9 replies to this topic

[rickyzero]

The lenses on my front headlights have seen better days. The perspex is rough to the touch and always looks dirty. There are countless guides online on how to restore car headlights which make it look simple but I've read a thread on here saying our front lenses are made from a different material than usual.

Has anyone had a go at wet sanding and polishing the front headlights with any success? I recently fitted HIDs on main and dipped beam and the lenses are now letting the side down!

[Duncan VXR]

Not tried it myself but know Mike Harris has done this to a few sets and confirms it works for minoe scratches etc. Got a scuff on one of mine so can let you know in a few days sure I read there was some kind of film on our lights but never really looked into it tbh

[elrikos]

Our lights are laquered plastic. The polishing works fine but you need to bear in mind that if you sand through the laquer one one spot you'll need to sand all the rest off before repainting. If you don't you'll see the non laquered patch even after relaquering. Also the oven trick works perfectly for removing lenses from the light unit (100 degrees for about 10 mins) for the final polish I used a product called novus. It's a well known product in the pinball industry where they use it to polish plastic pinball parts. Is about £5 for a large bottle and is available from pinballheaven.co.uk

Edited by elrikos, 10 January 2010 - 09:31 PM.

[oblomov]

Quite a few people have done this but I think I may have been the first. The headlights on the car when I got it didn't just have minor blemishes, they were well and truly heavily pitted. Basically I started with 240 grit wet and dry and completely destroyed the lens surface taking it down below the deepest piting. Then from there I went through half a dozen finer grits, each used in the opposite direction on the lens to the previous until I ended up around 1500, and then from there used various finer polishing compounds. By doing it that way I avoided getting a ripple effect on the lens which is what happens if you polish out individual pits or try to do a large area. I'm a fairly experienced polisher from having worked in the wholesale jewellery trade polishing gold and silver and renovating plastic display stands in preparation for trade shows. It's not a job for the faint hearted. With smaller marks you can polish them out with stuff like Xerapol or Renovo scratch remover. It was said the lenses had an anti UV coating to prevent them yellowing but mine have never yellowed (5 years) but then the car is garaged most of the time when not in use.

Edited by oblomov, 10 January 2010 - 09:27 PM.

[Muncher]

I've tried it and wouldn't recommend it to anyone! Rears are easy, not the fronts!

[rickyzero]

Not tried it myself but know Mike Harris has done this to a few sets and confirms it works for minoe scratches etc. Got a scuff on one of mine so can let you know in a few days sure I read there was some kind of film on our lights but never really looked into it tbh

Let me know how you do get on Duncan if you're going to give it a try. I think I'll give it a go when I get the chance. I'll also have to take mine right back with some pretty severe wet and dry at first because they're in a right state. I've managed to remove some pretty serious scratching from guitars worth more than two grand so I'm not too worried about giving it a try, it was just the lacquer that concerned me. Can anyone recommend a lacquer suitable?

[oblomov]

I've tried it and wouldn't recommend it to anyone!

Rears are easy, not the fronts!

Your're quite right there. The difficulty with the fronts is that you are polishing in 3 planes and also on curved surfaces so it's difficult to avoid ripples unless you know what you're doing. One of the reasons I didn't post up how I did it was because I didn't want people with little polishing experience taking on what is basically not a job for a novice and the chance of ruining their headlights. Each of my headlights was an eight hour job. Seem to remember I finished with Farecla G3 and G10 compounds but I'm not sure

[slowmotion]

Hi I have used a polishing kit for alloy with different polishing soaps and hard to soft polishing wheels which attach to your drill, mine where quite scratched but it buffed out so you can't see a mark in it, a perfect job with the soap and wheels if you can borrow one from someone

[jonnyboy]

I had the typical swirl marks on my fronts and rears but I just polished them using the porter cable as you would the body work. Came up looking like they had just left the factory.

[Muncher]

I even sent mine off to a professional polishing company who do aircraft canopies and even they couldn't manage it. Unless you are prepared to buy new ones I would not touch them...