OT restoring headlight covers (auto)

[rwsaunders]

Any experiences/recommendations regarding the use of headlight cover restoration/polishing kits?

[Louis]

Just tell them to make it look like this: (1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante)

NYT article is here (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/automobiles/12MUSEUM.html)

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/06/12/automobiles/MUSE/MUSE-articleLarge.jpg

[BengeBoy]

Recommendations -- all of these work well, all have tons have positive customer reviews:

3m:

http://www.amazon.com/3M-Headlight-Lens-Restoration-System/dp/B001AIZ5HY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308109276&sr=8-1

Sylvania:

http://www.amazon.com/Sylvania-38771-Headlight-Restoration-Kit/dp/B00429NKWK/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1308109276&sr=8-6

Mothers:

http://www.amazon.com/Mothers-PowerBall-4Lights-Headlight-Restoration/dp/B00341MIAW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1308109276&sr=8-3

[stuckey]

I have not used a kit but any off the above ones would work. We use the same method in the body shop but we use air tools instead of hand sanding.

[radsmd]

definitely use a rotary or orbital buffer. I tried once with plastic polish by hand and had absolutely no luck. This time, I covered the headlights, front bumper, hood and fenders w/ ventureshield (clear film protection) so I won't have to worry on my new car.

[ultraman6970]

Have you tried toothpaste and a toothbrush? no kidding.

[maximus]

I did this using a kit a few years ago when my wife had a Honda. The late 90s civics were notorious for getting fogged up headlights.

You essentially wet sand it with some oils - stepping up grits then polish it clean is a compound and seal it. My brother in-law who owns a shop said he wetsands with 1000 then 1500 - then uses a buffer to polish it clear - no chemicals.

Kits are you easiest and best bet.

[Peter P.]

A friend of mine had severely hazed-over headlight lenses on his VW Passat wagon. He recently purchased one of the commercially available kits although I don't know which one. He explained to me it used progressively finer grades of something; polishing compounds, sandpaper; can't remember. He told me it took about 45 minutes per lens. I think the last step required a polishing bit/pad in a drill, although I could be wrong. He was thrilled with the results and didn't feel it was difficult at all.

Hope this vague answer helps.

[fourflys]

I like the Maguires stuff... it did a great job on the wife's Accord...

[rwsaunders]

Thanks folks. Off to Auto Zone this weekend.

[rwsaunders]

Follow-up...the Maguires worked like a charm...thanks again.

[hoonjr]

I did this to my 2002 Passat using the 3M kit. Worked great but now 2 years down the road have to do it again. You may want to look into buying some laminex so you won't have to keep doing this again and again. Myself I doubt "el poderoso will last another 2 years otherwise I'd probably invest in laminex myself.

[rice rocket]

VW/Audi/Bosch seemed to have been using very soft plastics on their headlights from that era. I had the same issue w/ our 2000 Passat.

We also have a '98 Honda CR-V, and they look brand new, 13 years later. I think Honda used Stanley as a light supplier for most their products?

[oliver1850]

Have you tried toothpaste and a toothbrush? no kidding.


As a kid, used toothpaste to hand rub model cars. Probably didn't often stick with it long enough to get the full effect.

[russ46]

I had good luck using polishing compound applied with a lambs wool rotary buffer. Did it a couple of times over the vehicles life.

[bike22]

we tried it with mother's polish and blue magic.
it improved a severely clouded set of headlights, not tremendously but then a year or two later we just replaced the units.

[Vinci]

I've done several sets of BMW headlights using various grades of wet-sand paper and polish. It takes a bit of time by hand, but it's the only way to get out chips.

Depending on how deep the chips are, I usually use the following steps:

600-grit
800-grit
1000-grit
1500-grit
3M Rubbing compound
Meguiar's #17
Meguiar's #10

I then like to top them off with the same acrylic wax treatment that I use on the painted panels. It really helps keep the yellowing/fogging at bay.

I wouldn't recommend going below 600-grit, unless you REALLY need to. The one time I used 400-grit, it took me forever to get the scratches out with 600.

[BojiBiker]

Thanks for the "show & tell". I think I have the same car (A6?) and my headlights look exactly like your "before" pictures. I know what I'll be doing one of these first weekends...

In a former life, I used to work in vehicle lighting. Usually, polycarbonate (Lexan being a common brand) is used for headlamp lenses because of the temperature and impact requirements of various NHTSA tests. Problem is that polycarbonate scratches easily and has poor UV resistance. To improve these traits, it is "hard coated", basically painted with a scratch/UV resistant barrier. Unfortunately, some company's "hard coat" products don't perform as well as others and break down over time.

Interestingly, tail lamps and turn signals (when separated from the headlamp) have different impact/temp requirements, so different plastics are used for those lenses (we used acrylic blends if I remember right). As a result, they didn't require hardcoating and they typically don't have the "hazing" problem...

End of today's boring engineering lesson.

[rwsaunders]

Yep...2001 A6 Avant. The whole process maybe took 45-60 minutes.

[wc1934]

I used maguires plastic x- (can't recall the exact name) - headlamps were cloudy (not real bad, but noticeable) and I was pretty pleased how they turned out - went to the toyota dealer asking if they had such a product - they did not - wanted to sell me new plastic covers for something like 200 buck apiece - maguire's was about 5 bucks at walmart.