Ceramic coating after Headlight restoration?

sudsmobile

sudsmobile

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Is Dr. Beasley's the stuff? How many pairs of lights will I get out of a kit, I couldn't find that info anywhere. Anything else good? I feel like I should start coating our jobs instead of just hitting them with some sealant.
 
I usually coat them with the same product I use on the paint.
 
I was wondering if that would work. Me and my son got into a pretty good argument because I said that and he said if the ceramic coating was meant to bind to clear coat paint and there's no clear coat paint on the headlights how is it going to bind.
 
I've done the b-pillars, headlamps and tail lamps on my vehicles and have seen the exact same performance from the coatings on them as the paint. I also use CanCoat on side and rear windows with the same result. My wife's vehicle is going on 5 months with Syncro on the paint and lights and washing it tonight it still performs like day 1. Cquartz is much the same. They even note that it works on Paint, Metal, Plastic and more.
 
I have been using Opti-Lens but I think the paint coatings would work also.

In my opinion, clear coat is similar to plastic.

Optimums claim of “permanent” and “forever” = about 2 years in real life from my experience.
 
sudsmobile said:
Is Dr. Beasley's the stuff? How many pairs of lights will I get out of a kit, I couldn't find that info anywhere. Anything else good? I feel like I should start coating our jobs instead of just hitting them with some sealant.
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In my experience ceramic coatings on headlights don't last, a few months max. Well, at least the ones designed for paint. Maybe ceramic coatings designed for trim last longer, but I didn't try those, because those tend to develop a less clear finish - and obviously your headlight is the last place where you would want your coating to haze up or something.

On the other side even if the coatings on the headlight would last for years, it wouldn't really matter, because obviously headlights are the most heavily bombarded parts of the car (well, next to lower front bumper anyway) that are continuously being hit by bugs and dirt, but that are the least tolerated to have dirt and obvious damage on them (because it's more visible on the clear lens, than on any other part or material). Because of this headlights, ceramic coated or not, develop small defects very quickly again - so you will want to lightly polish and recoat them at least once a year anyway.

All in all I personally don't think it makes much sense to ceramic coat the headlights, unless you're coating or re-coating at least some parts of the car anyway. Also, you will waste a lot of applicators and product, if you'll only open the bottle to coat a headlight or two, but not do the rest of the car - so, your question about how many headlights you can get out of a bottle doesn't make much (economical) sense to me in this way.
 
McKee’s has a headlight coating. It claims 3 years, I’m not sure of real world duration. I’ve purchased but won’t use until late fall.
 
itsgn said:
In my experience ceramic coatings on headlights don't last, a few months max. Well, at least the ones designed for paint. Maybe ceramic coatings designed for trim last longer, but I didn't try those, because those tend to develop a less clear finish - and obviously your headlight is the last place where you would want your coating to haze up or something.

On the other side even if the coatings on the headlight would last for years, it wouldn't really matter, because obviously headlights are the most heavily bombarded parts of the car (well, next to lower front bumper anyway) that are continuously being hit by bugs and dirt, but that are the least tolerated to have dirt and obvious damage on them (because it's more visible on the clear lens, than on any other part or material). Because of this headlights, ceramic coated or not, develop small defects very quickly again - so you will want to lightly polish and recoat them at least once a year anyway.

All in all I personally don't think it makes much sense to ceramic coat the headlights, unless you're coating or re-coating at least some parts of the car anyway. Also, you will waste a lot of applicators and product, if you'll only open the bottle to coat a headlight or two, but not do the rest of the car - so, your question about how many headlights you can get out of a bottle doesn't make much (economical) sense to me in this way.
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You know, I'm not sure you read or understood the question. The question was specifically referring to a coating designed for headlights, like the aforementioned Dr. Beasley's.

I would be coating the headlights after doing a restoration. A restoration paid for by the customer. This would be a more thorough completion of the job they paid for. I would be opening the bottle to coat two headlights. I'm really not sure how I would be wasting applicators or product. I would be using the product on the headlights, how is that wasting a product that is being used as it was intended.

I really don't get most of your answer. It seems most not applicable to the question I asked.
 
acuRAS82 said:
McKee’s has a headlight coating. It claims 3 years, I’m not sure of real world duration. I’ve purchased but won’t use until late fall.
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I saw that one but no reviews. I went ahead and ordered the Dr. Beasley's using the 25% coupon. I'll try to give some feedback when I get it, including how many lights I think I can get out of a bottle.
 
sudsmobile said:
I saw that one but no reviews. I went ahead and ordered the Dr. Beasley's using the 25% coupon. I'll try to give some feedback when I get it, including how many lights I think I can get out of a bottle.
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There’s a couple reviews on Mckees website, but the product is too new to have any significant longevity observations.

McKee's 37 Headlight Coating
 
It was roughly the same price as the Beasley's. I guess longevity is what it is, I'm just trying to maximize it for my customers.
 
sudsmobile said:
Is Dr. Beasley's the stuff? How many pairs of lights will I get out of a kit, I couldn't find that info anywhere. Anything else good? I feel like I should start coating our jobs instead of just hitting them with some sealant.
Click to expand...

Opti-lens is great...on everything but Toyota headlights. I couldn't tell you why, but for some reason the stuff doesn't work on Toyota headlights. I've seen over 2 years on other vehicles. Put it on my neighbor's Eclipse which sat outside 24/7 in the Texas sun. He was over two years and they still looked good, he got rid of the car so I don't know how long it lasted after that.
 
Which is funny because Toyota headlights typically clean up the best.
 
They are probably using a
different type of plastic. Good to know.
 
sudsmobile said:
Which is funny because Toyota headlights typically clean up the best.
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I also think Toyota and Honda headlights also degrade the MOST and FASTEST. I'm using the Meguiar's coating that came in the Heavy Duty restoration kit and that kit guarantees a year. I did my father's Highlander, a Honda Accord and an Acura TL with it and I am monitoring all 3 vehicles to find out how long it will last while I try to find something better.

Please give us an update in a few months of how the Dr. Beasley's works out for you.
 
Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth headlights are usually pretty bad too
 
I coated my headlights with CarPro DLux after restoring them. They looked great for about a year before they started to yellow again.

And it's particularity tough up here in Canada when during the winter one has to brush snow and ice off the (coated) headlights. I imagine that sort of scrapes away the coating.
 
You will need to sand the headlights to allow the coating to bond properly. I get good results with DLux here in Florida, somewhere close to 2 years for never-garaged cars. I tried Opti-Lens several years ago on 'polished only' headlights and had to redo them in less than a year. I switched to DLux after the Opti hardended in the syringe.
 
itsgn said:
In my experience ceramic coatings on headlights don't last, a few months max. Well, at least the ones designed for paint. Maybe ceramic coatings designed for trim last longer,
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IME it doesn't matter if it's one for paint, or one for headlights, like Opti-Lens--see below.

acuRAS82 said:
McKee’s has a headlight coating. It claims 3 years, I’m not sure of real world duration. I’ve purchased but won’t use until late fall.
Click to expand...

I think there's a difference between how long the coating lasts and how long your repair lasts. I'm sure all the coatings you apply last for a good long time. And everything will be fine if you apply the coating over an intact layer of factory UV protection. The problem is, if the factory coating has failed and you have had to sand it off, none of these paint/trim/lens coatings are thick enough, at 1-2 microns, to protect the lens from UV yellowing. So the coating you apply may still be there and be fine and last for 1-2-3 years, but the polycarbonate lens underneath is going to yellow.

So for my own cars, I just polish them every few months, it only takes a minute. If you do this for a living, I think you need to use one of the real headlight repair systems, with the UV cure "paint". There are a few of them, and that should restore some semblance of the factory protection, and you should be able to warranty.
 
I agree. If you've sanded off the factory coating then a SiO2 coating should be applied after a UV block clear coat similar to the factory coating has been applied and cured.
 
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