Headlight Restoration

[Paj11]

Who has used headlight restoration and how good are they vs professional restoration? I was looking at Rain X which seems to be middle of the road pricing and has good reviews. Mine need a bit of work, there is no yellowing, more haze than anything else, the car was previously owned by caravan owners from WA so it looks like abrasion from sand and dust.

[Tom52]

Try using some toothpaste on a rag (on a small area first) - it worked for my partners 2004 Hyundai

[littleriver]

Try using some toothpaste on a rag (on a small area first) - it worked for my partners 2004 Hyundai

Just remember to seal it or will fade pretty quick

[jimako]

Use a fine grade wet and dry sandpaper with warm soapy water to get it cleaned up, then use a polishing compound.

[gaz1]

I used Jif cream cleaner on the son's X-trail, did a great job but a few months later they had gone hazy again (not badly but definitely on the way) - what sort of sealant should be used after the cleanup?

[NFT5]

We do probably 3 sets a week in the shop.

The problem is that the coating breaks down and allows the polycarbonate lens to degrade with exposure to UV.

To restore all that needs to be taken off and the surface buffed until optically clear. As noted above, the kit type restoration kits generally include some kind of sealer but this is short term at best. Same with polishes and waxes

To get long term protection the lens needs to be sprayed with a quality 2 pack urethane clear and then wetsanded to flat and buffed to clear. Done properly this should give you around 10 years' protection, much more if you use headlight protectors.

The process isn't all that cheap at around $300/set but the longevity of the result and comparison with the cost of new lights at $1200 each for Gen4 makes it good value.

[Allan2]

I use Mothers plastic polish but like the others have said it only lasts a couple of months however it isn't hard to apply and polish off. There are lots of examples on youtube.
Allan.

[Paj11]

We do probably 3 sets a week in the shop.

The problem is that the coating breaks down and allows the polycarbonate lens to degrade with exposure to UV.

To restore all that needs to be taken off and the surface buffed until optically clear. As noted above, the kit type restoration kits generally include some kind of sealer but this is short term at best. Same with polishes and waxes

To get long term protection the lens needs to be sprayed with a quality 2 pack urethane clear and then wetsanded to flat and buffed to clear. Done properly this should give you around 10 years' protection, much more if you use headlight protectors.

The process isn't all that cheap at around $300/set but the longevity of the result and comparison with the cost of new lights at $1200 each for Gen4 makes it good value.

If you had to buy a over the counter product which would you get, mothers, McGuires, Rain X, they are all around 35 to 60 bucks, my lenses look more like that have been affected by sand and dust etching from WA and SA towing, there is no yellowing of the lens.

[Gr8 Big Bass]

Rain X Kit

Hey Paj11,

My lenses were pretty well gone I thought, so I bought the Rain X kit and followed the instructions to the letter thinking "if I screw this up good enough, I will be able to justify purchasing replacements with the long haired general".

From memory, the kit has 3 grades of sandpaper to use with solution 1 (can't remember the name), a polishing liquid (where the magic happens after all the work) and a finishing solution
Never having done this before, I leaned into it quite a bit and was very thorough.

I was amazed with the results and reckon the kit has enough product to do a full restore 2, 3 or 4 times if your stingy.

2+ years on, I have noticed the hazing starting to reappear from where the black bull bar is closest to the lens (heat?), so will be doing this again with what is left of the kit shortly.

If you can get past paying more for the kit than a tube of toothpaste, it is worth it. Good luck!

[NFT5]

If you had to buy a over the counter product which would you get, mothers, McGuires, Rain X, they are all around 35 to 60 bucks, my lenses look more like that have been affected by sand and dust etching from WA and SA towing, there is no yellowing of the lens.

I wouldn't waste my money on any of those kits. Every one of them will leave the lenses scratched and unprotected. Note Gr8 Big Bass' experience with the RainX kit, where the problem has come back. In the shop we have a range of tools that most people don't have at home so we're able to remove the scratches and we have some very high quality polishes that will delay recurrence, but it will happen unless clearcoated.

Any wipe on / wipe off protection is unlikely to provide a layer more that 1μm. A urethane clearcoat, properly applied, will provide around 60μm and is specifically designed with UV blocking agents to protect the substrate to which it is applied. On the cheaper version of the restoration (without clear) we give the minimum required 3 month warranty. For lights that are clearcoated we'll give 10 years. Big difference.