Headlight mod snafu... Little advice please!

So.. I got a new set of headlights and go figure ive already jacked them up! Im trying to do an HID Projector retro fit and well ive baked the headlights got them apart and everything. I have everything ready to go and then I look in one of the lenses on the inside i got some of the glue from the outside edge on it.. so.. thinking this should be a quick fix I grabbed some goo gone and now they look like total shit and i still havent gotten it all out.. Does anyone have any suggestions? Will this mess up the lenses or is it just a matter of getting the glue and googone residue out? Im trying to not be too harsh on them as i dont want to scratch them up but I have been using just a regular towel. Any help is appreciated!

 

i have the same problem, goo gone did'nt work?

 

try some fine rubbing compound....if that doesnt work....scuff the inside of the housing with a gray scratch pad....and clearcoat.....if you do not have access to a professional refinisher...DIY with a quality spraycan....may have to sand the affected area with some 600 grit sandpaper...clean very well...use a tackcloth before you spray the clear....even medium wet coats work best....three coats more than sufficent !!

 

be a good idea to cover exterior of lens with tape and paper

 

Goo gone and like products are very bad for the headlight plastic. It seriously will etch itself into the plastic. So whatever u do don't use any too gone type product on your lense just in case!!

 

what about trying one of those headlight repair kits? sand, buff, polish...

 

I completed the mod already but the issue that I can into is that the Googone had etched itself pretty deep into the lense that even with the repair kit it was going to be way to much work to make anything happen and would just end up damaging the lense even more or making it brittle. I went through the process with those 3m repair kits about 4 times and got nowhere but getting worse each time. Maybe its just me and im horrible at using the kit which is probably the truth. Either way, I just swapped my oem lense onto the new surrounds and did it quickly so my downtime on my truck was very minimal to a couple hours.

 

If you get glue on the inside of the lens, light heat will soften it so it can be removed. Use a heat gun on low heat and slowly heat the area so as not to distort the lens. The glue will soften, you can remove it and use an alcohol prep pad to remove any residue left by the glue.

 

mines is on the outside, would denatured alcohol work?

 

Oops, I had done the same thing. It is very difficult to get the plastic back to its previous condition. I had to use varying degrees of polish and my PC7424 DA polisher to get the lens to a usable condition but it took alot of work and it isn't perfect.

Unfortunately, I would recommend buying a new headlight.

 

Try wd40 first. I used it on jobsites all the time back when I did construction. It cuts grease and silicone equally well, and will not harm the plastic. You will have to clean up the wd40 residue, but thats the easy part. I found out the hard way that goof off will destroy plastic, although they do make goo gone 2, which is plastic safe, just impossible to find.

 

As a rule of thumb, and this goes for things that get on the paint or upholstery also, you want to use the weakest chemical you can that will still get the job done. I'm not sure if denatured alcohol is considered any more harsh than regular alcohol I used regular old isopropyl alcohol when I prepped the inside of my lens before closing it up. I used a t-shirt rag and very little alcohol just to get off any residues.