After 23 and 21 years (respectively) the glass headlights on my 100 series LCs still look nearly new, but the fog lights were showing their age. I searched but couldn't find a post dedicated to restoring the fog lights, so I am posting this as a tiny token of my appreciation for the IH8MUD community.
I restored the fog lights using Barkeepers Friend, 3M Rubbing Compound, and Meguiar's Keep Clear Headlight Coating.
The housing on one of the lights was broken in a couple of places (and there was debris on the inside of the lens) so I removed the lens from the housing, patched the holes in the housing with WaterWeld Epoxy Putty, and cleaned and resealed the lens with butyl tape.
To remove the lens I heated the housing in the oven at 220º Fahrenheit for about 20 minutes and then slowly pried the lens out of the housing with a putty knife. Mineral spirits easily cleaned the old adhesive from the edges of the lens.
The top lights before restoration, bottom lights after restoration.
View attachment 3306441
Before
View attachment 3306442
After
Holes and cracks in one of the lights:
I made this crack by accident. I put the housing in the freezer, to harden the old adhesive, and then banged too hard on the side of the housing while trying to remove the old adhesive.
You can see in the pic below that I was able to remove nearly all of the old adhesive. If I had it to do over again, I would have just put the whole assembly in the oven @ 225º Fahrenheit for 20 minutes. That's probably all it would have taken to remove the lens from the housing. And the old adhesive could probably have been reused to reseal the lens.
I restored the fog lights using Barkeepers Friend, 3M Rubbing Compound, and Meguiar's Keep Clear Headlight Coating.
The housing on one of the lights was broken in a couple of places (and there was debris on the inside of the lens) so I removed the lens from the housing, patched the holes in the housing with WaterWeld Epoxy Putty, and cleaned and resealed the lens with butyl tape.
To remove the lens I heated the housing in the oven at 220º Fahrenheit for about 20 minutes and then slowly pried the lens out of the housing with a putty knife. Mineral spirits easily cleaned the old adhesive from the edges of the lens.
The top lights before restoration, bottom lights after restoration.
View attachment 3306441
Before
View attachment 3306442
After
Holes and cracks in one of the lights:
I made this crack by accident. I put the housing in the freezer, to harden the old adhesive, and then banged too hard on the side of the housing while trying to remove the old adhesive.
You can see in the pic below that I was able to remove nearly all of the old adhesive. If I had it to do over again, I would have just put the whole assembly in the oven @ 225º Fahrenheit for 20 minutes. That's probably all it would have taken to remove the lens from the housing. And the old adhesive could probably have been reused to reseal the lens.
