legacycentral bbs

Just thought some of you would like to see how badly the yellowing affects the pattern of the lights. These pics are of my ’91 SS lights against the shop door, first with only the drivers side cleared, second with both done (cleared by wet sanding with progressive grits 400 to 1500, then power buffed with polishing compound). One thing the pics don’t really show is how much brighter and whiter the cleared lights are, guess the camera just didn’t catch it.





I know a lot of people complain about the pattern of that early Legacy lights, and I’ll agree they aren’t the best, but with clear lenses they are much better. I do like the way they throw some light out to the shoulders of the road, good to follow the fog line or catch that deer before it jumps outs.

Gary

For those contemplating doing this, I found the sandpaper to be completely unecessary. I just used a power buffer with medium and then fine compounds and did two sets in about 30 minutes. One of the sets was the worst yellowing I've ever seen, and it came off completely with just the buffer

i thought the yellow build up was on the inside of the lens? i hope im wrong.
also what if i dont have access to a buffer? anything will help
oh and just pm me plz with any reply.

get a buffing wheel at the local hardware store. It attaches to your drill

It's generally on the outside. It seems that the damage comes from sunlight rather than the bulbs' light.

I used fine steel wool and then rubbed it with Blue Magic Chrome Polish...did a fantasgreat job!!

The lights really aren't all that bad you know...

I just did the set on my Altima. I used 800 W/D followed by 2000 W/D and then hit it with some clearcoat paint. Looks like new.

Nice writeup Laurel!!



Is that your previous Legacy, or one that you stole, or borrowed rather, for the demonstration?

555BCTurbo wrote:I used fine steel wool and then rubbed it with Blue Magic Chrome Polish...did a fantasgreat job!!

The lights really aren't all that bad you know...

Yes they are, once you see how GOOD lights look. It is truly night and day difference between the crap that was on the car and the ECE lights.

Nick has a post-facelift, Josh... his headlights are indeed pretty good -- they're an approximation of your ECE lights.

gotcha....thought he was referring to the 90-91's.

555BCTurbo wrote:Nice writeup Laurel!!



Is that your previous Legacy, or one that you stole, or borrowed rather, for the demonstration?

That was my 91, the original partwagon. Note the remnants of electrical tape displayed on the headlights. Those are what was left of the car's ricer "costume"

I personally think the sanding with the #0000 steel wool works very, very well. You just gotta scrub hella hard in a wet sand.

I can attest to the steel wool method Jason is describing.

Those of you that have done the steel wool or other polishing compounds......did you clear coat the lenses?

In either case, has the yellow returned at all?

Legacy777 wrote:Those of you that have done the steel wool or other polishing compounds......did you clear coat the lenses?

In either case, has the yellow returned at all?

No. And....No.

I found that using the wet/dry method is just as effective as the steel wool route and really doesn't require any more effort. I have tried several different methods and have found that W/D 800 then 2000 followed up by clearcoat yeilded the best results in the shortest amount of time.

Whats scary is when you apply the clearcoat and it is hazy as hell and you think you F'ed something up big time but when you come back to it in a few hours it is dry and the lights look like new.

I've become so good at it that I can do them while still on the vehicle and I have been getting requests from friends and family to do theirs as well.

For a temp fix you can rub a good degreaser such as purple stuff or greased lightning on to the lens, let it sit for 5 minutes then wipe off yellow with a rag untill you can no longer get it off, Then rinse well. Try no to get concentrated degreaser on your paint.