Headlight restoration

[Crusoe]

Getting dark up here of an evening in Scotland now so noticing my lights are not as good as they should be. Both lenses are quite frosted looking where the plastic has reacted to sunlight or just degraded a bit. Bought a restoration kit with a drill attachment some grinding pastes and a uv clear coat protector. Will be giving it a try at the weekend if I get the time and might take some before and after pics. Has anyone else restored hazy headlights with any tips and tricks before I go at it myself? Guessing masking off with some tape might be a good idea when using a power polisher near paintwork.

 

[srhutch]

take a look at www.detailingworld.co.uk lots of info on there.

 

[Crusoe]

got a video how to guide linked from there, looks easy enough cheers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sZg9cj2hxI&feature=related

 

[AlanJ]

got a video how to guide linked from there, looks easy enough cheers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sZg9cj2hxI&feature=related

Excellent video!

 

[RustyZ4]

Yeh superb video

 

[Zed Five]

try a bit of t-cut and elbow grease. You will be plesantly surprised how well it works on the Z4 headlamps. :wink:

 

[Crusoe]

Might give it another go and take a bit more off, still a few deeper chips but quite happy with the initial results
Before:

After:

 

[srhutch]

they were pretty badm, but look good now

 

[Crusoe]

Yeah they were getting quite bad, passenger side where I usually park gets the sun so that one was a lot worse. Was definitly worth the effort and should make a big difference, not tried it in the dark yet but even in the day time it was very noticable with the lights on.

 

[Rudd]

Crusoe, what did you use and method? and did you take your lights out to do it?

the results look great! im going to check mine later

 

[Crusoe]

Crusoe, what did you use and method? and did you take your lights out to do it?

the results look great! im going to check mine later

Certainly not an expert, the instructions in the video I quoted are probably the easiest to follow and plenty on the detailing site earlier in the thread.

I bought a Headlight Restoration Kit from ebay and it had all the things I needed and instructions in the box. Basic instructions were to clean the lights with normal glass cleaner to remove any bugs and grit, mask off the paintwork so you don't touch it with the abrasive, use the drill attachment and buffing pads to apply the abrasive (rough abrasive A then finer abrasive B) and at the same time use a spray bottle of water to make sure the pad didn't dry out and the plastic didn't get too hot. Once all smoothed down and damaged layer removed change to the polishing pad and buff to a shine.