I have recovered a number of sets of headlights that were far gone from Arizona sun. Here is what I've done. 1. Gather a 4 inch soft foam buffing pad, mounted to a variable speed drill. 2. Cut several 1,000 grit wet or dry 3M sanding disks from an 8x10 sheet 3. While cutting disks, also cut 1,200 grit, 1,500 grit, and 2,000 grit disks. [the finer the grit, the more you will need] 4. Spray bottle with clean water. 5 Tape off all surrounding areas of the headlights. Next step is to sand the plastic, and if your disc runs over on to the chrome, or paint, or whatever, you now have a new problem. Do not goe there. 6. Clean the headlight lense, free of dirt and any contaminant. 7. Set the variable speed drill on its lowest speed, run it for a bit to "get the feel of it". 8. Spray the lense to be polished with water from the spray bottle, you will want to keep it wet while sanding it. As sanding material appears, spray liberally to flush the grindings off the surface... also, spray the sanding disk,, for same reason.. 9.. Keep the sanding disc in constant motion, with overlapping pattern. ONLY USE LIGHT PRESSURE. Let the disc "float" on the surface, do not press.... 10.After a bit of buffing/sanding, you will see the haze be removed, and when you spray with water to flush away the sanding residue, the water will make the lense look "clear"...
11. At that point, wipe the lense with clean soft paper towel, and dry it for inspection. You should see a uniform pattern of sanding scratches [1,000 grit scratches only]. You may find areas of haze remain and need further sanding / buffing to scrub off the hazed plastic layer... if you do... wet, sand, flush, repeat, until you only have a nice smooth plastic finish.. Use plenty of water, slow speed on drill/polish disc, and flush often.. 12. Once the haze is scrubbed off, and only sanding scratches remain. Clean the lense again, and change up to the next finer grit... wet, sand, repeat.... you will now be sanding the 1,000 grit scratches out .. again... stay in constant motion, keep it wet. 13. Shift to next finer ttgrit.. wrinse, sand, repeat.... at 2,000 grit the plastic will start to look pretty clear, but you are not done just yet. 14. Use only a soft foam 4 inch buffing pad, with plastic polish buffing material... [3M , Turtle Wax, several others sell it at FLAPS... one is as good as another, in my experience. I like Miguares.] Put a few drops of buff/polish on the pad,, spread it around with your finger, spray the plastic lense with a light spray of water, and using very light pressure, buff the plastic, again,, constant motion across the lense in a pattern that covers the whole surface... Spray the lense with water to flush the buffing residue and wipe the plastic with a soft cloth [paper towel is just harsh enough to make scratches at this point]... Inspect your work... you may to buff some more.. or you may be all done... look for any sanding scratches that need buffed further... If you find none... wipe the lense with a good wax... polish the wax just like you would if it was the paint [by hand, soft cloth] Bobs Yer Unkle... Probably takes longer to read all this than to actually do a set. Look at the lense every time you do an oil change and decide if they need a "refre sh". If you catch them early, a brief buff with 2,000 grit followed by more wax and buff, keeps them clear. Hope this Helps, Good luck. On Tue, Sep 29, 2020 at 5:27 PM Dan Penoff via Mercedes < mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > I’ve used this kit from 3M a number of times, and it works great and > doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. > > > https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AIZ5HY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 > > There’s really no “treatment” that will fix the hazing that occurs. It’s > because the plastic breaks down. > > -D > > > On Sep 29, 2020, at 8:21 PM, Allan Streib via Mercedes < > mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > > > > Can anyone recommend a good headlight polishing kit that actually works? > > > > All my cars with plastic headlight covers are hazy and yellowed. Would > > like to address that if I can, but don't want to spring for new > > headlights. > > > > From what I understand this is caused by sunlight degrading the top > > layer of plastic, and it can (more or less) be polished off, but I don't > > want to make matters worse by using the wrong approach. > > > > Would regular UV treatment, e.g. 303 Marine treatment, be of any help to > > keep them clear? > > > > Allan > > > > _______________________________________ > > http://www.okiebenz.com > > > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > > > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
