Pollishing faded headlights.

[SuBaRiNo]

I heard that you can pollish the headlight glass to remove the smokey fadded look.

Does this work?
What can i use?
Will Autosol work?
Do i need a buffing machine or can i do it by hand?

Dave

[Kappage]

Do it by hand, from what ive read it works. on another forum some guy in america did a walk through with before and after pics

[AlpineRaven]

For last plastic 3 head lights ive done up, one was excatly same as yours above, I used Meguiars PlastX, mate I am not going to muck around with you, this product is the best ive used, You need a small slow speed polisher to polish it up, it takes about 10 mins to reach clear lens, I normally do it by hand because I rather do that way.




If its glass.. cant help.
Cheers
AP

[RSR 555]

I found a great product from Malz which I can show you tomorrow but I'd like to try that Meguiars Plastx stuff. The stuff I used on my SVX was hard work and recommended not to use power equipment. I'm on the hunt for Plastx

[GOD]

I use a few grades of wet sandpaper (usually 180, 600, 1200 or so), followed by one or two grades of cutting compound or polish. Works a treat.

Dane.

[SuBaRiNo]

Excellent.... your right it's probably plastic... will check out some products at the local auto parts store.

Dave

[twilightprotege]

i've heard guys using teeth whitening toothpaste - basically a cutting compound polish

[SuBaRiNo]

Im hell not using sand paper on them... can't afford to replace them if i mess them up.

Dave

[hurracane]

i just used cutting compound to pass a mates EL falcon at the pitt's was hard work but they came up great

[RSR 555]

Im hell not using sand paper on them... can't afford to replace them if i mess them up.

Dave

Flash backs hey Dave How hard can it be

[steptoe]

Toothpaste for polishing glass, or rouge ( yeah, makeup shtuff) OBriens Glass used to have it in bulk, or glass polish from paint shops appointed by the queen mother stuff in white bottle.

Polish plastic with Brasso, wet USE IT WET GETS GREAT FINISH and dry grades go up to 2000 grit. Permatex also did a kit for doing plastic type headlights that had gone to crap like the LEXUS TOYOTA SOARER of the mid 90's

[AlpineRaven]

I use a few grades of wet sandpaper (usually 180, 600, 1200 or so), followed by one or two grades of cutting compound or polish. Works a treat.

Dane.

That sand paper is a bit harsh for plastic!
Your better off using 2000 & 1500 grit sandpaper, for quicker sand back you can use 1200 grit then finish off with 2000grit with water (wet & dry) and yes it will look dull and you will need that plastic polish what i said earlier and it will bring a shine.

Other product is to use metal polish that it will work but it isn't "hard enough" to cut.
Cheers
AP

[Alex]

i used meguires tech wax on my ex's headlights which were super foggy(gen3 lib) they came up a treat after, looked brand new.

i polish my headlights with the same stuff everytime i polish the car to keep them crystal clear.

alex

[T'subaru]

Was watching an auto "wrenching" show, kind of a how to with product promoting and they did a demo with flouride toothpaste, looked great ( if you trust tv ).

[AndrewT]

Wet sandpaper would effectively be similar to one of those cutting compound pastes anyway I rekon, don't discount it as a solution, either way you are rubbing a mild abrasive against your light. You just use the really really fine grade stuff and keep it flushed with water. Would certainly be heaps cheaper than one of those products.

[Alex]

yeah i remember in highschool making some perspex keyring thingos (coupe of layers of coloured plastic glued together) then cut on weird angles and stuff.

anyway, after cutting it with the bandsaw we sanded it down with some wet and dry sand paper, gradually getting down to the super fine light grey stuff(2000 grit i think) but it had to be wet. We then polished the shit out of it and it turned into a high gloss, mirror finish.

But you wont need to go that extreme dave, it will polish out with a good quality polish/wax.

alex

[steptoe]

I have never used anything finer than 1200 for polishing plastics to perfection. Only believed 2000 existed when i saw it. Always finished off with Brasso and cotton rag

[daveosubi]

Toothpaste works well on plastics, you also need some sort of clearcoat or uv sealant otherwise they will deteriorate again faster than the first time.

Ive heard theres a product from aviation suppliers that works well, cant rember what it is though. I had my headlights polished when getting a dent out at the panel beaters a few months ago and it's started to dull again, you really need to put something back on to protect the plastic after a polish.

[Johnny T]

My m8 used a Clay bar from meguire's on his Ford TL50 and the results where amazing, not sure how he did it exactly but it did look good. I know I have to fix up my head lights on my Subaru so i'll give meguires tech wax a go the next time and i'll let you guys know how that turns up

[RSR 555]

For last plastic 3 head lights ive done up, one was excatly same as yours above, I used Meguiars PlastX, mate I am not going to muck around with you, this product is the best ive used, You need a small slow speed polisher to polish it up, it takes about 10 mins to reach clear lens, I normally do it by hand because I rather do that way.




If its glass.. cant help.
Cheers
AP

AWESOME... thanks AP. Dave (Subarino) brought some before I got over to his place and whilst we were playing around with his Forester I decided to give his headlights a go with this stuff :shock::shock::shock: and f**k me drunk this sh*t worked like magic. Dave is going to tell his missus that he just brought new headlights and with the extra money he saved he'll be able to buy more beer