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Login to post Forums » Grassroots Motorsports » please impart thy collectove wisdom on plastic headlight restoration

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Dec. 1, 2011 8:46 p.m. Dusterbd13 Reader

yup. my headlights on the daily suck. realized this after just driving the 89 crx si for 100 miles through the backwoods at night.

ive got plastic headlight housings. ive seen at least eleventy billion restoration kits on the market to polish the plastic lenses and make them clear again. so which ones actually work, and work well? which is, for all intents and purposes, the best? or is it not a kit, but a collection of products and techniques that is the best solution? i need to do three of my cars now, the truck, the subaru, and the toyota.

so, please impart thy wisdom to this young grasshopper.

michael
Dec. 1, 2011 8:56 p.m. thestig99 Reader

Wetsand, 2000 grit usually works well for me. Buff with the compound of your choice.

Not sure how to KEEP them clear, I've heard just waxing them regularly? Maybe one of the kits has a solution there?
Dec. 1, 2011 9:05 p.m. Javelin SuperDork

Wetsanding is the only way. Skip all of the "restoration in a bottle" jazz, they're snake oil.
Dec. 1, 2011 9:10 p.m. ansonivan Dork

I've seen decent results from wet sanding followed by a proper UV clear coat. Without the clear any polishing is temporary.
Dec. 1, 2011 9:15 p.m. Tom Suddard SonDork

Sand ALL of the yellowed/degraded plastic off with a DA and 800 grit, then spray with regular UV resistant automotive clear coat. They'll look brand new, and last as long as your paint finish. I've done this probably 15 times and they've looked perfect every time.
Dec. 1, 2011 9:20 p.m. NGTD Dork

3M makes a kit, if you don't want to get all the stuff together yourself. Instructions and everything. I did my 97 Outback and my 98 Explorer, what a difference!
Dec. 1, 2011 9:21 p.m. Taiden Dork

The headlight restoration kits work, but they basically just wet sand and polish them. 3m or bust.
Dec. 1, 2011 9:25 p.m. emodspitfire Reader

My '89 Civic SI has glass lenses: Do the hatchback lenses fit in the CRX? Are glass lenses available for the CRX?

Rog
Dec. 1, 2011 10:02 p.m. hotrodlarry Reader

I've used the Turtle Wax kit ( retails for like $9) and it's worked well. I did at least 4 cars with the kit.

I was also told that toothpaste and a towel works just as well.

Like the others have said, basically you're wet sanding the lenses. All depends on how much $$ you wanna spend.
Dec. 1, 2011 10:08 p.m. mmosbey Reader

I used the Meguiar's kit, and it did a decent job on some really far gone WJ headlights. I also used the kit to clean up some light frosting on my G35. It's not a miracle in a box, but it certainly works.
Dec. 1, 2011 10:43 p.m. BoxheadTim SuperDork

I used the Meguiar's kit as well on a couple of cars - basically wet sanded the headlight, the polished it with the kit. Mind you, I have no idea re the longevity of this process as I sold both vehicles fairly shortly afterwards.
Dec. 1, 2011 11:05 p.m. Vigo SuperDork

Ive done this numerous times in numerous ways.

Cleaning them is just a bunch of wet sanding. Keeping them clean can be a few things.

The grit level you start with depends on how bad the lights are. Honestly, being able to get a good result without starting lower than 1000 grit is pretty rare.

Depending on how bad the lights are, you need to start with 400 or 600 grit. It feels like you're ruining them while you do it, but a lot of them need it. There's been several times where i started with 1k and worked my way up only to have to start all over again with 400 or 600 because i didnt like how it turned out.

But basically you are just going 400/600 >1000 > 1500 >2000 > polishing compound > sealer.

Automotive clear coat is probably best. I havent done it. I buy one of the kits (it comes in a foil-looking bag for ~$20) that comes with some pouches of really badass sealer in it. I've found that if you are sparing you can stretch one bag over ~3 sets of lights. Failing either of those, Waxing regularly is the next best thing.

But, I honestly only buy that kit for the sealer. I havent seen ANY kit that comes with the necessary amount/variety of abrasives to do a thorough job on anything more than the most mildly discolored lights. On the plus side, Walmart sells everything you need and almost everyone has one of those nearby, whereas some of the better kits can be tricky to get a hold of locally.
Dec. 1, 2011 11:17 p.m. nderwater SuperDork

I used a parts-store wet sanding kit. The difference was noticeable, but it turns out that the lenses on our E39 were yellowing and clouding on the inside, not just the exterior surface, so the results weren't as good as I'd first hoped.
Dec. 2, 2011 12:16 a.m. SkinnyG HalfDork

I've done toothpaste. It does work well.
Dec. 2, 2011 5:57 a.m. Will Dork

I used the Meguiar's kit, but found out that the roughest sandpaper in the kit was WAAAAAAY too aggressive, at least for my lights. I recommend starting out with the smoothest sandpaper first.

Also, regular buffing compound was much more effective than the stuff Meguiar's provided. So I guess what I'm saying is skip the kit, and just get some 1000-2000 grit paper and buffing compound.
Dec. 2, 2011 6:17 a.m. Dusterbd13 Reader

ok, so its effectively wetsand,, polish, shoot with clear. no problem. i think i even have all the paper in my shop.

and the crx does have glass lenses. and cheap bulbs. the headlights in that car blow my dailys with silverstars out of the water, and im attributing that to the yellowd/dingy housings in them.

thanks for the wisdom.

as far as clear, what should i use? gotta be rattle can.

michael
Dec. 2, 2011 6:39 a.m. corytate HalfDork

this is what i did for my wife's
http://newbeetle.org/forums/new-member-forum/53364-1st-car-hi-everyone-2.html

this is actually her thread on the beetle forum, and actual results from her car.
this stuff is awesome.
when I worked at walmart, it was the stuff we used.
it has a sealer also, unlike most of the other brands.
Dec. 2, 2011 6:40 a.m. corytate HalfDork

oh, and the package for 1 car only costs like 15 bucks at walmart. it's with the actual bulbs instead of with the other restorer products.
Dec. 2, 2011 8:59 a.m. foxtrapper SuperDork

Being cheap and somewhat lazy about this sort of thing, I tried toothpaste as well some paint polish I had. Both worked surprizingly well. No, not 100% perfect, just a whole lot better than what they were when I started. Took less than five minutes.

Look closely at your lenses to make sure the problem is on the outside. Sometimes it can be inside. My truck for example, has one lens that's cloudy and murky on the inside of the lens.
Dec. 2, 2011 10:26 a.m. rotard Reader

The only real fix is to replace them. Skipping the science jargon, the plastic gets exposed to a lot of stuff, degrades, and loses its properties over the years. If parts are NLA, then it makes sense to scrub scrub scrub, but, you'll get at best mediocre results and you'll notice that the yellowing will return in a relatively quick fashion.
Dec. 2, 2011 10:35 a.m. Otto Maddox Dork

I've had great luck just using whatever WalMart sells in a little squeeze bottle for $4. The yellowing came back after a few months on my Miata but on my Lexus it has held up for a couple of years.
Dec. 2, 2011 10:40 a.m. pinchvalve SuperDork

Wet sanding is the only way to go. My 2-cents is that after the wetsand, hit it with this stuff:

Then seal if you like, or just hit it with the Mother's every so often to keep the yellowing away. This stuff is awesome.
Dec. 2, 2011 11:56 a.m. DaveEstey Dork

PlasticX does work but not if the headlights are too far gone.

I've used the 3M kit with great success.

PS> My 91 CRX si had glass headlights.
Dec. 2, 2011 12:10 p.m. dlmater Reader

nderwater wrote:

I used a parts-store wet sanding kit. The difference was noticeable, but it turns out that the lenses on our E39 were yellowing and clouding on the inside, not just the exterior surface, so the results weren't as good as I'd first hoped.

I had the same issue on my '97 Yukon lenses. The outside looked great after polishing, but the inside of the lenses were still yellow and cloudy. The overall result was disappointing.

This thread has reminded me I need to replace them.
Dec. 2, 2011 12:50 p.m. Rob_Mopar Dork

pinchvalve wrote:

Wet sanding is the only way to go. My 2-cents is that after the wetsand, hit it with this stuff:

Then seal if you like, or just hit it with the Mother's every so often to keep the yellowing away. This stuff is awesome.

That's what I've used with decent results. Want to try the UV stable clear at some point.

A few weeks ago a buddy came by my shop with his '01 Ram. The headlights had clouded over pretty bad. While he was changing his oil I grabbed the Mother's and just polished them by hand with a rag. Wasn't perfect but light could pass through them. His wife called later and thanked me. She said they could actually see the road on the way home!

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