Rebuilding headlight project. What about the clear lens?

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Dan Ro

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I am rebuilding a set of Gen1 headlights and want to get the lens back to as clear as possible. Should I wet sand them and polish, use some compound. Some sort of clear coat or sealant. I just want the crystal clear with no slight haze to last as long as possible (not 6 months).
 
I picked up a kit made by MEQUIARS called PlastX at my local car shop. It comes with a polishing pad that works on any drill and a polish made for plastic headlights. I used it and I'll tell you it works! My Headlights and fog lights look brand new.
 
i got a kit from 3m, it came with a drill adapter and 4 different grits of sand paper and polisher, looks great but i had to clear coat it to get it to last
 
Do you think headlights come from the factory with some clear coat on them? Is that where the yellowing comes from (the clear coat breaking down). So, you think if I wet sand / clear coat / wet sand and clear coat a 2nd time would hold up and not require me to polish them once in awhile. I have wet sanded and polished before on another car and had to polish them regularly to keep looking good.
 
Headlight lenses come with a UV coating from the factory. When this wears off either from age or sanding, the lens will oxidize again. You can buy the UV coating to reapply after wetsanding and polishing.

FYI, most headlight lenses nowadays are made from polycarbonate. This is also a popular material for eyeglass lenses. It is soft in it's raw state, which is why it's prone to pitting/oxidation. Polycarbonate is pretty difficult to get anything to stick to long term. There is a uv protective product out that is applied to eyeglass lenses, that once heated will partially soak into the polycarbonate. That may be your best bet.

I was going to say just use lamin-x clear film, but it offers no UV protection.
 
jbarne89 said:
I picked up a kit made by MEQUIARS called PlastX at my local car shop. It comes with a polishing pad that works on any drill and a polish made for plastic headlights. I used it and I'll tell you it works! My Headlights and fog lights look brand new.
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I tried it. It did nothing at all. But perhaps my drill wasn't fast enough.

1LoudLS said:
i got a kit from 3m, it came with a rill adapter and 4 different grits of sand paper and polisher, looks great but i had to clear coat it to get it to last
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This kit on the other hand, works a lot better.
 
yea the plastiX kits with the ball, only help if your lenses are still in pretty good shape, if they are real bad you need the sanding to get all of the deep imperfections out
 
probably, but its a lot better than every 6 months or so without any protection like i got when i did it when i first got my car, i did them again last year in the spring and they still look so fresh and so clean.

pektel said:
Just sayin, he may only get a couple years if he's lucky.
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no one ever said, keeping a car looking good was easy :rolleyes:, hell you could buy brand new headlights and sooner or later they'll be back to the same old dull and crappy


do you have any special potions that you would recommend that would last longer than a year or two?
 
Agreed. Still, I don't think regular clear coat has uv protection. Not sure though. I do know that's the point of sealant/wax on paint (UV barrier). I'm pretty sure SEM makes a clearcoating for headlights that has UV protection.
 
damn the sun, im just gonna start taking out my headlight during the day and just put them back in at night.

i'll look in to that SEM stuff if i have to re do them next summer
 
pektel, I love the quote in your signature.

I laughed at that when he said that in that thread he started.
 
pektel said:
Headlight lenses come with a UV coating from the factory. When this wears off either from age or sanding, the lens will oxidize again. You can buy the UV coating to reapply after wetsanding and polishing.

FYI, most headlight lenses nowadays are made from polycarbonate. This is also a popular material for eyeglass lenses. It is soft in it's raw state, which is why it's prone to pitting/oxidation. Polycarbonate is pretty difficult to get anything to stick to long term. There is a uv protective product out that is applied to eyeglass lenses, that once heated will partially soak into the polycarbonate. That may be your best bet.

I was going to say just use lamin-x clear film, but it offers no UV protection.
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I have a roll of this stuff laying around http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/CLEA...6513727?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories
 
That's pretty cool. I didn't know that stuff excisted. Screw it, who needs headlights, just extra weight slowing me down...
 
Mr. STL said:
thanks guys.
i appreciate the laughing at my misery.
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That's not what we found funny. This is what some of us find funny "Not a cheap $500 one. A real one from like Maaco or something like that." It's because Maaco is far from a real paint job.
 
I talked to a friend with a Body Shop and he said that he has two-part clear with UV protection that he can shoot on my lens for me when he shoots a car with it.
 
Dan Ro said:
That's not what we found funny. This is what some of us find funny "Not a cheap $500 one. A real one from like Maaco or something like that." It's because Maaco is far from a real paint job.
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its still the same person
 
Dan Ro said:
I talked to a friend with a Body Shop and he said that he has two-part clear with UV protection that he can shoot on my lens for me when he shoots a car with it.
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The problem with this is that clearcoat has a hard time sticking to the polycarbonate plastic. Depends on how long you want it to last. On my car, I just use a sealant (Duragloss 105, to be exact). I just apply another coat when I wax the car; it takes all of 30 seconds. I've never had any issues.
 
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