I got my headlights polished

T

TommyGG

Member
There's a inuendo there I'm sure! Before they were super duper cloudy. Stupidly didn't take any before photos, but trust me they looked bad!

Got them done now:

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Dead pleased with them, guy did an amazing job. Look pretty much brand new. He also explained to me he coated them in a protective polymer which will mean they shouldn't cloud again for a few years. (Told me about these tests he'd done with no polymer, vs no polymer with wax, vs polymer).

Dr Headlights did them for me:
http://drheadlightlondon.wix.com/drheadlight

Really super friendly and passionate guy, highly recommend him! Did them both for £75, not the cheapest quote I got but I'd 100% definitely go with him again as his photos on his site looked the best, and he was very good and professional. Spent a good 3 hours doing them. He drove to me to do them as well, I left him to it and he just called me when he'd finished.

If anyone else goes with him let him know the guy with the blue Z4 recommended him!
 
That's a great photo, as far as I know that's the only other zed out there in that colour! I think the matte blue looks a lot better with black rims and fully black grills though
 
i cant understand why you couldn't get someone to do this for you with a rotary polisher and some cutting compound?
 
Nova2k7 said:
i cant understand why you couldn't get someone to do this for you with a rotary polisher and some cutting compound?
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Agreed. £75 is a lot of money for a small job.

You could buy a rotary polisher and polishes and pads for not much more!
 
Don't know anyone with a rotary polisher or cutting compound! I wouldn't trust myself to do it, getting someone else to do it would be harder to arrange and I'd be worried I'd/they'd damage the wrap/paintwork. £75 seems like a lot but I think it was a fair price and am happy with it :) Sometimes it's just easier to get someone else to do it

£75 is definitely better value than a bazillion parts BMW sell for equally/worse value prices (eg £35 for a plastic cup holder lol), and £20 ph seems fine when you consider he travelled to me as well.
 
Maniac said:
Well.. he's got it done now so no point rubbing it in... they look good.
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Absolutely. Not my intention at all. It looks really good.

Forgot you've got a wrap too so the rotary wouldn't get much use!!
 
I think that's very good for £75. Can he do much with mine? They don't look great at the moment, think the right side was caused my condensation and it might be on the inside of the lights.



 
Probably because a rotary polisher and compound won't cut it ;) you have to sand the lense first with multiple grades then a 2 or 3 stage polish as well. From the pictures they appear to have been done right.
If you look at pretty much any degrading lense, you might notice that theres a coating that is failing. That needs sanding off completely.
 
Minihen_LDN said:
I think that's very good for £75. Can he do much with mine? They don't look great at the moment, think the right side was caused my condensation and it might be on the inside of the lights.



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Yours can be fixed yes. You can see the patches which is the failed coating. I'll put some pics up of some I did for a friend in a sec...
 
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This is during sanding off the coating. You can clearly see the coating being completely removed.
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I used this with a standard electric drill and mine came up fine. (took about 45mins-1hr per lamp)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/3M-Headlight-Restoration-Discoloured-Headlights/dp/B0078IHJ1K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382209686&sr=8-1&keywords=3m+headlight+restoration+kit

With hindsight, perhaps one kit per headlamp may be worthwhile, rather than one kit for the pair, especially if they are particularly bad. ( It's got to be worth a try before looking at £200-£300 for new lamps !)
 
If the coating has failed it needs removing first but polishing will improve it still. I'll be doing the z4 headlight I split later so will post some pics up of what to do.
 
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