My 2004 red edition

[barry1783]

with my wife driving it!




to do list so far
1. polish headlights
2. clean MAF
3. fix rattly heat shield
4. some sort of mid brace

i'll keep a record here of my progess.

[VidarH]

Love the colour!  s:) s:)

[shnazzle]

What can we  say...Sable is the best colour by far.

[Felix_5]

Very nice, lovely edition this.

[Ardent]

First 3 seater I have seen.    s:D s:D  

Top choice of colour.

[barry1783]

Thanks all

I had a day off, and so decided to have a go at my headlights today.
The previous owner had had a go at polishing them, so they didn't look too bad, but they were cloudy round the top of the lenses.

[barry1783]

I bought the 3M lens restoration kit. basically a wet and dry sand and polish kit that fits on a hand held drill.

I was a bit worried that perhaps some of the discolouration was on the inside of the lens, and as such I was wasting my time, but nothing ventured .....



first i masked off the light



Then I went at the first lens with the heaviest sand disc, was more than a little worried I might just ruin the whole light.

[barry1783]

even on the next pass with the lighter sanding disc the lens looked ruined.



gladly the next grade (a wet sand) started to make things look better



Finally a polish with a sponge disc and paste and miracles happen  s:) s:)

[barry1783]

The finished result

[barry1783]

I am delighted with the result, all the discolouration seemed to be on the outside of the lens and is gone.

I would say though, if I were doing it again I would cover the car in sheets, as splatters of the paste got everywhere.

Lets see how long it lasts.

[nadeemxb]

Hi Barry. Great car - I just picked up the same edition myself last year. Get some uva/uvb surface sealant on the headlights. Should make them last much longer. I read about it elsewhere on here and it seems to really help.

[StuC]

To both of you - Have you got some uv sealant to protect your hard work?

[barry1783]

not yet, but looks like I will soon.

is there a brand name to look for??

[Bernie]

To both of you - Have you got some uv sealant to protect your hard work?

Yep Stu

This is good stuff

 m http://www.motorgeek.co.uk/cgi-bin/ecom ... db_pid=257 m

[StuC]

linky
 :-) :-) :-)  

This is what I and others have used.

[barry1783]

thanks.

[SuperArt]

StuC, I read you can also use UV resistant clear coat. Which would you say is better in long term protection?

EDIT: Very nice job OP. It's given me some motivation to restore my thoroughly yellowed light units.

[redcarblackhorse]

Nice job:-)

[shnazzle]

Job well done. Reminds me I really need  to do mine again and this time cover them in a power permanent UV protection. I failed to keep on top of the UV protection out of sheer laziness and now they're yellow again  s:( s:(

[VidarH]

Great job!   s:) s:)

[barry1783]

Thanks all.

The lights have not turned of perfect. In my garage under the artificial light they look different colours. Although out in the sunshine they look the same?? Not sure there is much I can do about it, but just a curious thing.

[barry1783]

[barry1783]

Got a quick trip to the seaside in this week. This time with the dog driving!!

[StuC]

Is that just where you paws'd for a photo?

Sorry... Overtired!  s;-) ;-) s;-)  

View is pretty cool.  :-) :-) :-)

[barry1783]

lol!