430 Scuderia Headlight Hazing - Recommendations

great news !!! also I wonder if the issue is due to the carbon.... seems like this is a typical issue with the lights

 

Great result. So odd though.

 

I have not seen this on the 430 lights, only the scuds. I wonder if air gets through the carbon weave and then the air moisture gets stuck with no where to go and then creates some sort of mold ... just a thought.

 

Just picked up a heat gun today. Going to give this a shot this weekend. Will post before & afters. Wish me luck....

 

Good luck!

 

Just try with the heat gun and it works!

A lot of the hazing is gone.

Finally polished the outside and the result is much more better
than before!

 

Question - I have Xpel on the lights. Think the heat gun is going to make that peel? Not a biggie...can just replace those little strips. My scud has this issue - which was disclosed. Doesn't bother me because I saw this thread. I also confirmed with Ferrari of San Francisco that they only see this on Scuds - has to be something with the carbon I think. I'm running my projectors the whole way across the US also to see if that helps clear it up...we will see.

 

I always drive with the lights on but this hasn't done anything to reduce the hazing. Then again, you may be driving stretches longer than I have ever driven in my scud.

 

Okay, tried my hand with a heat gun today. I was working in the shared garage of my condo complex and didn't have much light so I taped a flexible flashlight to the heat gun as shown in the pic below. I made sure not to cover its vents or place the light too close to the heat gun tip. I suppose I could have left the headlights on instead, but this method worked well for me.

I used the highest heat setting on the heat gun, which is around 1,000°F. I worked the heat gun back and forth over an area of about 2-3 inches at a distance of about 3 inches so as not to focus the heat on any one spot for too long. Within 10-15 seconds, the hazing started to go transparent. You could actually see it change from frosty to clear as a wave that progressed across the inside of the light housing. Within about 5-10 minutes, the plastic lens got as clear as it was going to get. It's important to note that, once the hazing turns from frosty to nearly transparent, it will not get any better so there is no point in further heating the lens. It's about a 90% improvement, but a light "ghost" of the hazing remains. I made the mistake of trying to get the last bit of the hazing to disappear by focusing the heat gun on one spot, and this resulted in minor distortion of the surface of the lens.

As you can see from the photos (before on top, after below), there was a huge improvement in the look of the lights. While the lenses are not "like brand new," they are good enough for me, especially considering that the alternative is to spend $3k+ per light for new ones.
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Ver nice result considering that your light had significant hazing/spidering on the picture.

 

I am pretty sure that it is ok with the bra since the heat gun is what my clear bra guy used on my car when I had some dull scrape marks on the bra on the rocker panel due to the service guy's shoes. The spidering are also seen on the 430 but not as frequent since my dealership's body shop manager (authorized Ferrari body shop) said that it occurs on all 430, not just Scuds.
In terms of the results with heat, I definitely think that this is a mold/fungus problem due to moisture IMO.

 

Massive improvement - nice job!

Thanks - I'm going to try this out later today and will report back...if the bra gets damaged, I'll just replace the light covers - no biggie. Appreciate the input!

 

Success! Not perfect, but a huge improvement. I also held the heat gun in one place a touch too long which led to a sort-of surface crack in the headlight. Wet sand, then polish removed it - but it was a big time sink. As long as you keep it moving, and don't get too greedy, you can realize a great improvement.
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Other side...
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FYI - I did have to remove the Xpel - the adhesive started to bubble up underneath after about 5 mins. No biggie - will order some new pieces and re-apply.

 

What did you use to wet sand the surface blemish? And to polish it?

 

Thanks - FYI...another relevant fact - used max setting on my heat gun which was 1100F. You want to move it about an inch per second.

 

Mother's headlight restoration kit - includes a few wet sanding pags, a powerball applicator which can be used with a standard drill, and a plastic polish. It takes quite a while but is fairly idiot-proof if you follow instructions. I ended up using a porter cable and Meg's 105/205 to polish vs. the Mothers "powerball" and their plastic polish, but I'm sure that would have worked as well.

 

Thanks. I'll check that out. I have a wavy spot on the surface where I got to greedy.

 

Some pics for you. It is a somewhat scary process quite honestly, but just stay the course and it will end well.
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Very very nice result on the hazing, but great job on polishing out the blemish due to the heat.
I think heat can fix scuffed blemish on clear bra but only for short burst of heat but at a further distance from the bra compared to the headlight hazing and less heat since you would worry not only about the bra but also about the paint underneath the bra.