I remember a recent thread about correcting foggy headlight lenses. I have some recent experience to share. Last spring I had two 2006 model year cars with headlights that had yellowing, becoming brown lenses. One car is a Sienna minivan and the other is an E320 CDI.
About 7 months ago I restored the Sienna lenses using a Sylvania Headlight Restoration Kit. This kit uses three successive wet sand paper steps followed by hand polishing. The polished lens is finally sealed with a UV block clear coat. The procedure was fairly quick and easy and the results looked very good. But after about 6 months the lenses started fogging and they are now decaying quickly. About 5 months ago I restored the Mercedes lenses using an approach recommended by my brother who used it on his older Lexus about six years ago. My brother reports that his Lexus lenses have remained clear since using this procedure. The procedure involves wet sanding by hand using grits starting at 400 or 800 and then 1000 or 1500 and finally 2000 or 3000. Then, using a small electric drill polishing pad, polish the lenses using rubbing compound. Then using the same drill and pad polish each lens again using “mirror finishing polish” compound. Finally, protect the lenses by covering them with XPEL Protective Film. XPEL makes films already cut to exact size for some headlights like my Mercedes. Otherwise, XPEL can be bought in sheets at various sizes and thicknesses that can be applied and then trimmed with a razor to the exact size of the lens. I was bothered that XPEL does not identify any UV resistance characteristic in their product descriptions. But the product must be UV resistant because my Mercedes headlights have not decayed in 5 months. And my brother has not replaced the film on his headlights in 6 years and his lenses remain clear. Ned _______________________________________ 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
