headlight restoration
 

I know there is a thread below about this but the pictures are photobucket and no longer there. As I have just done this job I thought I would post up some pics.

My headlights were cloudy when I bought the car, so before even getting the car I bought a headlight restoration kit. It is the Autoglym restoration kit.

It comes with a drill attachment, and enough abrasive pads to do both lights. 3 each off 800 grit, 3 each of 1500, and a 2000 and a 3000 grit pad plus a buffer pad, polish and a microfibre cloth.

I gave the light a wash first, then dried it. Then mask off the light really well. Medium pressure side to side and up and down starting with the 800 grit and working down till you eventually get to the polish stage. It takes patience. I think my drill is maybe just a touch too fast as well as I ended up with some plastic dust melting into the light, just tiny spots but they went brown. I ended up having to use some quite abrasive sand paper to get rid of them and start back at the 800 grit in that area.

Im quite happy with the result, and you can see from the pics taken from above how close it is to the original clear plastic. I reckon I could have taken just a little bit more time to get a better job. I had a friend coming to visit so I was against the clock.

What I need to do now is get some clear lacquer to seal the light and stop it getting UV damaged again. i have some halfrauds stuff that I used for the the headlamp scoosher cover on the D2 which didnt melt the plastic so Im hoping it will be OK on the lights. Bit worried to use it though!

Will do the other lamp tomorrow!

I did a similar thing on my S4, you are right to seal them, if you don't they end up 10x worse than you started in about 6 months. Having debated for a while, I re-sanded down to about 800 grit and then I used a rattle can of Halfords clear coat - the finish was great and it has lasted well so far +++

Thats good to know that the clear coat has lasted for you. Was it just the bog standard halfords stuff? I have attached a pic of the stuff that I already have. I got it to do the headlamp washer jet cover on the D2, but i wasnt sure if it would have damage the plastic. Ive used lacquer before that virtually melted clear plastic, made it warp and go yellow/brown as if it was burnt.

The PO of my car had already sanded the headlamps but hadnt coated them which is why they were so bad when i got it.

edit: I cant wait to see what sort of difference it makes to driving at night. Even with the xenon conversions, visibility is poor at best. Its like constantly driving with road salt/spray/mud on the headlamps. Can't believe its taken me so long to do it.

That looks like the stuff! I did trial a small section, figured if it reacted I'd rub it down again. Few thin coats seemed to work for me, good luck!

I used a headlamp sealer, can't remember which one though, will have a look in the garage.

P.S. there is a way to view photobucket dead links if you have Chrome or Firefox. See the sticky here post #9

There is polish you can get specific for the job that UV protects. Not sure which brand or application particulars, but there's sure to be plenty of brands doing it. Have a look at Autoglyms products or kit literature

There is this big misconception that you first need to polish the headlights super smooth before 'sealing'. All you need to do is abrade off the UV damaged layer and smoother it sufficient for the clearcoat to smooth out the sanding marks. Waterproof 600 grit is more than sufficient. Actually the smoother you go, the less the paint has to grab in to. Especially when going 1200 or even higher. Car painters never sand a car that fine before applying lacquer. These high grit papers serve to prep for polishing. Over polish you apply a wax or similar. Headlights need a paint that blocks UV. Best use a 2K equality paint (come in cans too)