Polishing your headlights..a how to

[JSIL1]

Headlights Before

220 dry

500 wet

1200 wet

Plastic Polish

Close up

Keep in mind this is the second time I have done this. Bout 6 months ago I did 400 grit and then plastic polish, the result is the before pics.

I am going to polish it a little more tonight. I am contemplating adding a clear coat. But either way it is getting a nice wax. Thoughts on clear coating?



Total time: about 2 hrs

 

[BodylessSHO]

Well I'm impressed.

Slightly off topic, does anyone know why one headlight always yellows and clouds up a lot faster than the other side? I've seen cateracts on several of these cars.

 

[JSIL1]

Thanks,
And I don’t know, but I can tell you that the left side of my car is always dirtier too. This was most evident when I was dismantling it.

 

[shonole]

Thanks,
And I don’t know, but I can tell you that the left side of my car is always dirtier too. This was most evident when I was dismantling it.

Don't really know about why one side clouds up faster, but I know that the drivers side gets dirtier from all of the road grime that comes from passing other cars on two way roads. Or at least that's what I figure it's from down here, not really sure about up there.

 

[K-Dawg]

Slightly off topic, does anyone know why one headlight always yellows and clouds up a lot faster than the other side? I've seen cateracts on several of these cars.

Usually because one headlight has been replaced.

 

[NebraskaSHO]

My drivers side is nice b/c it was replaced before I bought it. Passanger side is not that glazed over but maybe will try this to clear it up.

 

[JSIL1]

thoughts on the clearcoat anyone?

 

[YAHTEC]

I dont have a 3rd gen but us 1st/2nd gen guys have the same problem, we need to find a way to seal everything up once we wet sand and polish our headlights, I can almost promise that we wouldn't have to re-finnish the headlight for a really long time! I'm with you on the clear coat idea!

 

[macaddict]

I will ask my brother who works in the automotive refinishing business, and get his input on clearcoating the lenses. Sometimes different clearcoats react differently with plastics.
What are the lenses made of. Are they an ABS plastic?

 

[jimtash]

Try using the clear plastic adhesive film over the headlights that's made to protect the body from rock chips. 3M makes it and I doubt it would distort the beam at all.

 

[spiegeltuxer]

Clear will eventually flake off as the plastic emits its petroleum base. It would be best to leave it off and just use the plastic polish. I use Novus 3 step polishes to maintain after I wet sanded my gen 1s. Some PIAA superwhites and man I can see again. Good luck.

 

[nothingtoseehere]

I just buy new ones and every so often polish them. when they yellow out too much, I'll buy new ones again

 

[Mr. SHO]

I use Plast-X to freshen my (old) ones up every 6 months or so.

New headlights aren't that expensive--I woudn't even think of wetsanding because once you start doing that, there is no UV coating left which means you have to polish them every couple months. Plus, the new ones have 10x better UV coating than the original ones, so they don't get yellow for a LONG time.

 

[macaddict]

Checked with my brother, and he says that clearcoating would defeat the purpose of keeping the yellow off, because the clear "yellows" from the heat of the headlights.
He also recommended not using anything on the headlights more course than 600 wet sand paper. This is because you will spend more time than is necessary trying to sand out the scratches from the first sanding coat.
My steps were as follows:
1. Wet sand with 600 grit
2. Wet sand with 1200 grit
3. Wet sand with 2000 grit
4. Polish with 3M finish compound and power buffer (if attached to the car).
5. Wax lenes.
Mine turned out great, but I did not take any pictures. Total time, about an hour.

 

[JSIL1]

I used the coarse sandpaper to get at the rock chips and deep pitting. They are 100K old and even upon close inspection look damn near new again.