Removing residue left after condensation in tail light?
09-01-2009, 06:10 AM
#26
Try white vinegar.
Ok guys... so I have an extra set of tail lights I am restoring, and hoping to eventually sell. Unfortunately, they had some water spots inside, and to remove them I poured some isopropyl alcohol inside and swished it around. It removed the spots, but now there is a haze from the alcohol left inside. I tried pouring in some distilled water and dumping it out, but the haze it still there. Do I need to keep on doing this, or is there something else I should try?
09-04-2009, 05:53 AM
#30
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Anyone know any other way to remove the haze from the inside? i tried white vinegar followed by multiple rinses with distilled water and it's still there? Am I screwed?
09-04-2009, 10:52 PM
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Thanks. I see what you mean. So should I just fill it completely with vinegar and wait overnight? Also, the other tail light which has water spots, but no haze, should I do the same?
01-16-2010, 01:32 PM
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I realize the last post on this thread was several months ago, but just wanted to let anyone viewing the thread know that using isopropyl alcohol to clean out the taillights is a bad idea. Isopropyl alcohol is an organic solvent that is very commonly used to dissolve materials such as plastics and other polymers. If you see a haze remaining on the surface, I'd guess that you started dissolving the surface of the plastic, and you'd probably have to physically scrub it with isopropyl alcohol and quickly rinse with water to remove the cloudiness. There's no real reaction going on, you just made a tiny portion of the plastic surface mobile and it disturbed the way light passes through it. This isn't something that happens instantly either, so you could use Isopropyl alcohol towels to wipe the lights. I just wouldn't let the solvent stay on the plastic for any extended period of time. Water rinses it away instantly.
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