Polishing My Headlights - How To?

[onocoffee]

The shields covering the headlights on my eleven year old truck have started to get cloudy and I would like to polish them. Of course, I would like to use the Festool product but that's quite a pricey proposition for the bottles and the pads. Do you have some recommended products to use instead? I have both an RO90 and RO150 to do the job.

Thanks!

 

[Vondawg]

J

Post in thread 'Headlight polishing, platin assostment? '

Jul 21, 2019

The only solution is to buy new. The polishing is stopgap at best. Car manufacturers stuck it to everyone by switching to plastic lenses. Looking at most of todays vehicles they are not been to be run into the ground. Too many costly non-essential systems that will quickly exceed a cars value 8+ years out. I own and have always owned all of my vehicles, but leasing is starting to look like a viable option.

• jeh

Never done it before, but this comes up easily in the search

 

[Cheese]

Here's my selection of grits that I use with an RO 90. The only thing I'd do differently is to try applying a final nano or ceramic coating to enhance the long term UV resistance.

 

[waho6o9]

The chemical guys kit has a protective spray in it and it worked well yesterday.
On my 2006 Tundra.
Good stuff
Goofy sideways pics. Oops

 

[Vtshopdog]

I've use this Meguires product, lasted about 2 years:

Meguiar's Keep Clear Headlight Repair Coating 4 Oz Spray (G17804)

Meguiar's G17804 4 oz spray restores clarity and provides long-lasting headlight protection.

www.jbtools.com

Above will require you have all the sand paper grits

And also this kit just a few weeks ago:

3M Ultra Headlight Restoration Kit 39195 - Walmart.com

Buy 3M Ultra Headlight Restoration Kit 39195 at Walmart.com

www.walmart.com

The kit has everything you need, (will see regarding durability) affordable and all in all was a bit easier to deal with. Also used it to clean up some flaking clear coat on my plastic fender flares

 

[smorgasbord]

The shields covering the headlights on my eleven year old truck have started to get cloudy and I would like to polish them. Of course, I would like to use the Festool product but that's quite a pricey proposition for the bottles and the pads. Do you have some recommended products to use instead? I have both an RO90 and RO150 to do the job.

Thanks!

And a link for supplies:

Tool Nirvana Sedge Headlight Polishing Pack

A Tool Nirvana exclusive, polish your headlights as seen on Festool Live with Brian Sedgeley. Our blue package allows you to polish up to 9010-grit with the RO90 sander. If 5010-grit is enough for you, pick up our orange pack. Don't sleep on this bundle and get your headlights polished! Blue...

www.toolnirvana.com

 

[Crazyraceguy]

The most important part is sealing them after you're done. Since you already have an RO90, you're well on your way.
There are kits available today, but when I first started doing this, it was just various grits of sandpaper and when I got above 1000 grit, I switched to a foam baked disc. The final polish was with a felt pad, loaded with Novus brand plastic polish. I knew nothing about sealing back then, that's how I know you need to do it more often, if you don't. There are several ceramic sealers out there now.

 

[Steve1]

I think Crazyracing guy hit on pretty much everything.

I have never done headlights, but I expect it is very similar to the process I sometimes use to polish poly on my projects.

Keep in mind that the first grit is used to remove the cloudiness from your headlights, and after that, you are just removing the scratches from the previous grit of abrasive.
On poly, I start at 1000 grit, then 1200, then 1500, then 2000 (foam backed) then 3000 (foam backed) then Mirka Polarshine 10 then Mirka VF5
Wet sanding preferred, but tough on the first grit because I find it difficult to see if I got it all until the surface dries.
Keep in mind that when you start polishing, the polish flings everywhere, so wear appropriate clothing and you don't want to park beside your brick wall, and you probably want to tarp the driveway.

I am surprised to see 320 grit in Cheese's post. Seems very coarse.

 

[Cheese]

I am surprised to see 320 grit in Cheese's post. Seems very coarse.

I'll start out at 400 or 500 but sometimes to remove the damaged layer it's easier to then go to 320. Sometimes the damaged layer on the headlight is so thick that you can scrape it off with your finger nail. In any event, I wet sand the headlights using all the grits so using 320 wet is less aggressive than using 320 dry. I keep a spray bottle of water handy and just mist the area lightly to keep everything moist and to prevent dry sanding. The water also very effectively removes any leftover sanding grit/slurry when I move to the next finer grit.

I've also found out the hard way, that you absolutely need to remove the damaged layer completely or else the headlight will yellow again within 3-4 months.

 

[Packard]

My 1967 Alfa Romeo Spider had plastic lens covers (outlawed in 1969). They got cloudy and I polished them to clear using Colgate Tooth paste, back in a time when tooth paste had polishing grit in them (and no fluoride).

Use a fine polishing paste and either a buffing wheel or lots of elbow grease. But note, I recently tried Mr. Clean’s Magic Eraser, which works by the presence of a fine grit polishing agent, and I found it to be too fine a grit to remove most scratches.

There are special kits made for polishing head lamp covers. I’ve never tried them.

I would note that the Colgate worked wonders on the rear window (plastic) on the Alfa too.

 

[Vtshopdog]

I'll start out at 400 or 500 but sometimes to remove the damaged layer it's easier to then go to 320. Sometimes the damaged layer on the headlight is so thick that you can scrape it off with your finger nail. In any event, I wet sand the headlights using all the grits so using 320 wet is less aggressive than using 320 dry. I keep a spray bottle of water handy and just mist the area lightly to keep everything moist and to prevent dry sanding. The water also very effectively removes any leftover sanding grit/slurry when I move to the next finer grit.

I've also found out the hard way, that you absolutely need to remove the damaged layer completely or else the headlight will yellow again within 3-4 months.

Something related kind of happened to my Meguires fix noted in post above. Its a spray clear coat applied after fully standing and prepping the lens, I might have layered it up too thick. Looked great but after about 18 months the driver side lens began show rock chipping in the clear layer and shortly thereafter yellowed. Passenger side remained crystal clear. I assume driver side saw more airborne grit and abrasion from opposing traffic.

My experience is in my very sunny climate once the lens begins to yellow you are pretty much stuck repeating the repair every 1-3 years.

Beautiful Alfa BTW Packard

 

[Packard]

Something related kind of happened to my Meguires fix noted in post above. Its a spray clear coat applied after fully standing and prepping the lens, I might have layered it up too thick. Looked great but after about 18 months the driver side lens began show rock chipping in the clear layer and shortly thereafter yellowed. Passenger side remained crystal clear. I assume driver side saw more airborne grit and abrasion from opposing traffic.

My experience is in my very sunny climate once the lens begins to yellow you are pretty much stuck repeating the repair every 1-3 years.

Beautiful Alfa BTW Packard

That was a stock photo. Mine was destroyed when Carlos B. ran a red light and T-boned my car.

The make and model had a questionable reliability reputation, but mine went 53,000 miles and the only repairs was tightening the leaking speedometer cable. No air conditioning available though.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Something related kind of happened to my Meguires fix noted in post above. Its a spray clear coat applied after fully standing and prepping the lens, I might have layered it up too thick. Looked great but after about 18 months the driver side lens began show rock chipping in the clear layer and shortly thereafter yellowed. Passenger side remained crystal clear. I assume driver side saw more airborne grit and abrasion from opposing traffic.

My experience is in my very sunny climate once the lens begins to yellow you are pretty much stuck repeating the repair every 1-3 years.

Beautiful Alfa BTW Packard

I think these new carbon/ceramic type sealers would eliminate that problem. They are far thinner, less like a film coating.

 

[smorgasbord]

It's my understanding that all transparent UV protector coatings work by adsorbing UV rays so they don't get through to the underlying surface. However, the mechanism for adsorbing UV is that they break down a little bit each time, so eventually they all need stripping and re-coating.

Otherwise, we have lots more wooden decked and hand-railed boats.

 

[Packard]

I've use this Meguires product, lasted about 2 years:

Meguiar's Keep Clear Headlight Repair Coating 4 Oz Spray (G17804)

Meguiar's G17804 4 oz spray restores clarity and provides long-lasting headlight protection.

www.jbtools.com

Above will require you have all the sand paper grits

And also this kit just a few weeks ago:

3M Ultra Headlight Restoration Kit 39195 - Walmart.com

Buy 3M Ultra Headlight Restoration Kit 39195 at Walmart.com

www.walmart.com

The kit has everything you need, (will see regarding durability) affordable and all in all was a bit easier to deal with. Also used it to clean up some flaking clear coat on my plastic fender flares

I just looked at the Meguire’s site and they claim their coating protects for 1 year.

Specifically “up to a year”, it could be less I guess.

“Then, thoroughly coat with the Headlight Coating to restore plastics to a crystal clear finish that coats and protects from re-oxidation for up to a year.”

 

[PaulMarcel]

In the specs for that repair coating:

so is there a different coating for the left headlight?

 

[Steve1]

If one is buying polycarbonate sheet, certain outdoor rated grades will have a protective coating to minimize yellowing and degradation in the sun.
So certainly headlight lenses would have a similar coating ---- which maybe has reached end of life, but anyways is getting sanded off.
So makes sense to put a UV protective coating on it after polishing.

 

[Vtshopdog]

In the specs for that repair coating:
View attachment 377504
so is there a different coating for the left headlight?

Those specs also list it as 12V and 55W, maybe I neglected to properly attach the ionizer electrode combobulater leads before spraying

 

[Duckler]

I think I have read about a technique involving the use of acetone or lacquer thinner. After the plastic gets melted (which removes scratches) it helps a lot to use rattlecan clear spray to seal the plastic lens.

 

[Packard]

I taped the most recent episode of “Bitchin’ Rides”, the Motor Trend TV show. They built a car over a period of 4-1/2 years for a competition in Detroit called the “Ridler”.

They polished some in-transit scratches on a clear cover with a Festool sander. I’m not overly familiar with Festool’s line of sanders but it looked to me like 3.5 dual mode sander.

Festool 3.5" Dual Mode Rotex Sander RO 90 FEQ (576263)

Festool 3.5" Dual Mode Rotex Sander RO 90 FEQ (576263)

www.ustoolandfastener.com

And here is the show (free, if you have Amazon Prime):

Watch Bitchin' Rides: Road to the Ridler Season 1 – Prime Video

The pinnacle of the custom car world is the Don Ridler Award, given out every year at the Detroit Autorama. Dave Kindig has always had a Ridler-sized itch he needed to scratch, and has finally found the right client and idea to make it a reality.

www.primevideo.com

A remarkable build. The body made entirely by hand from sheets of aluminum. There were about 5 weekly episodes detailing the build. It probably cost more than $500,000.00 to build.