Man]

I doubt it, it's from 1989 CA18S R32s. I don't think they switched to plastic until the R33 era (which means S13, Cefiro etc are all glass?).

Someone care to clarify?

[Robzilla32]

My 1990 GT-R has glass N1 headlights

[Dandee]

A light buff can do the trick? Just gets tricky when the oxidation is in the inside