Hi all,

 

as @TMB pointed out in one of my previous posts my headlights are pretty bad and need sorting out. So I was wondering what people recommend I’ve been looking at maguires kit but for some fine sand paper, polish and pad it seems a little much!

 

so any recommendations would be great also if anyone can recommend some decent bulbs that will give a modern white glow that would be great! 

I used the 3M kit on mine. Got good results but went for new lights in the end.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3M-Headlight-Headlamp-Lens-Restoration-Polish-Kit-U-just-need-a-drill-VideoBelow-/391895931692?_trksid=p2349526.m4383.l4275.c10

After an advisory on mine, I used T CUT with a wool pad. No problems next year.  I now use Turtle wax before a Mot. Seems to keep the little man with hammer happy.

I might just get some sanding discs for my drill as I’ve got cutting compound and polish already. That’s all that seems to be in the kits anyway.

 

ill be replacing the headlights eventually but that will be after the body work is all done which could be a while 

Used 3M kit here aswell, it doesnt last forever, but the kit can be used many times.

I put some 100w ice white bulbs in my old sdi they made a big difference 

IN 2017 I got an advisory for both headlamps

Nearside Front Headlamp has a product on the lens but not seriously reducing light output (1.7.5a)

Offside Front Headlamp has a product on the lens but not seriously reducing light output (1.7.5a)

It was the usual clouding  of the polycarbonate type cover . It came clear with T CUT, but a year later came back. I've found that Turtlewax do a UV  retardant polish. So now ,before MOT ,I polish the lens cover with t cut and apply TURTLEWAX. Handy time as my MOT is due in October.

I just need light to pass through them to start with haha 😂 I do intend on getting some more modern looking headlights eventually but I want to get the rest of the body work up to scratch as I don’t think it’s ever been polished and the rear bumper needs repainting first.

Just to add that I have found that if you firmly buff the lights with non abrasive glass cleaner and a fluffy microfiber cloth at least once a week you can keep the lights perfectly clear. I think that allowing dirt from the road / rain etc. etches the plastic. Done this with 2 x 2005 Fabias and lens is as clear as new - apart from a few marks from stones. MOT man asked if I had replaced the lights, was surprised they were originals.

It's UV that degrades the polycarbonate lens, it's possible that whatever you're using is leaving a protective coat like a sunscreen.

The Turtle wax headlamp restorer I mentioned contains a UV SCREEN. Problem is that I'd suspect that every time you wash car/take it through car wash the protection is removed. As i memtioned, my MOT is in October, so it's a nice time to get the extra light ready for winter and keep the MOT man happy. ( Though I suspect it has him looking for other things to advise on to keep the MOT Inspector happy)

I’ve ordered a 3m kit for my first time doing it. Would you guys recommended taking the headlights out to do this? Don’t fancy catching the body work lol

I just masked the surrounding bodywork and had no problems. You get some masking tape in the kit.

Hi, 

I used toothpaste, it got rid of all the haze. No hard work easy to use. Then sprayed with  light protector from Race Glaze.

Untouched now for 3 -4 years still as good. Not a good idea to use abrasives on plastics.

I always use wet and dry sheets, followed by rubbing compound and polish, hard work but cheap and works better than any kits I have tried.

Mask off or be really careful of any body work panels as sandpaper + bodywork = scratches!

First start with a wet 600 grit sheet, rub until you completely the whole light removing all of the yellow areas.

Then move up to 800 grit and doesn't the same

Then 1000 grit 1200 1500 and finally 2000 grit if you can get it.

(my local factors sell it for 30p a sheet)

Once you have gone through the grades, use the rubbing compound, followed by decent quality polish.

If your headlights only have minor glazing you could try starting with say 800 or 1000 grit but I started with the 600.

Worked really well on my daughters Astra H which seem to suffer really badly but that was a couple of years ago and still look good now.

Hope this helps as I'm sure a few sheets of wet and dry is alot cheaper than these kits.

I have also tried the old toothpaste method but will only work if you have very slight clouding of the lights.

And only do it by hand so you can control the amount of pressure used.

39 minutes ago, john42 said:

Hi, 

I used toothpaste, it got rid of all the haze. No hard work easy to use. Then sprayed with  light protector from Race Glaze.

Untouched now for 3 -4 years still as good. Not a good idea to use abrasives on plastics.

 

Toothpaste wouldn't even touch mine. Neither would Brasso, T-Cut or anything else like that.

20 minutes ago, TMB said:

 

Toothpaste wouldn't even touch mine. Neither would Brasso, T-Cut or anything else like that.

 

Haha same, ill take a picture of my head lights tomorrow and you’ll see just how bad they are.

 

My 3m kit awaiting collection as well as several other parts. The car will be like new when it’s done if not better

I use this stuff ....

 

 

... and had some great results with a rotary polisher ....

 

 

Hi guys,

 

While toothpaste or polishing compound can give you a decent effect, it usually won't make your lights look 100% new because there normally would be still plenty of oxidised plastic that just needs to be taken out. I've done it in two cars with sanding paper and clear spray lacquer. The effect was good enough for them to blend into a showroom Also I was quite lazy because in both cases the headlights were not removed from the vehicle. Instead of that, I used meters of masking tape and newspapers to cover the area around the lights. I really got away with that to be honest. But it's risky.

 

This technique in a nutshell: prepare a good quality surface for spraying and allow the clear lacquer to fill the microscratches of 2500 grit paper.

 

You need: all possible sanding papers between 100 - 2500, water, some sort of a degreaser and a can of good quality high gloss clear lacquer.

1. Starting from 100 grit may sound like an aggresive approach but the point is, you need to use each of the papers for long enough so by the time you get to 1000s, there should be no scratches. As long as you make sure to wash the surface between different grit sizes. Also whenever in doubt, pour water on it as you're sanding. Once you get to your 2000-2500, inspect the surface - it should be absolutely smooth but doesn't need to be very clear as it's matte. Now it can be cleaned, probably isopropyl alcohol would be a standard choice here.
2. If it's clean and dry we can start apllying thin, even layers of lacquer. At this point you will start thanking yourself for choosing this way because the headlights will start looking brand new.
3. A couple minutes later the lacquer will go cloudy as it starts reacting. This happened to me both in Fabia MK1 and Clio III. You just need to let it dry for couple hours, it should be back to normal.

Both cars with headlights restored as above served me for quite a long time. Well applied lacquer is actually very durable, I didn't notice any difference to brand new headlights, even if I used high beams a lot etc.

Edited 16 February, 20206 yr by 1200cc

A good posting, buy a good lacquer, preferably a 2 pack one made up by a paint shop from a proper UV resistant lacquer, I did some repairs on a gouge to my rear door, sill & lower wheel arch on my Octavia did a really good job even if I say so myself especially for a silver metallic blow in job.

 

However I said no to the lacquer at the paint shop believing that I had one in stock but I didnt, the best I had was a polyurethane finish intended for wooden furniture, it looked great but after a few months has yellowed, you would not want that on headlights.

I know for the best results I would need to remove the lights and sand back all the nasty corroded scratched plastic from the lens. I’m not going to go that far at this point simply because at this point I’m unsure as what is going to happen to the head lights once the project is done. I’m currently debating factory xenons or some custom led headlights sort of like the MK3.

For the people who're advocating "sandpaper", wet 'n' dry papers are available down to 12_000 (twelve thousand) grit.

1 minute ago, KenONeill said:

For the people who're advocating "sandpaper", wet 'n' dry papers are available down to 12_000 (twelve thousand) grit.

Thanks, didn't know that. Could be another way, to really polish the plastic so it's perfect itself? But you don't actually need to make the surface that smooth if you spray it - lacquer does all the hard work for you.

Something seems strange about painting the lens lacquer or not lol don’t know why. I’ll post the before and after of the m3 kit and how long it takes etc but below is a quick shot of my headlights now. 

They are both about the same but on different angles, the left doesn’t look too bad but you can see how bad they really are on the right.

Edited 17 February, 20206 yr by mikey362
Can’t tell my left from my other left 🤪