Ceramic coating for headlight

choijw2

choijw2

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Now that ceramic coating is bigger thing than few years ago and since we have more choice...
I want to see what you guys use for long term protection after headlight restoration.

I pretty much gave up using wax or sealant, because most customers keep up with maintenance and goes foggy again after 3 months or so.
So I started to use ceramic coating as my part of my headlight restoration package, not as add on option.

I been using OPTI-LENS, but apparently it failed after 7-8 months on my parents car, and it turned back to yellow.
However, this maybe because opti-lens was been opened for 4 months or so when I applied to my parents car, since my other customer who had
restoration few months back is still have clear headlight.

After this I tried gtechniq C4, which recommended by their sales rep (makes sense since its made for plastic trims mainly)
but haven't had chance for long term test.



Anyways, my main question is...

If I already have ceramic coating for paints, can I use it for headlight as well?
Seems like WG uber coating is used all over the car, glass, plastic, paint, rubber etc.
 
I think depending on what the coating is, it might not bond well to the plastic. Like you could probably use PBL Surface Coating, but I don't know if you can use Glosscoat or Cquartz directly on it. Or you can but I don't think it would have the durability you'd want out of it at least. Maybe try Cquartz DLUX next?
 
choijw2 said:
Now that ceramic coating is bigger thing than few years ago and since we have more choice...
I want to see what you guys use for long term protection after headlight restoration.

I pretty much gave up using wax or sealant, because most customers keep up with maintenance and goes foggy again after 3 months or so.
So I started to use ceramic coating as my part of my headlight restoration package, not as add on option.

I been using OPTI-LENS, but apparently it failed after 7-8 months on my parents car, and it turned back to yellow.
However, this maybe because opti-lens was been opened for 4 months or so when I applied to my parents car, since my other customer who had
restoration few months back is still have clear headlight.

After this I tried gtechniq C4, which recommended by their sales rep (makes sense since its made for plastic trims mainly)
but haven't had chance for long term test.



Anyways, my main question is...

If I already have ceramic coating for paints, can I use it for headlight as well?
Seems like WG uber coating is used all over the car, glass, plastic, paint, rubber etc.
Click to expand...
You could use it and see, but I would just call the company. They'll have more knowledge of the durability/length to expect for headlights. There's so many variables involved in projecting a coating's durability when not put on the surface it's designed for (i.e. paint).

I believe Mike Phillips uses the spray UV protectant for Dupli-Color or something like that. I believe it's the closest thing to the factory coating, but I don't know how much more difficult it is to use. Opti-lens is easy, but like you've found it doesn't last as long.
 
Has the use of a sprayable 2k ClearCoat
for the re-coating step, (of the overall
repair of headlamps process), lost its
"Most Favored Sealing" (MFS) status?


Bob
 
You probably could, but hard to say.

One thing I do know is that Opti-Lens bonds to paint well.

The picture below was just taken this evening because I noticed how D114 was behaving on an area I put Opti-Lens on over a year ago. There is a distinctive line where the solution is laying flat on the surface where the Opti-Lens is not. The whole panel in the picture is wet.

View attachment 51220

The line is 2" or so below the crease and follows the curvature, it is not a cloud line.
 
Mantilgh said:
You probably could, but hard to say.

One thing I do know is that Opti-Lens bonds to paint well.

The picture below was just taken this evening because I noticed how D114 was behaving on an area I put Opti-Lens on over a year ago. There is a distinctive line where the solution is laying flat on the surface where the Opti-Lens is not. The whole panel in the picture is wet.

View attachment 51220

The line is 2" or so below the crease and follows the curvature, it is not a cloud line.
Click to expand...

That's awesome you tested it on paint. Thanks for sharing! Do any of you guys guarantee the sealant or coating will prevent the headlights from fogging or yellowing for a certain amount of time? like 6 months or a year?
 
Curious how clear Plasti dip would do
But a cheap(cost) spray coating would fit bill ..McKee 37
 
McKees headlight spray has to be reapplied every wash. I'm not sure of their paint coating blocks uv like it would need.
 
Octopiston said:
McKees headlight spray has to be reapplied every wash. I'm not sure of their paint coating blocks uv like it would need.
Click to expand...

Thanks man, if Mckee's headlight spray has to be reapplied after every wash I would think the UV inhibitors in optimum car wax that can actually migrate into clear coat and other forms of plastic would be far more effective than mckee's headlight spray.
 
I still use the SPAR method. Love the way it fills the imperfections of the light so I don't have to have so perfect before applying. As for longevity, I offer a 1 year warranty and have yet to have a customer cash in on it.
 
mwoywod said:
Thanks man, if Mckee's headlight spray has to be reapplied after every wash I would think the UV inhibitors in optimum car wax that can actually migrate into clear coat and other forms of plastic would be far more effective than mckee's headlight spray.
Click to expand...
Is that what Optimum says their wax does now, "Migrate into clear coat"? Oh brother.
 
Anyone know; do these ceramic coatings change or impact the headlights focal length or degrade the effectivity of headlight range?
 
Cliffnopus said:
Anyone know; do these ceramic coatings change or impact the headlights focal length or degrade the effectivity of headlight range?
Click to expand...
.

Not from what I can tell after 2 years.

I would be curious (like Bob said) to try Spraymax 2K. Twenty dollars a can might be worth it.
Has any one tried that?
 
If it does, it'll be no more worse then applying wax/sealant to it..
But imho, i think it's too thin to effect anything
 
conman1395 said:
Is that what Optimum says their wax does now, "Migrate into clear coat"? Oh brother.
Click to expand...

I should have explained that a little better, I don't know everything nor do I understand everything pertaining to the science of Optimum Car Wax, but I have used the product for around 6-7 years on my personal vehicle as well as my clients vehicles.

I'm not sure if you believe paint is porous or not, but I am of the belief that with continuous use, the patented UV inhibitors in optimum car wax can permeate and replace the UV protection found in factory stock clear coat which from what i understand has a half life of only 5 years. I guess you could say that is just a bunch of marketing BS but to me the science makes sense. For me personally, I save my "oh brother" moments for reading claims about the latest "ceramic glass scratch resistant impenetrable diamond shield coatings" haha
 
Spraymax 2k clear is good, but is only usable for 24 hours in the can. After that it solidifies. Feels like a waste of $20 to me.
 
mwoywod said:
I should have explained that a little better, I don't know everything nor do I understand everything pertaining to the science of Optimum Car Wax, but I have used the product for around 6-7 years on my personal vehicle as well as my clients vehicles.

I'm not sure if you believe paint is porous or not, but I am of the belief that with continuous use, the patented UV inhibitors in optimum car wax can permeate and replace the UV protection found in factory stock clear coat which from what i understand has a half life of only 5 years. I guess you could say that is just a bunch of marketing BS but to me the science makes sense. For me personally, I save my "oh brother" moments for reading claims about the latest "ceramic glass scratch resistant impenetrable diamond shield coatings" haha
Click to expand...

No, I don't believe that a car wax can permeate and replace UV protection in layers of clear coat. I believe nearly everything we do in regards to protection sits on top of the paint. I don't believe that paint is porous enough to allow the product to "soak in" like it seems like you're describing. The products are all in a solvent to keep them sprayable or spreadable until a network of polymers (many repeating chemical structures) bonds to the paint. This makes it not a liquid, but a solid - albeit at a very, very thin level.

In addition to all that, the products we use don't even last long enough potentially soak in. I don't remember where I saw it or heard it but I believe Optimum claims their OC Pro coating "integrates" with the existing clear coat, but even then it's sitting on top of the clear coat.

Simply, I think all OCW does is sit on top of your clear coat or surface you're applying it to. I could be wrong though. Pipuk is the guy to best answer this question. I hope he sees this thread.
 
Fair enough, I'd say there is a 99% chance that you are correct but I really like the idea behind a product that replaces the UV inhibitors in clear coat. I hope pipuk see's this post as well. I saw this as i was scanning the forums the other day.

Dr. G-
"The UV absorbers we use in the Optimum Car Wax are the same as those in the clearcoat paint. The testing we did is an ASTM standard test for automotive paint. A series of panels were painted with automotive base coat/clear coat at the Bayer polymer division (they supply isocyanates to the major OEM paint suppliers and some car manufacturers). The panels were placed in a QUV chamber for roughly 1,500 hours which is equivalent to 5-7 years of external UV exposure. As the test progressed, it was evident that the panels that had Optimum Car Wax with UV protection did not show any fading for the duration of the test while the panels without UV lost gloss and reflectivity (Definition of Image). These results are listed at the end of the patent 6,669,763 (you can use this link United States Patent: 6669763) which was awarded for this new technology since no other wax or sealant provided UV protection."
 
I have had very good durability out of Opti-Lens. Two of my 3 cars have had the headlights sanded all the way down and then polished. The Dodge Caravan headlights are at just over 2 years and there is no sign of yellowing yet. The Nissan Frontier headlights are at 6 months, but they have Gtechniq C1 and EXO applied to them. No yellowing on these yet but 6 months is a bit early still. I did use C4 on its own on a set of MB oval headlights about 4 years ago that did not last. They were sanded and polished. They didn't yellow but instead went a cloudy white. I did them over again and applied Opti-Lens and that owner has not complained since.

I was applying Opti-Lens to nearly every car I was working on regardless if it was new or needed polishing for about a 2 year span. However, my tubes of Opti-Lens were hardening on me too soon before they were gone. I thought the product did not have a long shelf life until I thought about how many times I was taking the top of the syringe exposing it to the air. I only use it on headlights that were sanded/polished now and the tubes are lasting longer than before. I apply 3 layers when I use Opti-Lens.
 
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