Dr Beasley’s headlight treatment

[Powerman]

I’m trying out Dr Beasley’s and it came with very few directions.
After cleaning and polishing the headlights on my 2005 Prius I prepped them then applied the coating. On the autogeek web page it says to wait for it to flash the polish. This is an invisible coating how can I tell when it’s flashed? How long should I wait, a couple minutes, half an hour or longer? I waited about 5 minutes and polished it off but there were now disable changes in tithe coating. How do I tell if it’s flashed?

I’ve used the the Wolfgang headlight kit for years and the polish and glaze work great getting the headlights clear but using the coating I still end up with very yellowed headlights within a year.
I’m hoping the Dr Beasley’s will prevent this.

David


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[Powerman]

I’m trying out Dr Beasley’s and it came with very few directions.
After cleaning and polishing the headlights on my 2005 Prius I prepped them then applied the coating. On the autogeek web page it says to wait for it to flash the polish. This is an invisible coating how can I tell when it’s flashed? How long should I wait, a couple minutes, half an hour or longer? I waited about 5 minutes and polished it off but there were now disable changes in tithe coating. How do I tell if it’s flashed?

I’ve used the the Wolfgang headlight kit for years and the polish and glaze work great getting the headlights clear but using the coating I still end up with very yellowed headlights within a year.
I’m hoping the Dr Beasley’s will prevent this.

David


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

According to Autogeek tech support you have to have a good light to see it “flash”.
Evidently flashing is the solvent evaporating off the product. For the Drs headlight product this takes less that a minute.
I never could see a change so waited a couple of minutes and polished it off.
I which there was a better way to see this.




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[Route246]

I’m trying out Dr Beasley’s and it came with very few directions.
After cleaning and polishing the headlights on my 2005 Prius I prepped them then applied the coating. On the autogeek web page it says to wait for it to flash the polish. This is an invisible coating how can I tell when it’s flashed? How long should I wait, a couple minutes, half an hour or longer? I waited about 5 minutes and polished it off but there were now disable changes in tithe coating. How do I tell if it’s flashed?

I’ve used the the Wolfgang headlight kit for years and the polish and glaze work great getting the headlights clear but using the coating I still end up with very yellowed headlights within a year.
I’m hoping the Dr Beasley’s will prevent this.

David


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

In my experience it means that you're not getting all of the surface sanded off if the yellowing comes back that fast. Are you sanding and if so what grit are you using?

Regarding flashing, a minute is probably long enough before you wipe the residual off.

 

[Eldorado2k]

In my experience it means that you're not getting all of the surface sanded off if the yellowing comes back that fast. Are you sanding and if so what grit are you using?

I don’t see how that would have much if anything to do with it.. Yellowing comes back due to lack of UV protection, not because the previous coating wasn’t sanded off.

 

[Desertnate]

I don’t see how that would have much if anything to do with it.. Yellowing comes back due to lack of UV protection, not because the previous coating wasn’t sanded off.

Very true. Once a headlight starts to yellow, the original UV barrier built into the plastic has failed and the discoloration will always come back eventually. None of these products are a permanent fix to the problem. Some simply last longer than others.

The OP was actually able to get far longer with the Wolfgang kit than I did. I've been able to last about 7~8 months with my daughter's Mazda, which is double the length of time I got out of the Meguiars headlight coating. That said, I'm quite happy with the Wolfgang kit. The difference probably comes down to the durability of the final sealant product and the UV blockers they contain.

I believe Optimum has a headlight coating which is supposed to last years. I'd be curious if it performs as advertised as I don't think I've ever seen a review.

 

[Powerman]

Very true. Once a headlight starts to yellow, the original UV barrier built into the plastic has failed and the discoloration will always come back eventually. None of these products are a permanent fix to the problem. Some simply last longer than others.

The OP was actually able to get far longer with the Wolfgang kit than I did. I've been able to last about 7~8 months with my daughter's Mazda, which is double the length of time I got out of the Meguiars headlight coating. That said, I'm quite happy with the Wolfgang kit. The difference probably comes down to the durability of the final sealant product and the UV blockers they contain.

I believe Optimum has a headlight coating which is supposed to last years. I'd be curious if it performs as advertised as I don't think I've ever seen a review.

The Dr’s kit is supposed to last 2 years, the Wolfgang’s lasted about a year.
I did use the Wolfgang’s polis to get the lenses clear again and it works well with a cordless drill.
I’m just starting to see deep flaws in the plastic now. I could be looking at new headlight lenses in the future. No cracks or anything yet. Just 13 year old plastic sitting out in the Texas sun every day.


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[DBAILEY]

Why spend so much money?

Get the Sylvania Headlight UV Block coating at AA. Sold next to the replacement headlights and bulbs. It is only $12 for the kit w/o sandpaper and like $20 w/ it. It is the same UV coating that came on the factory lenses. No guess work. You could easily do 8-10 pairs of headlights with the bottle. You can apply it after 3000 grit sanding at it dries clear. I will compound with Carpro Fixer then apply the UV block to get even greater clarity. (Had to find a use for the bottle of Fixer sitting on the shelf and it being water based polish seemed like a good use for it).

Apply one coat then don't touch it. Do not re-wipe an area or you will ruin it. Wait until it is dry then you apply second coat or lightly sand with 5000 grit if the previous coat did not dry smooth enough for you, then reapply. This stuff will last for several years, not a few months like with the headlight sealants out there. After its totally dry (>24 hours) then you can apply a nano coating to the lens. That will extend the UV coating life even longer. I use GTechniq CSL now, but have used C1, C4, Cquartz and DLUX in the past.

The nano coatings on their own are not enough on lenses that have been sanded down and no factory UV coating is left in my experience. I don't think they have enough UVA/UVB in them.

 

[Eldorado2k]

Why spend so much money?

Get the Sylvania Headlight UV Block coating at AA. Sold next to the replacement headlights and bulbs. It is only $12 for the kit w/o sandpaper and like $20 w/ it. It is the same UV coating that came on the factory lenses. No guess work. You could easily do 8-10 pairs of headlights with the bottle. You can apply it after 3000 grit sanding at it dries clear. I will compound with Carpro Fixer then apply the UV block to get even greater clarity. (Had to find a use for the bottle of Fixer sitting on the shelf and it being water based polish seemed like a good use for it).

Apply one coat then don't touch it. Do not re-wipe an area or you will ruin it. Wait until it is dry then you apply second coat or lightly sand with 5000 grit if the previous coat did not dry smooth enough for you, then reapply. This stuff will last for several years, not a few months like with the headlight sealants out there. After its totally dry (>24 hours) then you can apply a nano coating to the lens. That will extend the UV coating life even longer. I use GTechniq CSL now, but have used C1, C4, Cquartz and DLUX in the past.

The nano coatings on their own are not enough on lenses that have been sanded down and no factory UV coating is left in my experience. I don't think they have enough UVA/UVB in them.

Thanks for the tip, unfortunately it came a day late, as the night before I finally bit the bullet and ordered the McKee’s Headlight Coating. And while I know it’s overpriced, I’m banking on it performing up to its bold claims of lasting 3yrs.

 

[acuRAS82]

Thanks for the tip, unfortunately it came a day late, as the night before I finally bit the bullet and ordered the McKee’s Headlight Coating. And while I know it’s overpriced, I’m banking on it performing up to its bold claims of lasting 3yrs.

I’m looking into McKee’s too, obviously aware that Headlight claims are not always accurate. Let us know how it’s doing every now and then.

 

[acuRAS82]

Granted, I haven’t had to sand my headlights, one pair are a year old (factory UV still remaining to aid the anti-yellowing with the coating) and the others I polished clear with PlastX, but they are 14 years old and probably/definitely no factory UV remaining. We’ll see how those do.

 

[Eldorado2k]

I’m looking into McKee’s too, obviously aware that Headlight claims are not always accurate. Let us know how it’s doing every now and then.

Yea, I’m planning on providing some long term, real life observations on the coating. I’ve already got the 1st candidate lined up, it’s a 2006 Chevy Silverado with heavily hazed/yellowed headlights in need of a full step restoration. Just waiting on the shipment to arrive.

 

[acuRAS82]

Yea, I’m planning on providing some long term, real life observations on the coating. I’ve already got the 1st candidate lined up, it’s a 2006 Chevy Silverado with heavily hazed/yellowed headlights in need of a full step restoration. Just waiting on the shipment to arrive.

Cool, same here with the real life monitoring, when I purchase it. I have some more McKee’s Headlight protectant to use up in the meantime but should buy and apply the coating in fall, prior to winter prep.

 

[AZpolisher15]

Why spend so much money?

Get the Sylvania Headlight UV Block coating at AA. Sold next to the replacement headlights and bulbs. It is only $12 for the kit w/o sandpaper and like $20 w/ it. It is the same UV coating that came on the factory lenses. No guess work. You could easily do 8-10 pairs of headlights with the bottle. You can apply it after 3000 grit sanding at it dries clear. I will compound with Carpro Fixer then apply the UV block to get even greater clarity. (Had to find a use for the bottle of Fixer sitting on the shelf and it being water based polish seemed like a good use for it).

Apply one coat then don't touch it. Do not re-wipe an area or you will ruin it. Wait until it is dry then you apply second coat or lightly sand with 5000 grit if the previous coat did not dry smooth enough for you, then reapply. This stuff will last for several years, not a few months like with the headlight sealants out there. After its totally dry (>24 hours) then you can apply a nano coating to the lens. That will extend the UV coating life even longer. I use GTechniq CSL now, but have used C1, C4, Cquartz and DLUX in the past.

The nano coatings on their own are not enough on lenses that have been sanded down and no factory UV coating is left in my experience. I don't think they have enough UVA/UVB in them.

Can you use the Sylvania coating on new lenses or do they need to be "roughed up"?