Headlight Outter Plastic 'fogging' - Can this be polished?

E

EdButler

Senior member
 Sheffield
Hi All, someone else must also have had this...

The outter plastic cover of my headlights is starting to 'fog' and by this i mean its not as glass-like as it should be (nothing to do with water!). You can feel the difference when running your nail over the plastic. The foggy area is raised and non-uniform. Fortunately its barely in the projection area of the light, but its still unsightly and possibly could dazzle others :(

Does anyone know how i could get rid of this? Maybe theres a polish i could use?

Dodgy pic alert to try to show it...
IMG_0137.jpg
 
I had something similar with mine, and my new clear ones. I sanded them down, used a scratch remover paste and then a glass polish. If you have a look at the Lights link in my sig it'll give you more detail on what I've done - got rid of quite a big scratch. Would have been easier with the 2000+ paper to finish.

There is a clip on YouTube by someone doing the above with an orbital polisher.
 
I presume the rest of the light is dirty :poke:

I have seen threads on restoring headlights to former glory on detailing world,so would suggest popping over there and taking a look.
 
srhutch said:
I presume the rest of the light is dirty :poke:
Click to expand...
:oops: Not really!! :( They just need a mega polish! I just highlighted the most obvious parts but i must admit, they're pretty shocking arent they...

Cheers for the help guys, looks like i have a mini project on my hands :)
 
I saw an ad for Meguiars plastic headlight polish on TV the other day and my "gearhead NHRA" pal said " Know what works just as good? Pledge, household furniture polish pledge...." This guy (and his brother) have a history of hotrods, vettes, shiny muscle cars etc so it may work...I haven't tried it so can't say for sure if it's OK....
 
I've used Meguirs clear plastic cleaner and plastic polish on mine with 10 minutes work with the pc at speed.
Removed all the minor marks and scratches in them a treat.

Only caveat is to avoid heat build up that could melt the plastic.

Have used fine grade paper too to get deep scratches out of lights but not on the Zed.
 
Hi

I had the same problem and tackled it with Autoglym Clay Bar and Vehicle Detailer. They came up a treat!

While the kit costs around £28 (Halfords) I would HIGHLY recommend claying the paint, it is amazing stuff.

Gotta be worth a try :thumbsup:
 
A method that I used once involved rubbing the surface with toothpaste. Sounds barking mad but does the trick.
 
Same principle but I used Jif liquid many years ago to remove scratches from the face of a Swatch watch on many occaisions, I would think any mild abrasive liquid would do the same job if you are careful.
 
Mafoo said:
A method that I used once involved rubbing the surface with toothpaste. Sounds barking mad but does the trick.
Click to expand...

x2 and then polished off with some megs plastx... did my old Honda lights looked good as new.
 
on the pledge front.... I've always cleaned front and rear lenses on cars for year with pledge and found it works really well particularly on rears..
 
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