Last year we introduced you to our newest project car, called simply “Project Boxster Clubsport”. In that first installment we found the right car, we purchased it for a song, and it was sitting politely in our garage waiting for its first modifications. So far, the Boxster has been happy to simply rack up the miles and keep things rocking along. It’s an excellent Porsche, and we aim to make it just a little bit more excellent.
Part 2 – GT3-Style Center Console Delete
Part 3 – LED license plate lights
Before we get started we would need to thank Michelin. As many of you know, Michelin is a long-time sponsor of FLATSIXES.com. Recently, they have generously offered to sponsor Project Boxster Clubsport as part of their involvement with our site. Please consider checking out what Michelin has to offer by clicking their banners on this page. Without Michelin’s support, and others like them, this site really wouldn’t be possible.
In this installment, we clean up the horrendous oxidation that had frosted our aged plastic headlamps. They used to look yellow, now they’re clear!
Porsche Boxster Headlight Polishing
As we mentioned in our last installment, one of the major flaws with the car was the headlights. The 17 year old plastic lenses has traversed more than 100,000 miles, and were subjected to the heavy UV damage inherent in desert life. As such, it was about time they were polished up, both to clean up the look of the car a bit, and to bring our night-time lighting a little bit closer to the visible spectrum.
Because I frequently drive past the Summit Racing Sparks, Nevada store, I decided one day to stop in and see what they had. I may not have walked out with any speed parts, but I did find this headlight polishing kit for a decent price. The kit is available at pretty much every major retailer for about the same price. You will need an electric drill to operate this kit, but most people have one of those in their toolbox.
The first step to cleaning up headlights is to properly mask off the lights. You will be working with abrasive materials, and you don’t want to wreck your paint. I knew that I would have a lot of work ahead of me, and decided that it would be best to start the process with the provided wet-sanding pads, which could easily have scratched the paint in a nasty way.
The key to proper wet sanding is to keep the surface wet, to keep the sand paper wet, and to apply a similar amount of sanding to the entire surface area. The pads that Mother’s supplies with their kit are four different grits, and you always start with the coarsest grit first and gradually work your way down. The strokes of the sanding should always be in a long and straight fashion, and changing to subsequent grits requires a directional change perpendicular to the prior.
Once the wet sanding is finished, you can dry everything up, and apply the provided plastics polish by using the applicator ball attached to your electric drill (you can use a cordless drill so long as it spins at the recommended 1,500 to 2,000 rpm). I was pretty impressed with the finished result.
Once this has been done, the headlight’s UV deterring outer layer has probably been undermined, and will likely need to be done again in about a year’s time or so, depending on exposure and mileage. Conversely, you could also cover your headlights in a vinyl film cover, like something available from Lamin-X or XPel.
Porsche Headlight Polishing Supplies & Costs
Mother’s Powerball Plastic Lens Polish Kit – $20.97 (Summit Racing Equipment)
3M Automotive Masking Tape (Optional. We used regular masking tape.) – $9.21
Total – $20.97
Other Porsche Blog Posts You Will Enjoy
Everything You Need To Know About Putting Your Porsche On A Dyno
A Letter Home From Porsche’s Camp4 Canada
Porsche To Offer Detuned Boxster and Cayman In Some European Markets
Are The New Boxster GTS And Cayman GTS Worthy Of The Badge?
Introducing the Porsche “Cayvan”. It’s a Cayman Station Wagon And Porsche Should Build It!
View Comments (5)
Great result, but thats making it difficult to work on them ... the 996/Boxster style headlamp are held in place by a single cam type locking mechanism, accessed from inside the trunk, flick the lock thru half a turn and the whole headlight unit is released. You can then remove it in one unit and polish it on the bench without masking or putting your paintwork at risk.
Its actually a lovely piece of engineering, especially after you've worked on many recent cars and their unserviceable headlight assemblies.
There's some truth to that, but I like to have the headlights mounted so they aren't wobbling around on a bench. Also, I'm working out of a 1 stall garage with about 19 inches on either side of the car. I don't have a bench...
I use plain old toothpaste works best.
Looks like nice work!
OK - Nice job. So you cleaned up the plastic (as I have) but ... what can you do to replace that 17 year old rotting rubber trim wrapped around the light assembly? It appears that Porsche will not sell you a replacement - and as far as I can tell - there are no after market makers that I can find. Any ideas to make a replacement?