DeckersLS

I haven't found any posts on here concerning this.

I see people who use headlight restoration kits and sandpaper to restore the outside of the headlight lens, but nobody has tried it on the inside, from what i've read.

Is there any reason this is a bad idea or wont work? I want to paint the inside of the light black, anyhow, so I think i may set a weekend aside for this. Any thoughts or experiences?

v8rx7com

EDIT: removing the lens by baking them:

it’s almost impossible to remove the headlight lens without damaging the lens.

If you feel confident that you can remove the headlights and the lens, buy replacement lens before you start this project, you'll thank me later

You might want to check out this thread:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/c6-tec...rlsebring.html

Twistedpixels

DO NOT EVEN TRY TO FIX THE INSIDE. You will only make it worse. Just order some new lenses and either do it yourself or send them to someone who can do it for you. I just had it done to mine and it is not an impossible job to get the old lenses off. You bake them in the oven for about 10min or so at 250 degrees then they usually just pull apart. I got my lenses from rlsebring on here. OEM lenses. I had a local guy to me replace mine who also does awesome custom work. When you get the new lenses do not touch the inside of them with anything at all. I can not stress that enough. IF they have dust in there then spray them with some compressed air and leave it alone. No matter what you will end up with some dust inside the lenses during install. Unless you can do it all in a clean room.lol I have never seen any vettes that do not have some dust in there and even saw a new Aventador that had dust in there.

v8rx7com

Other things I did:

To avoid finger prints inside the lens, I wore a pair of disposable rubber gloves when I reassembled mine.

When removing the lens, I placed a piece of cardboard inside of the oven (on the oven rack) to set the headlight on. this will help prevent the oven rack from melting plastic on the headlight housing.

The clamps you'll need to reassemble the headlights cost about $20 each at Lowes/Home Dept. Harbor Freight Tools has them for about $5 each.

Reggied

I second that. I made the mistake and cleaned the inside of my lens with clear alcohol then Windex. It did not matter what I did, I was unable to remove the swirls on the inside of the lens. If the light hit my lens at the right angle you can see the swirls.

4SUMERZ

The inside of the lenses are not coated, so just about anything the least abrasive will scratch the inside of the lens.

Contrary to popular belief, the lens can be removed without baking in the oven, and can be reused. To do this takes a bit of nerve, as the lens has to be cut as close to the headlight housing as possible.
The lens can be reglued at the cut using the same PL construction adhesive as for gluing new lenses on.
A forum member (Reggied) did just that awhile back.
I know it can be done, as I did it a month ago using the members tutorial.
I cut the lenses off, removed and painted the bezels black, and re-installed the lenses on the housing with the PL construction adhesive.
There is a fog dust on the inside of the lenses where the DRL light is.
I cleaned that and the rest off the inside lenses using Zaino Z6 (Ultra Clean Gloss Enhancer Spray) with the softest cloth I could find.
It seems to have had no scratching affect on the lenses.
Granted, I'm not sure if the lenses will fog up once driving season comes, but worst case is that I'll have to buy new lenses.
I did use the forum members tutorial, inserted some extra pics, and made a PDF for future references.
Here are a few pics of my Black headlights, with the bumper still off the car.
The first pic, you can see the PL adhesive on the side

v8rx7com

In my case, my lens were toast, so I didn't even consider reusing them.

But

That is good info, especially if your lens are in good shape and you are only removing the lens to paint the bezels

franman69

The way I see it, I would prefer to use the bake method over the cutting method. It's low temp for 20mins to soften the glue. If you cut and then want to attach new lenses, you will be screwed trying to align the new lenses with the cut you made on the bezel. Granted I have not personally done either method... but my lights are out at Vettesthetics right now being mod'ed and painted.. I will be posting a new thread when I get them back.

From what Mike Brown and RLSEBRING have told me, there's no way you want to touch the inside of the lens with ANYTHING at ANYTIME... formula for disaster... I trust them both.

4SUMERZ

The cut method is only done if you are re-using the existing lenses. The cut lines will re-align for re gluing.
If new lenses are to be put on, then baking is how I would also remove the old lenses.
I also trust those guys, but I'm experimenting. If I see swirls or scratches in the sunlight, then I will also buy new lenses from Robert, and bake the headlights to remove the existing old lenses off.

DeckersLS

Let me know how it works out. I will likely just go with new lenses, but eager to see your results.

franman69

I wouldn't even touch the inside of the lens regardless of how it is removed... I would say that blowing it out with some air is the most I would do.. no fingerprints, no cleaner and certainly NO abrasives.. Just my ten cents.

4SUMERZ

As the above pics show, they look OK in the garage. I had them up to the garage lights before putting them back on, and I saw no scratches or streaks. The true and real test will be to see them out in the sunlight. That will be on April 1. I'll let you know how they look then.
I was going to buy new lenses as well, but decided to do this experiment.
I will likely buy new lenses in the future as well. The lenses are original and are 7 years old. Road trips start to take a toll on them due to rock chips and or sandblasting.

tacos

I had an idea earlier... well, two of them. (it was a busy day!)

one, would a headlight restoration kit work? Or at least get rid of the crazing? (The problem I've always had with these kits is the clarity doesn't last at all because they remove whatever plastic coating was on the outside of the lens. but if the inside is uncoated, bare plastic, then it could be as good as it was new.)

two: my vette is black. I was considering using some spray to smoke them. Would that hide the crazing, at least from a few feet away? Has anybody tried that? Certainly it would be easier than removing the bumper and taking the headlights out, and easier and cheaper than replacing the lenses.

RLSebring

If you have to absolutely clean the inside the way I do it is to use warm water to rinse first to make sure there are no abrasive particles on the surface. Then use a little more warm water and a drop of dawn and use only your finger tips to gently rub the inside surface then rinse again with warm water and blow dry to avoid any water spots.

It's usually successful but then again I end up with a few blems to sell from time to time. The test comes at night when the lights are on. If no scratches show then you're home free...

And YES you can hide a lot with tint. I also have a guy in Houston that is working on tinting from the inside so you still have a very nice exterior surface and look.

gcope63

I have a stupid question..
Why would you ever want to sand the inside of the lens??? I can understand polishing the outside to get rid of scratches and chips but have no idea why you would need to do anything to the inside.. Just curious....

Gary

tacos

The inside gets crazed as well. The outside of my lenses are fine, if slightly worn. The INSIDE, though, has all sorts of crazing going on. It will probably stay like that though, taking that bumper off was a HUGE pain, and I don't see myself doing it again.

Gearhead Jim

Can you actually remove crazing, without sanding/polishing away so much material that the lenses would be too thin?

Crazing usually looks like it is in the material, not on the surface.

Looking for an education here...

RLSebring

You no longer have to remove the bumper. Just remove the top screws from the bumper and fender, block open enough to get the headlight out. Easy Peasy...


Maybe in some cases, well not really. Crazing is primarily a separation of the material within itself. Will look like minute cracks in the lens. Once it's started it will continue.

This of course is my Humble opinion from the thousands of lens I've seen...

Some surface cracks may be nothing more that the outer clear coat failing. Lots have successfully sanded, polished and re-clear coated. I think a matter of economics applies though as to which is fiscally better.

Crazing usually looks like it is in the material, not on the surface.

VetteSthetics

I will add my experiences. My first stock set of lenses had some type of clear coat on it. I had a professional company remove the coating and cut and buff, I.E headlight restoration. Horrible results... no amount of work could get the micro sanding marks out of the plastic. There are ways to hide and mask troubled lights such as tint but that too has its downfalls. IMO it is too cost effective to replace your lenses through Robert, take it on yourself or have a professional like myself do them for you. Best of luck and let us know how it goes!

Additionally, if you want a how-to video on removing your lights as Robert explained without removing the body panels, PM me your email and I will drop box you the video.

Thanks- Mike