Plastic Headlight Polishing Kit

[peteh1969]

Has anyone here got any experience/recommendations for Plastic headlight polishing kits?



Any info or advice would be most appreciated.

[xbl]

Machine polisher and your normal body work polish is fine, remember to seal them with something fairly UV resistant to slow down the process once you've done it.

[joem83]

The 3m kit is excellent - have a look on my thread in my sig.
*edit - click this, retrorides.proboards.com/post/2116134/thread

I used one of these, think it was £18.99 delivered.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3M-Headlight-Headlamp-Lens-Restoration-Polish-Kit-U-just-need-a-drill-VideoBelow/391895931692?epid=602516771&hash=item5b3ed15b2c:g:StoAAOxyR7tTkCiz

Or same price on Amazon Prime:
www.amazon.co.uk/3M-Headlight-Restoration-Discoloured-Headlights/dp/B0078IHJ1K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519748383&sr=8-1&keywords=3m+headlight+lens+restoration+kit

[peteh1969]

Feb 27, 2018 16:17:11 GMT joem83 said:

The 3m kit is excellent - have a look on my thread in my sig.
*edit - click this, retrorides.proboards.com/post/2116134/thread

I used one of these, think it was £18.99 delivered.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3M-Headlight-Headlamp-Lens-Restoration-Polish-Kit-U-just-need-a-drill-VideoBelow/391895931692?epid=602516771&hash=item5b3ed15b2c:g:StoAAOxyR7tTkCiz

Or same price on Amazon Prime:
www.amazon.co.uk/3M-Headlight-Restoration-Discoloured-Headlights/dp/B0078IHJ1K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519748383&sr=8-1&keywords=3m+headlight+lens+restoration+kit

My it does make a big difference I think I will order one when I'm ready to sort the headlights out much better than spending £150 on a pair of new headlights.

Thank you Joe

[taurus]

Toothpaste and elbow grease do a great job on plastic headlights. Toothpaste is a very mild abrasive.

[swampy76]

Feb 27, 2018 19:51:52 GMT taurus said:

Toothpaste and elbow grease do a great job on plastic headlights. Toothpaste is a very mild abrasive.

yep have to agree they come up very well with this method

[rodney]

my way of doing it , did the quick vid few years ago

[retrolegends]

Very fine wet and dry and a load of polish and cutting paste worked on my Saab, so did getting my brother in law to do it too. 👍🏻

[Wilk]

I previously managed to do the lights on a Clio I ran as a daily. I used fine wet and dry and then compound to bring up the finished surface
Issue is what's best to then protect them with so they don't have to be done every few months?

[ChasR]

I've tried toothpaste on an old Clio by hand and TBH it did something but it made almost no difference after 10 mins of scrubbing away looking like an idiot. With ALOT of effort and time it probably could be done. But these days I try not to spend hours on the car! I do after all fix/service mine up and now and again the families (so more like 5 or so) which does make you want an easy solution after a while. I love cars but there is also a world outside of them I need to see much more!

The Meguiar's kit on a drill works a treat and had the Clio lamps looking like new ; It took me around 40 mins for both lights and that included masking time (the bodywork)! I'd however get something to protect it afterwards or you'll be back to square one again in 6 months time.

I've seen sandpaper and G3 work but man G3 is messy! Something like Megs 105 or 3M Fast Cut Plus would probably achieve a similar finish. IMHO the Meg's kit still had the slight edge.

[brompty]

Hi.  I used the Auto Glym kit and it works a treat.  There is easily enough for both sides and it takes the guessing out of which grit paper to use and polish etc. 

[joe90]

1000 grit wet a dry, wet with a bit of washing up liquid, and I finish off with solvol metal polish and it works a treat.

Bryan

[oldntired]

Does anyone have the answer to sealing the polished lenses ? A customer of mine used a decent kit - but still had a near mot fail scenario on his lenses just under a year later.

[xbl]

Any of the SiO2 sealants are good, they're all very UV resistant.

[BigDaftAl]

For a great low cost solution Solvol metal polish works really well and it's the kind of stuff most of us have lying around. Seal them afterwards with a decent wax but be prepared to do them every few months as the UV light will keep on doing its thing.

A proper kit will have a better UV protectant for longevity but for me, it's no big deal to keep on top of them with Solvol, half hour max.

[okp]

Polishing them they soon dull back down, better way is to lacquer them

[rodney]

Mar 3, 2018 20:55:12 GMT okp said:

Polishing them they soon dull back down, better way is to lacquer them

exactely what i showed in my video above , been doing it for years and lasts well

[peteh1969]

Well guys what I have found is that someone else has attempted to flat back and lacquer them in the past and did not remove all of the original crud and then lacquered over the to and trapped it on the lights, it's that bad it will wreck the lens's to remove it, cheaper and faster to get new lights thanks for the help though all.

[rodney]

give them a gentle rub down then wipe them with thinners on a rag , itll get off any spray can paint

[peteh1969]

I have tried that Rod and it's showed up some deep scratches and the gold weather has shown up some cracks in the bottom front corners where water has collected on the inside and froze then expanded when trapped and cracked the plastic.