Can these headlights be restored?

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rpm4242

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Hey Guys,

Can you take a look at the attached photos and tell me what is going on with my headlights? The second photo is an extreme closeup of the first photo. Both headlights look this way and I'm thinking it is well beyond an oxidization issue as I have tried several different solutions without success. Is there any possible way of restoring the headlights?

Thanks!
 
What have you tried so far? If that is just the coating that is damaged, that can be sanded off. If the lens is crazed, that may be something that can't be fixed--depending on the depth of the crazing.
 
I have mainly tried the headlight restoration kits (3M and Meguiar) along with other home remedies such as toothpaste, bug spray, etc. The Meguiar kit seemed to have cleaned it up the best but it came back with a vengeance in a short period of time. There may be a little crazing but I think most of it is still on the surface. After doing some more research, I'm thinking that the problem is that I did not put a protective coating back on the headlights after stripping. It appears that Opti-lens is being recommended most.
 
Looks like there was some kind of coating that failed. U need to wet sand and repolish. I think u would start at 600 and work ur way up then re polish, and most important re seal them.
 
What recommendations do you have for re-sealing the headlights?
 
I think maybe you are getting a little ahead of yourself--no product is going to help those headlights until you get them sanded/polished.

However, I would suggest DLux or Opti-Lens.
 
Sorry, I wasn't clear in my response to jay_rap. I was totally implying re-sealing after that the wet sand and polishing was complete. Thanks for your recommendations.
 
Let's back up a little. If you successfully sanded off old coating or crazing, then it shouldn't have "come back with a vengeance in a short period of time". I would expect them to simply yellow again.

If you really sanded them down well, and those pictures are after the crazing came back, then I'd have to say those lenses are toast. Are you working by hand or by machine? Were you able to polish the lenses to crystal clarity?
 
Did you sand 100% of the factory coating off of the lens during your previous attempt at a remedy? This is key to success.
 
I only performed the sanding by hand before. I then used a drill and the buffing pad that came in one of the kits. It looked really good when it was done but I don't know that it was crystal clear. I guess it is possible that I didn't work with it long enough. That was about 9 months ago and now it looks worse than ever. And like I said earlier, I did not know at the time that I needed to re-seal. I'm thinking that I need to spend a lot more time on the sanding and polishing this time and then apply a good protectant / coating afterwards.
 
rpm4242 said:
I did not know at the time that I needed to re-seal. I'm thinking that I need to spend a lot more time on the sanding and polishing this time and then apply a good protectant / coating afterwards.
Click to expand...

An unprotected headlight doesn't degrade from fine to what you show in the pictures in 9 months. As Dave said, you need to make sure you have actually removed the old coating or any surface damage. IME/IMO hand sanding is fine, you just need to properly step down your paper, and then polish it until it's nice and clear.
 
Okay. I am going to work on them this weekend making sure it is being done properly this time. Thanks so much for your insight and recommendations. I will follow up with my results.
 
Most of the store bought headlight kits really don't come with the coarse sand paper needed to really cut the oxidized factory coating and plastic enough to get to the good stuff underneath, I would also start with 400 grit and work your way up to 2000 or higher then polish out and should be much better longer lasting results after sealing them.
 
rpm4242 said:
What recommendations do you have for re-sealing the headlights?
Click to expand...

I use a durable sealant like collinite/fk-1000p on the headlights and apply it regularly. The picture in your op looks like the clearcoat on your lights have deteriorated badly. Without the protective layer of clearcoat or sealant/wax, the plastic headlight may yellow faster.
 
After sanding and polish, seal with carpro Dlux and tint it after cure.
 
What kind of car is it? Might be time to throw in the towel and get some from the junk yard or ebay. I'm not a pro but it doesn't look like oxidation or UV damage that those kits are used for. Looks more like pitting in the plastic to me.
 
Hey Guys! Well, I worked on restoring the headlights on my wife's Chrysler Crossfire today. Can you believe replacement headlights are running about $600 per side on ebay?

Anyway, I did not have high hopes before starting this process, but when I was done, the results absolutely blew me away. I ended up spending about 4 hours wet-sanding both headlights using the following grits: 400,600,1000,1500,2000 and finishing with Meguiar's M105 compound using their G3500 DA Power System Tool. I am going to seal it using Optimum Opti-Lens. The before and after photos are attached. I can hardly move now and have literally wore the hide off of 3 fingers to the point of bleeding but I think it was worth it in the end. Thanks for everyone's help and suggestions.
 
Sweet! Good job, way to stick with it. Might think about getting a DA polisher if you want to keep up the maintenance of your vehicles. The brain power is here on this site if you choose to further your knowledge. Good luck & take care.

Peace,

Darrin
 
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