Evening all, my headlights could do with restoring back to their former glory (just std ones) has anyone used those kits etc or can suggest the best one for the job.

I am also after some iron x, so if there's a one stop shop with decent prices you can share that would be great.

Cheers,

Kyle.

Turtlewax came out ontop on a review i saw on mightycarmods. Its a proper headlight restorer:)

I have restored many vehicles plastic headlights by using 1200 grade wet and dry, use plenty of water and use the wet and dry in long movements not circular, then dry off and use either G3 cutting compound or going straight to using T cut and a clean non nylon cloth again dont make circular movements if possible clean off an all should be good

I watched devonutopia at the big meet do a couple of fabia headlights using very fine wet & dry on what looked like a ceramic block and then machine polished them. Results were very impressive.

Used a meguiars one on a mates mk5 golf. . Worked great. . Wet and dried it as explained on an earlier post in here then used the "plastex" stuff that comes in the kit on a drill powered polishing pad(also in the kit) . . Came up like brand new

kit was about £20

Edited 12 September, 201312 yr by vrs'burks

Yer seen a guy use the megs stuff too on his bora, the difference was amazing. It comes with thr correct wet and dry now when before it didnt come with any.

I watched devonutopia at the big meet do a couple of fabia headlights using very fine wet & dry on what looked like a ceramic block and then machine polished them. Results were very impressive.

It was a Staedtler Eraser, but it did the job very well.

 

I also start with 1200 grit, and work up to 2500 grit before using a compound polish and then more refined polishes.  Usually brings up headlights very well indeed.

 

I don't think any "bottled" headlight restorer can ever do the same job as it simply won#t have the cutting power required.

+1 for the meguires kit. £19.99 from halfrauds. Nice piece of kit n results were great.

Thanks for all the replies.

Time to have a look round then, I've seen something about a sealer or something that needs to be used, or they'll end up same again?

Eventually they go again, but only after a fair amount of time.  Have a vague memory of something called Aerospace 303 which is a UV protector.

Yeh, reviews on amazon for one or two whine that that's not included. Where do you get wet and dry from as I've never really seen it at different grades etc...probably because I've never looked either.

Also...can you something like Meguiars Plastx on paintwork? i assume its a mild cutting compound? this is an area i've never had anything to do with before hence my endless questions.

For paint work using within ever cutting compond is most suitable, can you use a standard argos apecial car polisher or should you really use a proper machine polisher? p.s expect more questions in the car care section as i'd like to make mine shine like glass at some point

That's ok, it's a part time job for me.

I use a proper polisher and would recommend anyone else do the same.

Halfords sell wet and dry. Usually in the body repair/paint section, in bright yellow Packs

I have refurbished two sets of headlights by basically starting off at 600 grit wet and dry, and working my way up to 2000.

 

Then once all the pitting and swirls have gone, i use a very fine grade cutting compound (not sure of the grade as its 20+ years old) but they come out really good.

 

Time consuming but cheap. I bought the wet and dry to do the first set, and i still have enough left over for atleast another two sets of headlights.

Think my headlights have gone beyond the point of restoring, or that the cloudyness is on the inside?

Think my headlights have gone beyond the point of restoring, or that the cloudyness is on the inside?

Very rare for them to go on the inside.

I made a mistake and used a grit that wasn't fine enough. (dont remember the number) and made one of my headlights worse. Is this fixable still with the correct grade of wet and dry? 

I never use harsher than 1200 grit on headlights usually, 600 you might get away with for a little bit before refining.  If you've used something more like rough sandpaper, you should be able to sort with finer W&D - you need to cut back through the scratches you've made.

 

Generally I will always go with a thorough 1200 grit, then a fairly long 2000 grit, and then a small amount of 2500.  You can compound polish right from 2000 grit - 2500 is only for a bit of peace of mind anyway.

Very rare for them to go on the inside.

I've tried a few methods like you said but maybe I just need to do it with another method, used the meguairs stuff. Didn't really do much to mine. Ill get some photos up.

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Toothpaste seems to work reasonable well - depending how bad they are in the first place I guess!

One of the ones on my van is on the way, it's not awful but

it's getting worse..  

Might give the toothpaste method a go first and see

how well that does, I might also try some ceramic tile adhesive,

that stuff has very surprising abrasive cleaning properties.

I got some steelmarks out of a porcelain sink using that when NOTHING

else came close to removing them.  

I would rub whatever you use between your fingers to work out the abrasiveness of it.  I wouldn't anything too abrasive on headlights.  Porcelain fair enough though.

It's like thick jif consistency wise the brand I use when I'm  

tiling (of which I do a lot) I probably get through 20 to 30 10L tubs a year.

I discovered it's cleaning properties when I was tiling above a bath.  

When I was done there was some blobs in the 2 inches of water I leave  

in a bath when I'm tiling above it, it stops any blobs from hardening until I'm ready

to clean them up. (sadly the bath was quite soap scummy) anyhow

in the process of sponging it all clean I noticed this stuff had cut through  

the soap scum like it wasn't there and had left the bath gleaming.

So I dabbed a tiny bit on a sponge and went to work on the rest of it

and it came up like new. Then I went home and gave it a try on the

grey steelmarks on my porcelain kitchen sink and BANG, gone in a jiffy.

So, it may work a treat, was just looking on ebay and £25 will get me a new

headlamp housing if I botch it. It's worth a whack...

Might be good for the first cut if like Cif/Jif then.  Then perhaps a bit of toothpaste, then polishing with something else from the kitchen sink / bathroom cupboard

Devonutopia, would this be Anygood for the final polish for the headlight? Quotes having a uv protector and seems to be used by other people? http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00A3S1RGU/ref=pd_aw_sbs_3?pi=SY115

Also, can't fund a proper polisher at the minute so was thinking of removing headlights and using a drill attachment, what type would be best/cheapest? E.g, foam/lambswool?

Thanks in advance!

Kyle

A coating of that would be good.  I would be a little concerned about a drill attachment.  Something never seems right.  Use lambswool for the initial cutting but take care not to get the surface too hot as you could burn it.  Foam pads to finish - I use a fairly tough one initiailly, then a softer one with a gentler polish at the end.  It's all about the initial cutting, then the refining.