Plastic headlights ideally need buffing back to clear with a rotary polisher - I've been doing my E60 BMW lights recently. Even with a rotary machine its a ballache. What doesn't help as it appears they've got a cloudy layer on the inside, so even though one of them has polished quite well on the outside and I've removed most of the pitting... it still looks a bit shit :(

I'd be inclined to paint the AC pipes rather than cover them with something, as inevitably water etc will get between the covering (be it rubber pipe or tape or whatever) and the pipe and sit there corroding away. That's what happens to the discharge line (big pipe) on a P38 along the firewall foam. It sweats in operation, the condensate is absorbed by the foam, and it then sits there corroding out the back of the pipe resulting in pin holes so small it takes a nitrogen test+soapy water to find them. And of course as Richard says - the condenser that 100% of the time rots out the top corner thanks to the block of foam LR put on it. Gets wet from rain etc through the grille, rots out condenser.

Thanks for all the tips.

Will definitely be sanding lights with finer stuff, didn't know about using soap. ...I'll look into the Tcut kits but I wonder if the coarser Tcut is just the equivalent of coarser paint cutting compound? I've got Farecla cutting compound somewhere.
Maybe I'll get the machine polisher on them, will get a new polishing head for it. Would've been easier before I put the lights back on!
I don;t expect the lights to look new when done but they already look much better than they did, reckon I'll get them looking better still with a bit more effort.

Looking like paint or tape for the pipes, most likely paint, most likely Hammerite lol. But Morat set me wondering if there isn't a better aluminium paint. I wouldn't spend a lot on special paint though, pipes I fitted look like new and should be good for quite a few years even if I don't treat them. Covering them with an outer pipe would be a none starter as the sections that corrode are short and have many bends..

While on the subject of cleaning plastic lights... Not that I have any need for this at the moment but has anyone ever tried similar with glass headlights or even windscreens? Not yellowed in the case of windscreens but the tiny marks and scratches they get over the years.. I've wondered if they could be sanded and polished, how much of a ballache would that be lol...

@BrianH I posted your insurance cert last night mate.

Lpgc wrote:

While on the subject of cleaning plastic lights... Not that I have any need for this at the moment but has anyone ever tried similar with glass headlights or even windscreens? Not yellowed in the case of windscreens but the tiny marks and scratches they get over the years.

Jewellers Rouge and an awful lot of elbow grease......

Gilbertd wrote:

Lpgc wrote:

While on the subject of cleaning plastic lights... Not that I have any need for this at the moment but has anyone ever tried similar with glass headlights or even windscreens? Not yellowed in the case of windscreens but the tiny marks and scratches they get over the years.

Jewellers Rouge and an awful lot of elbow grease......

Windscreen insurance and a brick through the windscreen then lol. Hadn't thought of jewellers stuff, was thinking wet n dry first then cutting compund then Tcut.

Lpgc wrote:

Thanks for all the tips.

Will definitely be sanding lights with finer stuff, didn't know about using soap. ...I'll look into the Tcut kits but I wonder if the coarser Tcut is just the equivalent of coarser paint cutting compound? I've got Farecla cutting compound somewhere.
Maybe I'll get the machine polisher on them, will get a new polishing head for it. Would've been easier before I put the lights back on!
I don;t expect the lights to look new when done but they already look much better than they did, reckon I'll get them looking better still with a bit more effort.

Looking like paint or tape for the pipes, most likely paint, most likely Hammerite lol. But Morat set me wondering if there isn't a better aluminium paint. I wouldn't spend a lot on special paint though, pipes I fitted look like new and should be good for quite a few years even if I don't treat them. Covering them with an outer pipe would be a none starter as the sections that corrode are short and have many bends..

While on the subject of cleaning plastic lights... Not that I have any need for this at the moment but has anyone ever tried similar with glass headlights or even windscreens? Not yellowed in the case of windscreens but the tiny marks and scratches they get over the years.. I've wondered if they could be sanded and polished, how much of a ballache would that be lol...

@BrianH I posted your insurance cert last night mate.

Cheers Simon.

On aluminium you need an etch primer on bodywork, even if using coach enamel, else there's no key for the colour to bond to, but I've only come across spray etch primer in the past. The theory goes that aluminium forms a chemical layer of aluminium oxide that must be etched into. But I have hammerite (am a big fan) on my P38 rocker covers at the mo - which seems to have coped with the heat v well for the last 6 months, I don't think i primed them either.
On the AC pipes, I've been playing a lot with a Castrol High temp bearing grease left over from rebuilding the Defender's wheel hubs. So I would maybe coat the aluminium pipes with HT grease before then putting on a physical barrier of rubber hose (old coolant hose ?) sliced down one side if the pipework is particularly exposed. BTW, the HT grease seems v effective on powder coating and black ABS - the oil helps restore the colour, and leaves the surface moderately sticky/ a bit waxy. The rear ABS either side of the tailgate has lapped it up, and now looks great. Acetone also works a treat in stripping the crud off the outside of the aluminium metal work - less keen about letting it near any rubber (or paint work, or ABS....), but it flashes off v quickly. While i'm brain dumping, Clarke do an excellent Aluminium cleaner which I've used for checker plate - paints on and then washes off - not sure it's advisable for ali in sensitive areas though - you'd need to be able to remove the components and strip to ali only

Thanks Rob,

The problem with putting an over-pipe around these AC pipes is they're very curvy, it's only a couple of short sections that corrode and in that short distance there are several tight bends.

I'm now thinking just give them a coat of Hammerite or underseal and check every year I own it. Underseal should do the job nicely? Dunno why I didn't think of the obvious before! I hate painting Tetraseal on though.

I use Hammerite a lot on welded brackets etc I make, get it to match the colour of the car perfectly... as long as the car is black lol.

A guy told me the other day that he uses a heat gun or blowtorch to restore colour of ABS.

Provided you can get it to stick either of those should work - reapplication regularly would obviously help keep it under control. I've not had much luck with the Tetraseal stuff, tend to find it peels off later (might be a sign that the chassis is a bit too oily for it to stick well though rather than any failing of the product).

One thing about it Bri, if the chassis/body are oily they won't rust anyway... One of the 2 positives of an engine oil leak, the other being the engine should always have new oil hehe!

I think headlights go like that due to uv light. They are coated with a uv blocker when new. They will continue to go cloudy one gone :(

It is UV that makes them go yellow. Some of the 'headlight restoration kits' contain a UV blocker to wipe on after cleaning and yellowing has been removed. I bought such a kit the other day, just contains a cleaning wipe (not sure how much good that would do) and the UV protection, instructions say to go at lights with wet n dry 'if they feel unsmooth' but wet n dry isn't included. In truth I bet any amount of yellowing would have to be removed by wet n dry and/or polish. Can't see the cleaning wipe doing much and can't see the UV protection lasting.

I've seen people advising using wd40 to "fix" it - which apparently works until it gets washed off or dries out too much (so doesn't really work at all).

Lights look almost like new now!

Sanded them with wet n dry P1000, P1200, P1500, P2000, did use soap later with the P1500/2000, then machine polished with Tcut. Got myself a new random orbit polisher from Halfords and very impressed with it, my old polisher was more or less just a 9inch grinder with 2 speed gearbox and a polishing end attached, it chucks polish all over the place.

Treated the full car to a clay bar(ing), tar spot removal (used WD40) and machine polish with T cut. Looks great now, or did before the fly splats. Changed engine oil, ATF, diffs oil.

Just the transfer box fluid to change before my holiday now... though I have noticed noise from the nsr wheel bearing and should have a new one arriving tomorrow, might change it if I have time but I'm sure it'll hold together fine for the holiday and, anyway, would hate to break the old bearing removing it then break the new one putting it in.

Lpgc wrote:

but I'm sure it'll hold together fine for the holiday

A good cue for the next thread entitled 'Collapsed wheel bearing on holiday in Cornwall'.......

Lol, I'll bring popcorn to that thread :)

Lol! Nah, it's only a slight noise on a right hand bend at the moment, reckon it'd go thousands of miles on it before it gets really bad. But I'll be taking the wheel bearing with me just in case!

Reminds me... as mentioned on the diesel pump problem thread I've been talking to a guy who used to run a Landrover garage, he once told me a wheel bearing collapsed completely on him (some type of Landrover) on the motorway and the only thing keeping the wheel almost upright was the disk.

I had that on the Duchess - drivers side front wheel bearing. Needed a new disk as well.

Smug mode :-)

Made it to Newquay no probs and driven all over since in the few days we've been here.

Can still hear that wheel bearing though, and also perhaps a wheel bearing at the front. But no worries at the moment.

Back home, had no dramas on holiday or on the way home. Rear wheel bearing maybe just slightly louder than it was but will still use it and not expect it to break until i have time to change it. Done over 2200km, over 700 miles of that towing, all good.

Changed that rear wheel bearing and been to Scotland since with the touring caravan for a few days clocking up another 700 miles towing and 1200 miles total (I like to look around unfamiliar areas). All quiet at the back end now but now seems the front OSF wheel bearing is on it's way out so that'll be my next job after I've sussed a slight coolant loss - reckon either a weak rad cap or a leak from one of the heater pipes that runs under the full length of the car, the spring clips where short sections of rubber pipe joins metal pipes are corroded, probably replace them with J clips. Went up via A1 Scotch Corner and came back down via the M6. Even in Scotland I see the odd car I converted to LPG.