3rd brake light badly oxidated
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Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2015
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3rd brake light badly oxidated
Was looking around on cleaning my 3rd brake light. Looks pretty bad like its 30 years old, almost ordered a replacement but should I do something like what this guy did and polish it??
Video link
Video link
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Looks like the guy in the video had very good results using that compound. Can't hurt to give that a try before doing something like replacing the entire assembly.
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Safety Car
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Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2010
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From: North Topsail Beach NC
I did mine earlier this year and used some old Semichrome polish that was laying around. I masked the area off first with blue painters tape. It came out so nice that I made a pass on each of the tail light and backup light lenses afterward. Total time invested was about 30 minutes, including the mandatory post job beer when finished.
One other thing I've done was to use the same Meguiars compound shown in the video on each of the headlight lenses. I just made one quick pass on each one of them. There was quite a bit of gray residue on the cloth when finished.
One other thing I've done was to use the same Meguiars compound shown in the video on each of the headlight lenses. I just made one quick pass on each one of them. There was quite a bit of gray residue on the cloth when finished.
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Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 3,638
Likes: 245
I did mine earlier this year and used some old Semichrome polish that was laying around. I masked the area off first with blue painters tape. It came out so nice that I made a pass on each of the tail light and backup light lenses afterward. Total time invested was about 30 minutes, including the mandatory post job beer when finished.
One other thing I've done was to use the same Meguiars compound shown in the video on each of the headlight lenses. I just made one quick pass on each one of them. There was quite a bit of gray residue on the cloth when finished.
One other thing I've done was to use the same Meguiars compound shown in the video on each of the headlight lenses. I just made one quick pass on each one of them. There was quite a bit of gray residue on the cloth when finished.
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I do my rear lenses once a year, I use semichrome, mother's aluminum polish, you can use swirl remover. I would not spray any clear coat... it only makes for further problems.
Any compound will work, and it takes less than 30 minutes to amaze yourself... I've put Zaino on mine which helps with UV rays ( the actual culprit in this oxidation process. ) Zaino is UV stable.
Take an old toothbrush, buy yourself a new toothbrush it has been way too long since you replaced your toothbrush. use the old one with some alcohol to remove any of the wax that might get into the DOT marking script and date stamp... if you want to take it a step higher, remove the lenses,, sand off the printing, then use some 1500 grit and 2000 grit, then polish them with a polishing compound, and you will think you have New and improved lenses.
Any compound will work, and it takes less than 30 minutes to amaze yourself... I've put Zaino on mine which helps with UV rays ( the actual culprit in this oxidation process. ) Zaino is UV stable.
Take an old toothbrush, buy yourself a new toothbrush it has been way too long since you replaced your toothbrush. use the old one with some alcohol to remove any of the wax that might get into the DOT marking script and date stamp... if you want to take it a step higher, remove the lenses,, sand off the printing, then use some 1500 grit and 2000 grit, then polish them with a polishing compound, and you will think you have New and improved lenses.
Last edited by Evil-Twin; Oct 20, 2015 at 05:34 PM.