Does anyone know what this is?


Ever since I had my lights painted, this film forms on the inside. I changed the covers (about two weeks ago) after the first time it happened and it came right back. It can't be rubbed off with your finger. Can this be caused by paint fumes? The lights were painted several months ago.

 

looks like oxidation. If it is on the inside you will need to pry apart the headlight and buff it out.

 

Oxidation? That's interesting. I tried buffing out the inside of the old covers, but it just made things worse. I wonder why I keep getting it? These things are about to be thrown in the trash.

 

Do you live near the ocean? They look salty. I'll buy them off you if you decide to toss them. Could use the housings.

 

Could it be overspray???

 

It's dust. They are doing a lot of landscaping where I park my car.

I've gone through four new covers since having them modified, so I'm going to assume it was caused by either the paint or sealant (oem Nissan gunk).

It looks like CiNcity will be getting another new headlight customer. I hope they use different paint.

 

Well I can tell you that i've never seen paint do that, let alone my paint. Crazy.

 

Mine has it and I also did spray paint my inside black.

Call me crazy but I waxed the headlight covers since I had some scratches on it...and after waxing...then waiting about 10 minutes...then buffing... (I did the process about 5 times)...the light scratches were gone, the deep scratches got lighter..and that "headlight fogging" disappeared.

Try it...it wont hurt you...and also when I waxed my headlights, it give me that "rainbow/oil" tint on the headlights..which looks cool in the sunlight. I don't think you may get what I am talking about though.

 

I just checked my headlight again...and YES waxing did help that fogging go away.

This is what I did:

1) Clean the headlight with soap and water

2) Completely dry it

3) Put wax onto the headlight, and spread it out with your fingers to cover the entire headlight. Make sure you put enough wax onto the headlight though.

4) Let it dry for about 10 ~ 15 min.

5) Buff it out with a buffing machine

6) Repeat the process another 3 to 5 times. I did 5 times.

It also helped with removing those minor scratches. And also making those deeper scratches lighten up a little. There will somehow be some condensation inside the headlight..but it will disappear.

Hope this helps you.

This procedure is for the exterior part of the headlight lens

 

my headlights have that all over the inside 1 month after getting them modded by mr. zipps. He stated there is nothing he can do about them because it is from condensation so my headlights will be going to CiNcity to be redone.

 

mine did that too after Mr Zipps did them, I have been waiting for me to email me back, his website states one year warranty on leaks. This is clearly caused by a leak.

 

use cleaning alchol to clean......it

 

AreYouAMac: Thanks for the info! I'll try polishing the old covers I have.

ktown z: Let me know how it goes with CiNcity. I thought Mr. Zipps offered a guarantee against condensation. It's interesting how condensation can leave a film that is so tough to remove. Although, it does sound like the most logical explanation.

 

Alcohol didn't remove it. I had to use a polishing compound to get rid of the film. Unfortunately, I had never polished anything before, so I made the situation a lot worse and ended up just replacing the covers.

 

post pics of the finished product...

 

Just curious if you did this on the inside of your lens? There is a film on the inside that is VERY VERY sensitive. Just about anything will ruin them. Way back in the day, before I started doing lights for people, I did a little airbrushing on the inside of the light so that I could see the reverse image on the front of the cover. Anyway, I got a little over spray on the cover so I thought I could use a tiny bit of cleaner to get it off before it dried. It cleaned up, but left a lot of haze. Then I tried a little thinner mixed in a water bottle and that brought up the film in little pieces. Since then, i've gotten in sets of lights that people want fixed and it's very tough to do when the inside cover has it's film damaged. You have to be very care full if not just replace them. Not a fun job at all

 

Yea...I should also mentioned that the procedure that I mentioned early was done on the exterior part of the lens..not the inside.

 

I tried alcohol to remove it from the inside which didn't do anything. I can't remember if it caused a haze (it probably did). Polishing that small section removed the cloudiness, but it also removed the film and left the cover looking splotchy. I ended up having to polish the whole thing to remove the rest of it.

What is that film? UV protection? Perhaps the condensation is reacting with it.

The picture I posted is of a new cover. I never touched the inside.

 

I believe so. Though i've never went out of my way to verify that.

 

I am having the same problem. I am going to take a trip to the dealer and tell them to replace it under warranty since it is 'hindering the performance of my lights and is simply unsafe'. I will let all of you know how that goes.