lexan headlight paint removal has been conqured.

[dpartinvr4]

this is a pre buffed picture of the lense's. it will be just like the glass once it's buffed.http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac81/dpartinvr4/2011-02-11181336.jpg
I'll put a thread up like I did on the "other site" but I'm going to remove the paint and robomod lights for you guys. I'll post pictures and put that thread in the for sale section when I get mine done.

[IPD]

subscribed. i want to see it done to 99's. :)

[dpartinvr4]

I've got you on "The Other Site"...duh duh duh......you'll be my first order when I get mine finished, hopefully this weekend.

[green-lantern]

Do you have any pics of these buffed. That seems to be the main problem with lexan, they seem to always look cloudy.

[scoob]

look great ,about time someone mastered this ;) the glass ones are soo easy but rare/hard to get hold of.

[dpartinvr4]

My friend started on the one and its clear as day... :)

[dpartinvr4]

http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac81/dpartinvr4/2011-02-12184846.jpghttp://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac81/dpartinvr4/2011-02-12184829.jpghttp://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac81/dpartinvr4/2011-02-12184814.jpg

[2fnloud]

Are you going to repaint the lenses?

[green-lantern]

You should put the wires on the bottom.

[2fnloud]

That is why I ask if he was going to re-paint the lenses. That is going to look poo poo if he is not.

[dpartinvr4]

the wires are going on the bottom, I just wanted to mock the halos up to see how they'd look. the wires will be painted, and tucked away.

[IronmanTT]

Get the lens clean and put back on can't wait so see how they look... :eek: What's pricing on cleaning out lens and and haloing?

[jba3]

Wow .. fantastic job!

[Psychotron]

You live in Indiana? Im not too far away. What method did you use to remove the paint from the lense?

[dpartinvr4]

good news, bad news, does it work, yes, does it look as good as the glass ones, no. i've sanded and polished, and they won't come "clear" they're more translucent, so I sanded and used clearcoat, and in the few spots I sanded good, they came out decent, but I found some glass ones for cheap so I just used them, "I like the look without the "circles" better". I do believe that if I hadn't "rinsed" the lense with water after applying the remover, they wouldn't have been such a pain to get clear, the "water based" remover reacted with the rinse water and left a thin film that I couldn't really get off using the 500-800-3000 grit method. sorry guys, it does work, it's just WAY more work than I'm willing to do.

[dpartinvr4]

this is what I used, spray and let it sit for a few minutes, and the paint comes right up with a scraper. I got it from Home Depothttp://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac81/dpartinvr4/2011-02-01165352.jpg after clear coat and some sanding that spot, it comes out better, but it's a PITA to get the corners of these things. http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac81/dpartinvr4/100MEDIA95IMAG0035.jpg

[RL7]

Plastic is tough because any chemical remover that is strong enough to remove the paint will almost definitely react with the plastic. I've ruined enough pieces to know that I will never use any type of chemical remover on plastic. Maybe using a small media blaster would work, but you would still have to polish those tight spots. I think the only hope would to get it polished as transparent as possible and then clear it for protection. Do they make a really tiny "power-ball" for a dremel?

[IPD]

dremel doesn't have the power/speed. i'm thinking pneumatic attachments...

[colt45 gto]

you should try tooth paste, its good for scratches on plastic. might work well to clear the plastic up. you can also try buffing, use plenty of water to keep the plastic cool. i would say that you can possibly get the lexan as clear as glass this way.

[dpartinvr4]

I already sold the old lights, I'm tired of buffing and sanding, clear coat seemed to yield the best results, but I had already buffed and sanded about 10 times at that point so I just kinda got fed up.

[Silver]

I redid my headlights last year (well Ictponder redid them) after they were done i clear coated them.
Sadly i think Michigan weather is taking its toll on the clear coat and it seems to be separating from the
lexan. Mostly at the top of the headlight around the edge. Is it safe to re-sand them again? I'm thinking I
wont clear coat them this time.

Heres some pics of my headlights.

Before
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/SilverBlade830/2-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/SilverBlade830/1-1.jpg

During
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/SilverBlade830/3-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/SilverBlade830/4.jpg

After
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/SilverBlade830/hl1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/SilverBlade830/hl2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/SilverBlade830/5.jpg

[Silver]

Go me... double post.

[NickS VR4]

Has anyone thought about making a mold of the lexan and remaking the parts in a clear plasic w/o the paint?

[2fnloud]

There was a member that did that, but haven't heard from them in forever.

[IPD]

There was a member that did that, but haven't heard from them in forever.

and 99 covers never emerged. clear 99 covers would probably sell like hotcakes if the price could be kept ~200-300 a set.

[x2xtreme360]

and 99 covers never emerged. clear 99 covers would probably sell like hotcakes if the price could be kept ~200-300 a set.

Which is really stupid since the 99 headlights don't need to be clear. They look fine the way they are...

Oh the things people would buy just to be different.

[IPD]

the 99 covers look decent. i still think that clear covers would allow others with non-99 lights to "upgrade"--without the cost of buying new 99 lights (which the supplies of will eventually dry up). it would also allow people to paint/cover them as they wished--especially if you painted inserts, not the covers themselves.

[dpartinvr4]

I sold the semi clear lexan ones to another forum member, who after 10 hours of sanding and buffing got one of them clear as day :) So it can be done, just not easily.

[MADMarc]

Those look awesome, Silver. I wish there was just some way to get rid of those damned rings on the lexans.

[NickS VR4]

Does anyone know if the lexan is the same shape and thickness as the glass? All I have are glass headlights, and if it is identical I can try and make a mold from it and produce acrylic lenses.

[dpartinvr4]

Does anyone know if the lexan is the same shape and thickness as the glass? All I have are glass headlights, and if it is identical I can try and make a mold from it and produce acrylic lenses.
I swapped the glass lenses for my lexan ones, and they fit just fine. so I would assume they are the same shape, but the glass is definitely thicker.

[Silver]

Those look awesome, Silver. I wish there was just some way to get rid of those damned rings on the lexans.

Whats weird is that my drivers side headlight has a weird white little wispy haze that you can kinda see here on the upper left of the headlight.
We tried over and over to remove it but its still there, its probably an inch or 2 long (just enough to bug me). Has anyone doing the robo mod or
just sanding their headlights run into something similar?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/SilverBlade830/hl1.jpg

[CoopKill]

Has anyone tried a flame after sanding to get the lexan clear? It works on my 4wheeler plastic... A thought.

[Psychotron]

Those look awesome, Silver. I wish there was just some way to get rid of those damned rings on the lexans.

You can get the lexans clear, and you can get the 90mm halo's in there with the insert or without, these are all recent developments and hardly documented yet but I have a set in my garage that has both of these things accomplished I will be doing a write up soon. To fit the halos with the insert you have to use the adjustments on the back of the light to move the projectors back, move them back evenly and the halo fits with the insert.

[Emilie@GZP]

Whats weird is that my drivers side headlight has a weird white little wispy haze that you can kinda see here on the upper left of the headlight.
We tried over and over to remove it but its still there, its probably an inch or 2 long (just enough to bug me). Has anyone doing the robo mod or
just sanding their headlights run into something similar?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/SilverBlade830/hl1.jpg

That is a discoloration in the lexan itself. Nothing you can do about it.

[Silver]

That is a discoloration in the lexan itself. Nothing you can do about it.

Yea... its gonna bug me 24/7. I just went outside and looked at it agian.. then realized that the clear coat that bubbled a little bit now it bigger and theirs water under it ... my day just gets better.

[dpartinvr4]

You can get the lexans clear, and you can get the 90mm halo's in there with the insert or without, these are all recent developments and hardly documented yet but I have a set in my garage that has both of these things accomplished I will be doing a write up soon. To fit the halos with the insert you have to use the adjustments on the back of the light to move the projectors back, move them back evenly and the halo fits with the insert.
I think Chargerx did a write up on the other site for fitting the halo's in with the insert still there. but like you said, you just move the projectors back a little bit, and they fit right in...it makes the tunnels look pretty cool when they're in there too.