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Author Topic: How to repair headlight lenses  (Read 8445 times)
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skizot
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« on: August 31, 2009, 07:46:07 AM »

Get some 1500, 2000 and if you can find it, 2500 and 3000 grit sand paper.
Get some blue painters tape
Go to your favorite auto supply store and look for one of the following products, either the 3M headlight restoration kit or the Meguiars one. Both of them come with a polishing either pad or wool wheel that will work on your standard household drill. Should cost around $20-25. Technically, if you can find the 3M one, you will not need the sandpaper as it comes with it, but on our headlights it is hard to use the spinning drill with sandpaper. We have that annoying raised area.

Anyway, the process, regardless of what you use is the same.
Use the painters tape to mask off the paint around the headlights so you don't accidentally sand your paint. Important that you do this step correctly, to avoid headaches later on.

Sand the outside of the lens until you remove all the clear coat that you currently see peeling. First with the 1500, then with the 2000, then with the 2500 and then with the 3000. The longer you spend on this step, the better the outcome will be. Don't get lazy and make sure you sand down everything evenly, smoothly and with each grade of paper.

Once everything is sanded down, take a clean microfiber with some clean water and wiped everything down. Make sure you removed all the old clear coat. You will be able to tell as when you are wiping down the lens you will still be able to see streaks of the clear coat if it is still there.

Once this is done, take the polish compound that came with the 3M kit or the PlastX that came with the meguiars kit and using the provided drill attachment, polish the lens. People who do this, make the biggest mistake in this step. This is not a race, nor is a pressure test. Let the polish do the work for you. You will want to polish the entire lens several times and each time you will want to keep polishing until the polish breaks down, basically to the point that it almost looks like there is no polish left. You will want to do this probably at least 3 times, maybe more depending on how badly it looks after you sand it down. Also, you do not need to smear gobs of polish on the lens. Put a few drops of polish for each section of the lens you are working on. There are other products you can use for this step too. Such as Menzerna Super Intensive Polish. Yes it is made for paint, but works well on plastic too. Again, mothers makes a clear plastic polish, 3M, Meguiars, etc.

Once it is polished and you are happy with the look, you have a couple of options. The best option is to find some UV clear coat spray and repaint the housings. The only catch to this is that you will probably want to remove them from the car if you are going to do this. Instead, the other option is to layer the outside to prevent it from yellowing and clouding up again. You can find all sorts of paint sealants and waxes. I personally used an actual plastic sealant from autogeek (Wolfgang Concourse Plastik sealant) and then layered on top of that some P21s Carnauba wax. You have to redo it every 2-3 months, but no different then taking care of other parts of the outside of your paint. My headlights look like new since I did this 6 months ago and have not regressed.
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striktlyaccord
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« Reply #1 on: September 01, 2009, 01:10:38 AM »

+1 for a great how-to.
-1 for all the work I didn't wanna do.
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striktlyaccord
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« Reply #2 on: September 06, 2009, 07:56:07 PM »

So Scott, I assume that this process removes all of the clear coat from the headlight lenses.  Did you end up respraying clear coat onto your lenses, or did you just do the other suggestion that you mentioned and layer some sealants and waxes on them and call it a day?  I'm just worried that the sealants and waxes are a temporary protector and in time the re-do of the clear coat might prove to be a safer option.
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AccordProtector
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« Reply #3 on: September 13, 2009, 10:36:13 PM »

An easier way that i've found was to use any metal polish on the headlights. instead of using the sandpaper i use mothers metal polish. and if you are to lazy to reclear your lenses then hit them with the carnuba wax of your choice, but i suggest reclearing them. it keeps your lights looking amazing. and its less time consuming.
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« Reply #4 on: September 14, 2009, 11:59:25 PM »

^  Good to know.
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AV6NHBP6SPD
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« Reply #5 on: September 15, 2009, 10:37:50 AM »

ill try plastic x and menz 203, dont have SIP, just IP
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Misha
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« Reply #6 on: December 07, 2009, 02:11:46 AM »

Isn't it the clear coat that cause the problem of peeling and yellowish?
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« Reply #7 on: December 08, 2009, 07:10:27 PM »

once the clearcoat peels, that is sit. The best solution to a fading headlight is a replacement, anything else is temporary.
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AV6NHBP6SPD
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« Reply #8 on: December 08, 2009, 09:34:32 PM »

Quote from: "Nexson"
once the clearcoat peels, that is sit. The best solution to a fading headlight is a replacement, anything else is temporary.



after clear coat is off, using this method and using paint selant and wax works great. using once that have UV protection will get better results. reaplying every couple of month will do the trick.

same with car paint, u have to mantain it.

i just used sand paper and polishes wen i did headlights. here is results
GTI




my moms civic
headlights
before


after wetsand with 1000 and 2000 grip sand paper


after 203 with yellow pad and plasticX with orange (sealed with 845)



right headlight done. left is before anything is done

both cleaned
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Nexson
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« Reply #9 on: December 09, 2009, 09:51:54 PM »

i think it amounts to how anal you are about things on the car, for me at least, when the clear coat starts to peel, I can see a devine difference from where it peels, at that point you really cannot repair it with waxes.
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AV6NHBP6SPD
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« Reply #10 on: December 10, 2009, 09:30:00 AM »

Quote from: "Nexson"
i think it amounts to how anal you are about things on the car, for me at least, when the clear coat starts to peel, I can see a devine difference from where it peels, at that point you really cannot repair it with waxes.


waxes just cover stuff up. no you cant repair peeling clear coat just iwth wax or selant, its like putting glaze to cover up swirls on paint. u have to take clear coat off. im sure you know this stuff
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Misha
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