Weird yellowish tint on headlamps
 

Hey guys, I noticed that for the past several months, my headlight beams (HID) have had a slight yellow tinge to them. There seems to be a line of yellow at the top of the beam.

I keep the headlight lenses very clean, and regularly use Meguiar's PlastX to keep them pristine. And they look great from the front!

http://home.comcast.net/~olorin2/lights_front.jpg

But I noticed that if you look at my lights from the rear, there is a very distinct yellowish color to them. The yellow color is a bit exaggerated in the pic below, just the like sidemarker is - but suffice to say it's ugly.

http://home.comcast.net/~olorin2/lights_behind.jpg

Doesn't even look like the same headlamps! Anyone else have this issue? I'm thinking there may be a build-up of dirt, old cleaner and whatever else between the rubber gasket and the plastic lens, around the top and outer edge of the headlamp - and this may be causing the yellow tint in the beam, and the yellow color cascading effect on the lens. Any other possibilities? I'd like to try and clean under those rubber pieces, but not really sure of the best way to get under them, apart from taking the entire headlamp off. Even then, is the rubber piece permanently attached?

And speaking of those rubber gaskets... mine seem to be deteriorating a little from age. Can they be replaced?

Thanks for any suggestions!

ive just recently started experiencing the same issue, looking forward to getting answers to your same questions.

have you tried polishing them with a rotary buffer/compound? if they are really bad you may need to sand them first.
mine had slight yellowing when i first bought the car so i just gave them a quick buff with a finishing compound (menzerna super finish) and then put a layer of clear coat to prevent it from happening again.

hope this helps

I've kept up the maintenance on the lenses, so they're not yellow on the outside at all. I just think the hidden plastic behind the gasket has yellowed, although it's still not noticeable from the front. When the light shines through the lens, I guess it picks up some portion of that discoloration.

Now, how to clean that part...

Good luck................these were stock HID's and not switch to aftermarket?

Yup, all stock except for the bulbs, which are 6000K. :)

Never seen that before...hmmmmm, weird.

Running the same for over three years or more without those issue. I too clean them with Plastix probably once a month.
Seems like you are right in that since it's only inside and beneath or behind the gasket, moisture must have gotten in there on occasion?
See any hairline cracks where it's the most yellow? Maybe bad seals?

Well I washed my car the other day, and afterward my right RX-8 head light looked like an RX-8 tail light. There was a lot of condensation in there (more than the pic shows), and now that it's dry there are water marks on the inside of the lens. Great. How is water getting inside there, especially after just being rinsed gently with a hose? I'm not seeing any cracks in the plastic. Any suggestions as to where the water could be getting in? I didn't think this was a real problem with the RX-8 headlamps.

http://home.comcast.net/~olorin2/IMAG0795.jpg

Thanks again...

Guaranteed to be a poor seal around the lens and the housing itself.

Acrylic lens oxidation
 

What ever you do avoid the old sandpaper method. It will make the problem worse.
Get a non abrasive acrylic lens deoxidizer. It is designed spacificlly for oxidation removal on headlights
It it pure liquid and UV layer safe. The Acrylic conditioner will combat the return of oxidatrion.
A Deoxidizer will clear up the surface of the lens without causing further damage.
moisture on the inside is another problem
No suggestions on that one.

Thanks. Yeah the outside of the lens is not a problem. It's not yellowed at all, and I never have had to use sandpaper. Meguiar's PlastX seems to work pretty well.

If I take the headlamps off the car, will I be able to flex the rubber gasket enough to clean behind it? While they're on the car, I can barley move it enough to get anything in there.

@ Bolt,

the only one of these I have found is the Pittman product. Any others out there?