Headlight restoration products?

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LesterSleepsIn

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Headlight restoration products?
« on: 30 Sep 2018, 01:44 pm »
Can anyone recommend a good headlight restoration product, such as the TurtleWax, Mequiers, Mother’s, etc on Amazon?

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_4_11?url=search-alias%3Dautomotive&field-keywords=headlight+cleaner&sprefix=Headlight++%2Cautomotive%2C189&crid=2KYBTFN1QRDWD

My thanks in advance.

Lester

mcgsxr

Re: Headlight restoration products?
« Reply #1 on: 30 Sep 2018, 02:05 pm »
What car?

My 2005 CLK had it done by a previous owner, but I’d like to clean it up to my standards. 

Following with interest!

Photon46

Re: Headlight restoration products?
« Reply #2 on: 30 Sep 2018, 02:41 pm »
Most of them will work ok if you use them correctly.  There are limits to what those products can achieve if the covers are really far gone. I've also brought back headlamp covers by wet sanding the hazed areas with progressively smaller grits of wet and dry sand paper used with water (depending on how bad the problem is - maybe 600 to start - and ending with 2000-2500 grit) then final polishing with auto compound and a buffer. You might have to do hard to get to places by hand. For that, I'd wrap a soft microfiber cloth around something like a big tongue depressor and apply compound to that. There are plastic polishes that work would well for the final polish too. Plastic polishing takes the right touch and you can make things worse instead of better if you get the surface too hot with your polishing efforts. Keep tool speeds at low rpm. It's better to help avoid having to do this and regular use of a plastic uv protectant is what I've been doing for several years. This is what I'm using now.

https://www.amazon.com/Mothers-8808-08808-PowerPlastic-4Lights/dp/B001DKJU8Y/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1538318330&sr=8-2&keywords=mothers+power+plastic+4+lights

There are spray on protectant finishes for headlamps but I've avoided those because any of those spray-on finished are probably eventually going to deteriorate and start yellowing or flaking. Once the headlamp covers have been damaged, they're never going to be like new again but you can make them a lot better.

2bigears

Re: Headlight restoration products?
« Reply #3 on: 30 Sep 2018, 04:09 pm »
 :D small grit wet sanding,,,,then can you just give a mist of UV spray protectant ? Just a very light spray ?  :popcorn:

Peter J

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Re: Headlight restoration products?
« Reply #4 on: 30 Sep 2018, 04:17 pm »
I've had mixed results with a variety of products. It really depends on the damage you're trying to repair. Beyond wax, I imagine they all use some sort of abrasive. From extremely fine polishing compound to fine wet/dry sandpaper.

Most OEM light assemblies I've messed with have some of clear coating on the actual plastic lens. I'd guess some sort of acrylic coating. If this is damaged, the process is to abrade it off and actually polish the bare lens, which works fine but at this point the protective coating is gone and will require more frequent preventative maintenance. Kinda like wax on the paint. It's a two edged sword, for sure. UV is hard on everything, some things deteriorate faster.


It occurs to me  that aftermarket assemblies likely do away with such coatings as a cost saving measure. I've used them with success, but don't kid myself about them being the same as OEM at half the cost or less.


Perhaps that's all TMI. Photos of what you're working with may be helpful.

SoCalWJS

Re: Headlight restoration products?
« Reply #5 on: 30 Sep 2018, 04:34 pm »
I've used the Mother's Powerball on some headlights. Works pretty good. For awhile. Very temporary results. Almost all headlights are plastic and as such will not hold up long term. Only solution according to many is to buy expensive (and heavier) glass aftermarket headlights.

Folsom

Re: Headlight restoration products?
« Reply #6 on: 30 Sep 2018, 04:49 pm »
I looked into this. The ONLY way to avoid buying new headlights is to sandpaper and spray clear coat on them. Obviously unless you remove them and do it in a professional paint booth, the results are only OK, to not even so good.

Prevention products work, but you can only do that if you'r re starting new.

dynaflo

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Re: Headlight restoration products?
« Reply #7 on: 1 Oct 2018, 12:59 pm »
I achieved very good results with 3Ms restoration product.

undertowogt1

Re: Headlight restoration products?
« Reply #8 on: 1 Oct 2018, 02:05 pm »
I looked into this. The ONLY way to avoid buying new headlights is to sandpaper and spray clear coat on them. Obviously unless you remove them and do it in a professional paint booth, the results are only OK, to not even so good.

Prevention products work, but you can only do that if you'r re starting new.

I have looked into this as well, I bought all the things I need. As far as I know any other product wont last very long

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEJbKLZ7RmM&t=5s

S Clark

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Re: Headlight restoration products?
« Reply #9 on: 1 Oct 2018, 03:32 pm »
I achieved very good results with 3Ms restoration product.
Most of the restoration kits work well, even the cheap Harbor Freight ones.  As an added bonus, you can buff your turntable cover.