Headlight cleaning

[MrGreedy]

These are polycarbonate lens lights.

I did mine by bumper off and remove headlights, half an hour carefully.

Wet and dry (But wet with water) at 600 grit the lenses until all yellow has gone. 10 minutes.

Wet and dry again at 1200 grit. 10 mins.

Spray the lenses with a 2-part spray can of 2K clearcoat from ebay for about £20, which gives great UV resistance. 3 thin coats.

Leave to dry for 24 hours and reassemble. Looked like new, and didn't deteriorate at all for another 4 years before selling the car.

 

[RWD again]

I was looking at the Akzo paint website for some work stuff and I was surprised to see they have a published body shop process for repairing scratched headlight lenses, even big gouges are to be repaired as new rather than replacing the Lens.

 

[Supracat]

I used a professional company called ROC Headlights for about just over £100. They did a great job and offer a five year guarantee.

View attachment 96062

do they cover the UK or just local to you? - thats a great job thy#ve done

 

[bolidemichael]

do they cover the UK or just local to you? - thats a great job thy#ve done

I don't think that they come as far as beautiful Stirling, the location on my university years.

He did mention to me that he was looking to franchise his business and that was last year.

It's a burgeoning industry, so if you're lucky there may be an entrepreneurial type in Scotland looking to cater for canny Scots and their prudent ways.

 

[Will]

It’s not essential to apply a spray lacquer coating. This coating is the part that degrades on the original lens. It suffers UV from headlight output as well as sun damage. The lacquer gives a degree of protection from the elements and from scratching type abrasion (washing etc) but it’s certainly not essential. Hence the majority of the headlight kits (inc 3M) don’t include it.

Once the old weathered coating is removed with fine wet/dry it doesn’t take long to polish the lenses to as new condition. If they ever needed re-polishing, you wouldn’t have to remove the damaged coating first either.



Those lenses were on a 15+ year old car with 150k+ miles, used in all weathers etc. They were refurbished with the 3M kit (£20 on eBay/Amazon) and I never had to touch the headlights once corrected, they didn’t need it, even after several years.

I have refurbished quite a few sets of these now and never had a problem. It’s a personal choice as to whether you wish to apply a coating but it’s not necessary IMHO otherwise. 3M know a thing or two about chemicals/abrasives/plastics/bodywork etc and they don’t include it.

 

[bolidemichael]

I wouldn't consider the lack of inclusion of UV protection as anything other than a commercial or marketing decision. Meguairs offer a kit with and without. I inherited one from a friend without.

Additionally, your headlights may have been okay for a few years, but it may have been used infrequently, or mostly in the evenings, or parker indoors.

tldr; UV protection is removed when polishing and a spray lacquer replaces the protection.

ps handsome car!

 

[Will]

Thanks,

The car was parked outdoors, and used in all weathers. I had it for around four years - another forum member owns it now and as far as I’m aware it still looks pretty much the same. If the plastic lenses ever need polishing again it would be a five minute job, as you would have no damaged lacquer to remove first.

It’s worth noting that it’s the ‘UV’ coating on the original, factory headlight lenses that is the reason you are refurbishing them. It turns yellow and goes cloudy, not the plastic underneath

Cost of lacquer was not a deciding factor for me.

 

[bolidemichael]

It's more than a five minute job, though, as the surrounds should be masked to prevent damage to the surrounding paintwork.

Also, I'm not so sure about your assertion and would want to see before and after pics in order to put the extent of light sanding required by you into context.

 

[Will]

Yes you mask the surrounds off when sanding off the damaged UV coating to begin with. As I say I’ve done a few sets of these now, not just on 211s.

The five minute comment was in regards to any potential swirling or scratching on the lenses, they are plastic and if you are not having to remove a damaged coating first, and work through the various levels of wet/dry sandpaper then you only have to compound/polish the plastic which is the easy part.

As I say, to make the point, it’s the UV coating on your lights which is the reason you have just paid to have them restored in the first place. Even from the factory, the coating degrades and turns yellow/cloudy, it just does not last

 

[bolidemichael]

I'm going dizzy going in circles here Will! If the UV coating has become cloudy, then the polycarbonate lenses need to be polished with a succession of finer grade paper in order to re-introduce optical clarity; at this point, until spray lacquer is applied, the lenses will become cloudy again.

 

[Gbrowncls55]

I did mine with wet and dry paper fromm 600 to 3000 finished with compound and polish. came up brilliantly . That was three years ago and still look great. All I do by way of maintenance is give them a quick (30 sec) polish every three months or so when washing the car (no I wash it more often than that) I have also found the wipes that you can buy work well once the lights have been refurbed. They do contain a uv protector and are very easy to use.

 

[Will]

I'm going dizzy going in circles here Will! If the UV coating has become cloudy, then the polycarbonate lenses need to be polished with a succession of finer grade paper in order to re-introduce optical clarity

It’s not complicated - the UV coating on the lenses deteriorates over time. To remove this coating you use abrasive paper, then use a polishing compound to remove the sanding scratches. At this point you have optical clarity

at this point, until spray lacquer is applied, the lenses will become cloudy again.

^^ This is incorrect. As I’ve said, it’s the coating that becomes cloudy, not the lenses. If the lenses become swirled or scratched over time, they can be polished easily with no coating to remove. As posted by others, this by comparison is a very simple and easy task, you don’t need to sand them with abrasive paper etc for that.

 

[Atavus]

It’s amazing they haven’t worked this out and just left the coating off at the factory.

 

[Supracat]

I don't think that they come as far as beautiful Stirling, the location on my university years.

He did mention to me that he was looking to franchise his business and that was last year.

It's a burgeoning industry, so if you're lucky there may be an entrepreneurial type in Scotland looking to cater for canny Scots and their prudent ways.

when did you attend Stirling Uni? It’s an amazing campus, did u enjoy it?. I was there 87 to 90.