Cleaned my headlight lenses

[tripod06]

So when I got my ZHP the headlights weren't in the greatest condition but I knew with due time I would be able to get them cleaned. Compared to my last car the un-mounting of the headlights was reasonably easy and removing the lenses were much simpler. No more baking the headlights. Yay! I took them to a place ive been going to for years and they did them for free so I couldn't beat that. Maybe it's cause I went right as they were closing so they didn't want to have to reopen the register system haha. When I got them back on the re-mounting of everything was much more difficult than I had anticipated because I was expecting to be easy but one bolt location was really hard to get to and since my tools weren't magnetized, I had lost a couple bolts into the engine bay. Took a good 10 mins to find them but through clever usage of a small magnet and a long thin stick, I was able to retrieve them. Anyways, after getting them all back in and mounted here are some pics of the end results. It's a little time line too so the part with the "bandages" were when I took the lenses to my shop. It looked like breast surgery haha (a joke my buddy who helped me out made).

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b149/racesnos/d95fe68e.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b149/racesnos/03aee75a.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b149/racesnos/c20a552a.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b149/racesnos/95157ce9.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b149/racesnos/fa3346e6.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b149/racesnos/7a2647dc.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b149/racesnos/014cba98.jpg

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Lookin' good, Albert.

[kayger12]

Nice job.

[danewilson77]

Well done!

Droid X! Srs Legitness!

[pyreguy]

Excellent!


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[M0nk3y]

Looks fantastic!

Why were you unbolting things though?

[tripod06]

the headlights are bolted down in 4 places and the taillights are mounted to the headlight assembly. there is one that is in a very difficult spot to get to by hand. its raining today or else i would take some shots of it and post. perhaps tomorrow.

[M0nk3y]

the headlights are bolted down in 4 places and the taillights are mounted to the headlight assembly. there is one that is in a very difficult spot to get to by hand. its raining today or else i would take some shots of it and post. perhaps tomorrow.

I've changed out my Halogen Assemblies on my E46 to go to P46s. But I never had to disassemble the headlights screws in order to take apart the lens (I replaced the AE's on my P46s Twice...From CCFL to Generic LED to Orion V2s).

[MrMaico]

I wish us coupe owners were able to take out lenses off like that. I would love to have brand new lenses but I wouldn't trade the Adaptive function for it. Just hope I never have problems with them $$$!

[M0nk3y]

I wish us coupe owners were able to take out lenses off like that. I would love to have brand new lenses but I wouldn't trade the Adaptive function for it. Just hope I never have problems with them $$$!

Take a Porter Cable or Rotary and hit your lenses with some Plastic Polish. Always worked for me

[johnrando]

Take a Porter Cable or Rotary and hit your lenses with some Plastic Polish. Always worked for me

Good tip, thanks! Albert, looks great! John

[gr330zhp]

Take a Porter Cable or Rotary and hit your lenses with some Plastic Polish. Always worked for me

I also do it like this as well! Works great! Have had success with numerous VWs, E36s, E38s, Audis and other cars like this :)

[tripod06]

Do the coupe headlights not clip on like the sedan headlights do?

Thanks John!! And thank you everyone! They aren't perfect but they look loads better

[danewilson77]

Do the coupe headlights not clip on like the sedan headlights do?

Nope. They are sealed units.

Droid X! Srs Legitness!

[tripod06]

Nope. They are sealed units.

Droid X! Srs Legitness!

wow. that would have taken me back in time. those would require the baking process.

[MrMaico]

Take a Porter Cable or Rotary and hit your lenses with some Plastic Polish. Always worked for me

They're really in pretty good shape still so I'm a little nervous about going with something too aggressive at this point. Scared of screwing them up.:) I used one of the 3M lens polishing kits last year but didn't use the coarsest steps on them.....again was scared of making them worse somehow. Someday I'll do like you suggest and then throw a Laminx kit on them.

http://mrmaico.smugmug.com/Cars/BMW-ZHP-misc/IMG0439/826078940_omrZp-L.jpg

[johnrando]

Any recommended proactive maintenance to help prevent dulling/yellowing? John

[Washburn]

Lamin-X, or similar, I guess

[az3579]

They're really in pretty good shape still so I'm a little nervous about going with something too aggressive at this point. Scared of screwing them up.:) I used one of the 3M lens polishing kits last year but didn't use the coarsest steps on them.....again was scared of making them worse somehow. Someday I'll do like you suggest and then throw a Laminx kit on them.

http://mrmaico.smugmug.com/Cars/BMW-ZHP-misc/IMG0439/826078940_omrZp-L.jpg

Wow, that came out really good...

Sent from my DROIDX

[tripod06]

Wow, that came out really good...

Sent from my DROIDX

x2 agreed

[ZSP-Mafia]

Phew! Glad you did this. It was bugging me at the meet. :)

I go around polishing everybody's headlights at work, I can't stand to see em messed up like that.

[Crickett]

:threadjack
Has anyone cleaned their headlight lens that was treated with something like Fast Wax 1 (FW1)? I let one of those guys advertising it at the gas station show me how amazing it is on paint, glass, wheels, & headlights; it did make it a bit clearer at first (though I think just because it was dirty), but the next day it just made my headlight foggy.

Driver-side, clear & normal:

http://tcholo.net:8080/images/bmw/headlight2.jpg

Passenger-side, foggy & gross:

http://tcholo.net:8080/images/bmw/headlight1.jpg

[danewilson77]

Passenger side looks like dirty ass.