Tired of my burnt yellow headlights

[kashmir]

I'm tired of my burnt yellow headlights and do not want to spent one billion dollars for new ones.

So I have done some research and figured out how to repair them at a fraction of a price of even nice used ones.

Mine have the orange fused into the lens but I think it will buff out.

The biggest change will be glass inter lens and one 9003 high/low bulb, with this you can run a hotter bulb.

Will be starting on this in the next week or two and will keep you all posted with a how to.

Yours,

Kashmir

[shadrach74]

I have the same issue, but not to the same degree. I think the PO ran hotter bulbs. Do keep us posted on how it shakes out...

[kashmir]

I think the biggest problem with them is that the engineer that designed them was the brother to the IMS engineer.

[AKnowles]

Well if you do manage to split them without damage, you might want to consider some additional tools. After just completing the headlight restoration on my new litronic lights I can tell you the pneumatic orbital sander is a must to remove significant amounts of material. You can puy the foam backed sander pads from mequires in 100 & 3000 grit from Auto Detailing Solutions -- Meguiar's Car Wax, Auto Polish & Detailing Supplies Store that will do the job. If you have a harbor freight around you can get a Chicago orbital sander or other model plus a air compressor. But buy one larger than I did. The 3 gallon one is suitable for paint (what I really bought it for) but doesn't have a large enough capacity and compressor to keep up with the tool.

I wet sanded the exterior and did remove material. You'll need to do the same to get rid of the burn if it is just on the surface. Too deep and I think you can forget it.

[Spinnaker]

Looks like the seal between the fender and the headlight housing is on its way out too.

[kashmir]

What seals The hot Dallas summers have melted them away years ago

[kashmir]

Originally Posted by AKnowles

Well if you do manage to split them without damage,

Have that figured out and will do a diy on this, I hope not to damage too, but it is possible and some Boxster owner have already done this.

Before



After

[AKnowles]

Yes, saw that previously. Cool lights. I checked the company where he purchased the refelcors (I think - it's been a while) company to see if they could do mine like this, but they declined. Too old a model headlight.

I'll still wish you luck as some people have broken theirs using the oven to heat them. Either not enough heat and it split or too much and it melted. Seems to be a very fine line.

[kashmir]

Most of the tuners out there are baking them for 3 min at 300 deg, the lights housing should be placed on oak blocks so the metal rack will not melt into them.

[kashmir]

He did use a heat gun and screwdriver to split the silicon seal.

[com3dorm3]

Originally Posted by kashmir

I think the biggest problem with them is that the engineer that designed them was the brother to the IMS engineer.

Right on!
Interested in this diy if someone nails down the procedure. Pic/video always welcome