Write-Up: Yellowed Corner Lenses

WOW-WEEE!!! You get a (+) for that!

Nice job, Jel... I guess you won't be needing those NOS lenses after all!
(BTW, I think your paint is blue... )

looks good! I have that little red speed buff ball for the drill, i want to try that with the polish i got.
my pic is after about a minute and a half. hope its better with the ball.

So, yesterday, I spent over 7hours sanding my headlights and polishing them, and cleaning my car. They went from yellow and crusty looking to looking pretty much brand new


https://2img.net/r/ihimizer/img694/102/46105610150604630137169.jpg

The lights were just as bad as the corner lamp.

https://2img.net/r/ihimizer/img221/2589/47735910150604782747169f.jpg

Pretty big difference?

https://2img.net/r/ihimizer/img849/6853/47910410150605219152169.jpg




By the way, those headlight restore kits are bullshit. It never worked when I used it. Funnily enough, what did work was way too much sandpaper, and hours of elbowgrease. Didn't use that gay power drill attachment thing either.

Awesome job...like you, I think there are better options than the kits. By the way, those rims are awesome on your car (love that chrome)

thanks man. They are actually Grand Am wheels I got for $50 off creigslist. Hated my stock wheels. And when I got them, they were so crusty and faded that it looked like mold was growing on them. Had to restore the wheels :p

I don't think they'd look better on any other car but the Rivvy, makes it look like muscle luxury :p

It's a shame that most OEM Riv wheels were so plain. Rivs beg for chrome rims IMO. Those $50 rims made a $500+ improvement in your car

Thanks

And yeah, before I got those wheels, no one really even looked at my car. Now, I get so many people asking me about it. I've even had a cop that pulled me over start asking about it lol :3

Do they make aftermarket headlight for our cars or we have too keep rubbing them till they're clear

keep rubbin 'em buddy

Lol genie in a bottle action over here

I need a solution to keep them cleaned then cause they yellow too fast we dont even have replacementcases do we?

The Riv headlights were made of a special polycarbonate and should not be yellowing. The cornering lights were not, and may be available from a GM dealer or parts jobber. You can also try taking them off and running them thru a cycle or 2 in a dishwasher then dry them out with a heatgun or hairdryer on low heat but be careful not to wash out the reflectors.

If it is the headlights yellowing a good bet is just to get a junkyard set.

I guess depending on how you read this post I am asking for clarification, or I am calling BS.
Which do you think?

Very light wet sanding and then rub, rub, rub the polishing compound. PLUS... you will get lots of exercise. Stay thirsty my friend

98riviera98 wrote:

Write up: https://rivperformance.editboard.com/exterior-f12/write-up-yellowed-corner-lenses-t448-15.htm#14013

Has anyone else had a problem with the YELLOW corner lights??? i KINDA fixed mine but they still look like BUTT

Yep... mine look like butt now. Planning on trying to use a restore kit on them.

can one use a mirror finish sand paper on plastic to polish? I've never tried plastic but on everything else, it really brings out the shine.

Installed these clear-coated corners purchased from joshuadalegrimes. Nice work, Josh!

Wow, big difference. Can't wait to get home and do mine (among other things).

I'm just going to do the ones on it since you sniped those corners from me >.>

You'll get to it sooner or later. Took me 10 years! Mine are still in good shape, but yellow. I plan to refurb them and put up for sale eventually.

So basically you can grind the plastic down and polish it and hope for the best or look for ultra relic new corner lenses on the net for hours and never find them.
AA's old lenses look hopeless. AA, are you going to even attempt at recovering them?

Well, look at my corner lenses before n after. Same with the reatta rear tail lights. Both times I used meguires compound followed by their polish. Simple as that. A few times with the compound perhaps but just work it in and let it haze real well and it really fixes em up!
Before:

After:

And before:

After:

That looks like my kind of car show! Buicks galore! Also, i love your Reatta. Such unique and awesome little cars.

Charlieparker wrote:

AA's old lenses look hopeless. AA, are you going to even attempt at recovering them?

Like I said, they're not in too bad of shape, just yellowed. I'm pretty sure they can be cleaned up. We'll see.

They don't look any worse than mine did. A lot of the gross coloration occurs on the inside lip of the frontmost part of the turn light. Magic Eraser will take care of the crud then compound n polish to new

ill do your old ones aa for 10 bucks plus return shippin

Before:



After:



I did it the cheap way and used a really abrasive wax, buffed it off, put another coat on, and repeated about 10 times. Then I used a headlight polish twice using the same method. Turned out pretty well IMO.