Headlight Lenses

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Ohiorudeboy

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I'm a new guy around here so forgive me if this seems deja vu. I have a 1994 Lincoln Mark VIII and my headlights are looking like yuk! What's a guy to do? It's a day time car until I figure this out because night driving :eek: it not safe. Any help?????
 
I registered just to reply to this.
It's very easy to gain a great improvement, it takes skil to get them perfect.

Any polishing compound (chrome polish for example) will yield results. Spend five minutes with that first.

Jewelrers rouge, toothpaste, VIM(comet) work to.

The point being it is a simple polishing routine, get to it.

I used 400 grit sandpaper once, then 600, then 800, then 1200(for a long time), then rubbing compound then polishing compound then rouge.

No rocket science here, just polishing, Feel and hear the smoothness.
(It can be done with power tools, but you need to understand what polishing "IS" first, the area is so small it makes no sense to use power tools to do your headlights unless you are doing the car at the same time which means you understand what polishing is so "carry on").

Think of it this way, glaciers 'polish the earth', it's the same thing. You can't smooth a mountain with a rag but using the right grit you can clean a headlight if you choose the correct grit. Crystal clear is just one grit away from foggy.

Without the proper grit at the right time it is a big effort. I can get mirror result in minutes with the whole grit range and a bit of practise on ANY material. Everybodylikes shine so it is a good thing to learn. Imagine polishing you Ipod to mirror (laquaur) white, that is very easy to do.
 
You can polish them all you want and it will help some but the problem isn't the lenses but the reflective backing that the Halogen lights have burned off.
 
Yikes, if the reflector is messed up that is bad, those surfaces are very precise, I have no experience correcting them. I have designed them but there is no general usage reason that they fail unless it was before the technique was perfected or the factory had a bad day. Believe it or not, that is REAL chrome on the reflector. Each facet on the reflector is calculated. Lots are calculated WRONG but there is intelligence and consideration behind the design of the reflective surface. This is called A surface. Not imperfect by the most trained naked eye. But the other part, the mathematical effect of the reflector has also been very high quality in concept since the move from sealed beam. It truely seems impossible to chrome headlight relectors but indeed that IS chromed plastic. So if someone you know can rechrome plastic that's cool. It can be done. For or us mortals, replacement is way cheaper.
 
Thanks for the input

Well I kinda figured that it was something I could do to fix this problem because I've seen this same thing on pontiac's and buick's, so sad to say it's not just a Lincoln problem. Well I'll try it out and tomorrow I'm going to play around with my camara and down size my photo's so I can post photo's.
 
sitka said:
Yikes, if the reflector is messed up that is bad, those surfaces are very precise, I have no experience correcting them. I have designed them but there is no general usage reason that they fail unless it was before the technique was perfected or the factory had a bad day. Believe it or not, that is REAL chrome on the reflector. Seems impossible, right? So if someone you know can rechrome plastic that's cool. It can be done. For or us mortals, replacement is way cheaper.
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I've had friend try and try to polish them.. the light get clean and shine better but not good.

You are correct the best solution are new lights or HIDs but this is costly.

eBay has new head lights from about $125 to $250...
 
If they are brown in color on the inside then its pretty much a waste of time. The other cars you see with faded hazey headlights can be polished out, The marks lights are burnt on the inside. I finally said enough and bought new ones from team ford for $400 bucks. It has been 6 months or so and no problems yet. I am also using HIR bulbs. Keep your auto light switch OFF as most of the marks will turn the lights on in the day. This helps to make them last. Good luck!
 
Ditto. New ones for about $400. You can't polish a turd. :P The Marks small housing seems to heat up fast and not dissipate the heat well. In the end they burn up or the reflective material burns off. HIR seems to extend the like of these. Putting a higher wattage lamp to compensate will make things worse, never go above stock wattage.
 
turborich said:
If they are brown in color on the inside then its pretty much a waste of time. The other cars you see with faded hazey headlights can be polished out, The marks lights are burnt on the inside. I finally said enough and bought new ones from team ford for $400 bucks. It has been 6 months or so and no problems yet. I am also using HIR bulbs. Keep your auto light switch OFF as most of the marks will turn the lights on in the day. This helps to make them last. Good luck!
Click to expand...
How do you like the HIR bulbs?
 
Save yourself alot of push ups and call Max at 5 Star and buy new replacement lights and be done with it. Consider these a maintance item from here on if you do a lot of night driving. HID's are always an option ,but they aren't cheap to do either and there have been some scarcity of parts as well.
 
my95mark8 said:
How do you like the HIR bulbs?
Click to expand...
They produce a whiter brighter light than the halogens did. They work great with the new lenses. I like them!
 
Give me the info

Ok, someone give me the info on where I can get new lights. I guess I'll go ahead and come up off of the 400.00 and keep my headlight switch off until I need lights the car is garage kept so hopefully this will help. So I need a link or phone number. Brrr it's so cold here in Ohio today (17 degrees) Guess I'll be driving the truck today.
 
Well you have Maxx at 5 Star who will give you a great deal being an LvC member. Use the like at the right of the screen.

Or you can always find them on eBay... I would look for the New ones not the used ones as you already know what the used ones are like. LOL.....
 
Now that's what I call service!!!!!

I can see now that I will never own another muscle car, you guys are just hookin me up on this car. I am so impressed. Thanks for all the help and replying to the post with fast and accurate info. I can't wait to meet you folks and look at your cars. It's so nice to be involved with people who share the same passion about cars.
 
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