Restoring white headlight surrounds Options

[PancakePorsche]

I have typical cruddy, yellowed white headlight surrounds on my repainted car and I want to restore them the best I can.

Painting them would be easy and look o.k. but I know it is kinda frowned upon by the purest because it is not original and I agree.
Any known tricks out there ?

[gms]

sandblast and paint with Krylon Fusion for Plastic®

[Tom_T]

I've been told that bleaching them with Clorox will take out some of the yellowing from age. Also same idea with the windshield washer bottle, rear trunk latch cups, etc. in the white or translucent plastic parts. But I've not tried it yet with mine, so can't attest to it's efficacy.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
Tom
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[Johny Blackstain]

sandblast and paint with Krylon Fusion for Plastic®

???
media blast them, do not sand blast them & then paint.

[gms]

sandblast and paint with Krylon Fusion for Plastic®

???
media blast them, do not sand blast them & then paint.

or you could use my time-tested method

[Pat Garvey]

I've tried two methods:
Bleach - use a 25% solution (or less). Soak for 3-5 days. Rinse, let dry. They will look a lot better but remember - these guys are 43 years old! They won't be bright white again AND the bleach (even diluted) will have a negative affect on the life of the parts. This worked for ONE set for me, but no others.
OR....paint. No, they didn't come this way, but they can look pretty good if done right. Did 2 sets this way(with a lot of prep work). Looked good, but you could tell they were painted.
Choose your poison!

[PancakePorsche]

Thanks for the tips guys. Since this is not a concours car I will paint them to compliment the new silver finish.

[Pat Garvey]

sandblast and paint with Krylon Fusion for Plastic®

Sandblasting will ruin the original finish!!!! DO NOT DO IT!!!! Painting makes the surface lost. Bleach and leave alone.

[Martin Baker]

These are painted. using the Krylon plastic primer and Rustoleum Shell White Satin Finish, 7793830 - 12 oz. Spray Looks far better than my original set on my 914/6.

http://www.rustoleum.com/product-catalog/c...in-enamel-spray

[Martin Baker]

These are the best originals I have seen. The painted method looks great, if done correctly.

[scotty b]

Funny this comes up. I was just last night playing with this as Cairo's have been completely rattle canned black. I have about 5 other sets of white surrounds and ALL of them have either been repainted black, grey primer, or body color. My first attempt was with one that had a LOT of red overspray on them. Aircraft remover got the paint off without affecting the surround, but it has a red stained look to it now. I may try Pat's Clorox method on it next, to see if it will remove the stains. I'll try one of the black ones next to see how it fares as the red looked almost like red oxide primer

[mepstein]

Funny this comes up. I was just last night playing with this as Cairo's have been completely rattle canned black. I have about 5 other sets of white surrounds and ALL of them have either been repainted black, grey primer, or body color. My first attempt was with one that had a LOT of red overspray on them. Aircraft remover got the paint off without affecting the surround, but it has a red stained look to it now. I may try Pat's Clorox method on it next, to see if it will remove the stains. I'll try one of the black ones next to see how it fares as the red looked almost like red oxide primer

The white ones on my '71 are painted black. I heard oxyclean works as well as bleach. I've had ok luck with the windshield washer bottle. It's hard to reverse 45 years of chemical reaction on the plastic. I'm pretty ok with white plastic paint on white plastic. I won't loose sleep at night. I appreciate that Scotty b sweats the details. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[rhodyguy]

Try soaking in '30 Second Cleaner'. Or make your own with bleach and TSP. You MUST completely immerse the cover or the solution will leave a distinct line on the part that's not in the solution. The longer you soak the lighter the cover.

[PancakePorsche]

Gonna try that !

[scotty b]

a quick follow up. I stripped one of the painted surrounds I had with aircraft stripper. It got it to a stained white. It looks like the primer and paint bled into the plastic. The next thing I did was to sand a section with 180 grit. It made it better but still slightly discolored. Next step is to try a soak in oxy clean today. I'll get some pics of the sanding I did then the half I soak in Oxy for a day or 2. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

FWIW the 180 grit let very minor sand scratches and did NOT alter the plastic nor did the aircraft stripper, lacquer thinner, or brake fluid, or brake cleaner ( yeah I tried brake fluid too ) 180 followed by 240, 320 and maybe even 600 grit would probably get it back to the original finish ( Judging by the sets I have here, all of the whites were a smooth finish )

[rgalla9146]

Sounds like a lot of trouble.
White ones must be out there, what does a good pair they go for ?

[sbsix]

I couldn't find any three years ago when I started looking for white surrounds for my '70, so I purchased the last two sets from EASY in Emoryville that were not too far gone and were restorable. Bought a gallon of 30 Second Miracle Cleaner too but I haven't got around to trying it yet. It's on my list of things to do soon.

[Cairo94507]

Thanks Scotty. I would prefer no paint on them if possible. Absent that, a plastic paint that as closely as possible matches the original will have to do.

[Pat Garvey]

sandblast and paint with Krylon Fusion for Plastic®

???
media blast them, do not sand blast them & then paint.

Agree! Never sand blast these. I wouldn't blast them with anything because they are PLASTIC.Try soaking in 20% sodium hypochloride ( that's concentrated bleach) after they've been hard-core cleaned. Soak for 48 hrs. Some will look brand new...others not. If not, paint the suckers. Ooooh, you could try to powder coat them! JOKE! please disregard!!!!

[scotty b]

SOooooo I've now tried Oxy clean and bleach ( independently ) in over night soaks, changing the hot water out every couple hours ( once it got cold again ) and a light scrubbing with a plastic bristle knuckle brush, and have not seen ANY change from the initial stripping. I've also sanded with 180 grit. This cleaned a lot of the "staining" up, but still not all gone. Next step is top try soda blasting, but I'm not sure these will ever be completely white again without paint

One of these was black paint directly on the plastic, the other was red oxide primer over spray. I have a couple more that had grey primer, grey primer + black paint etc. I'll try one of the grey primer ones next. Hopefully the staining won't be as bad as the black and red.

You'll see in one pic where I sanded a spot on each and how much of the discoloring that removed, hence my attempt to soda blast next. FWIw the sanding did not fuzz up the plastic, or leave overly harsh scratches. I think if I can find a way to sand off the staining, the housing can be progressively wet sanded back to a smooth OE finish