Hi All My 84 QV is in a good nick and I love being behind the steering wheel, as well as just looking at the beauty of imho the most beautiful car in the world. Lately I am bothered by the back lenses that look old and tired. Replacing is simply just way too expensive, so out of the question. Has any of you magicians out there got any on how advice to bring the sparkle back? Look forward to hear your thoughts and ideas. Regards Jan
Put some rice and warm soapy water inside, shake well, rinse. Polish the outside with plastic polish.
by stevekouracos I posted this tip on how to make your original light lenses look new a long time ago but I think it's worthy of mentioning again. This little technique will save you a bit of money on your restoration project or spiff up the lenses on your driver, giving your car a freshened up look. How To Make Light Lenses Look New... A cost effective way to keep your original lenses is to color sand and buff them out. There's a little technique to it but they'll look like new and you'll be very pleased with the end result. First, find a nice stable table and lay down a towel on your work surface. Find a bucket and a little warm water and some car soap or dish-washing liquid. Wash them thoroughly, then rinse well. While they're wet, get a piece of 1000 grit wet automotive color sanding sandpaper and sand the outer portion of your plastic lens -- one way, NOT in circles! It's important not to sand any markings on the lens. Stay away from sanding any markings off... you'll want to keep those. Then repeat the same thing with some 1500 grit wet automotive color sanding sandpaper. Polishing A Dino 206 Lense Polishing a Dino 206 Lense Next, get a little hand air buffer and cut-rub all your scratches out with some light rubbing compound. Then simply polish them out by hand or machine with a nice automotive polish. Then wash the lens again - maybe with a soft sponge and if there's any compound or wax between the letters or screw holes just use a toothbrush and lightly brush the compound away. Then rinse. Follow that up with a coat of good wax and you should have a great looking pair of lenses to install. Polished Lense Polished Lense Important: Make sure you're holding the lens in your hand tightly, so if you catch an edge with the buffer it doesn't go flying across the room. Don't do it near the car! If you don't have a polisher or buffer take the sand paper all the way to 2000 grit and you can do the whole job by hand.
Yep, this works really well and is faster than it sounds. One extra tip... use 3M #20 wetordry sponge pad while wet sanding. Available at O'Reilly Auto Parts.
here`s a thread that might be helpful ... also about how to get the lights out http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/308-328/283385-diy-cleaning-308-328-taillights.html
While cleaning and polishing the lens certainly helps, make sure the reflective silver remains in the housing base. This is what really makes them sparkle once cleaned. I did replace mine after thorough cleaning and polishing. They were still too dull in ambient light. I purchased OEM replacements from superformance for around $650 US and sold my uncracked cleaned and polished originals on ebay one at a time as patina matched single replacements which brought in $450. So net $200 I have all new and that is probably more reasonable to your wallet.
