[omorzo]

Hello, my headlights are full of little scratches from pebbles i presume. I used the Meguiar's PLASTX (the product below, don't care the coffee) with orbital sander with the below results. Any other tips or i must change the glass? Thanks.

[Billfitz]

Doing a good job on lenses is the same as doing a good job on paint: there's no such thing as a one step treatment that will remove scratches and leave a fine finish. You have to wet sand to get the scratches out, compound to get the wet sanding swirl marks out, then polish to get the compounding swirl marks out. Plastic is softer than paint, so there's no need to go coarser than 3000g with the wet sanding, and a medium cut compound will remove the sanding swirl.

[omorzo]

Got it! Some scratches on paint are easy to remove, on the others i prefer leave the car to a pro. I'll do the same for lights

[Billfitz]

Lights are easier to deal with than paint, as you can't sand through a lens in seconds.

[rjd598]

That looks like pitting. You might be better off buying new lenses as I don't think that can be 100% corrected.

[Desertnate]

Can you even buy just the lenses? I thought they were part of the housing and could only be replaced as an entire component.

The polishing advice already given is solid, but just realize once those lenses have been polished/sanded, they will start to become cloudy/hazy faster and may discolor too. The lenses typically have a UV coating which is removed in the sanding/polishing process. The good news is, it is easy to polish out. Bad news is you'll have to start doing it.

How rapidly this happens depends on the quality of the lens, but on my Japanese cars they degrade pretty quickly.

[Skyhigh]

I was just about to write - by polishing, you are removing the UV- clearcoat on top. This may lead to fast discoloration and cloudiness. It is therefore not recommended (in fact - in some countries forbidden!) to polish headlights.

I have polished my Audi headlights (with PlastX; before I became aware of the existance of a clearcoat which I'd destroy) and luckily have not seen any degradation thereafter (been several years now).

My take-away is that headlights can be polished if their condition really requires it, but this should be avoided, especially if it is just normal / non-severe wear.

May I ask how many KMs you have on the car?

[CajunBMW]

I have had good luck with my bmw lenses but other brands not so much. But when you use the wet sanding, and subsequent cutting and polishing steps, isn't there a final clear coat like product in the better quality kits? With 3 kids I also had vans and the clear coat style finishing product seemed to work real well for that vehicle. I sold the van about 3 years after fixing the headlights and they still seemed fine. I was just curious in a larger sampling how that final step works in the real world.

[Billfitz]

Originally Posted by CajunBMW

But when you use the wet sanding, and subsequent cutting and polishing steps, isn't there a final clear coat like product in the better quality kits?

A clear UV protection coat is included in the better kits. Check the contents before you order.

[Desertnate]

I have the Wolfgang headlight repair kit. I came with two levels of polish, the backing plate for an electric drill, two levels of pads, and a protective sealant to be used after all the polishing. The sealant has worked really well for me and lasts around six months.

I've tried the Meguiars spray on headlight coating and really didn't like it. It's less durable than the Wolfgang product, the spray application is a mess, and as it dried it gave the lens a textured/wavy look.

I'll typically put a ceramic coating on my headlights when coating the rest of the car and it lasts just as long on the plastic as it does the paint (i.e. a couple years). If you have the sandpaper and good plastic polish already, you could just apply a paint coating to them when your done. CarPro sells their coatings in 10ml sample bottles which should cut down on cost. You'll use very little product if only doing the lights.

[CajunBMW]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

A clear UV protection coat is included in the better kits. Check the contents before you order.

That is what I thought. It has been awhile since I did our older van. I used the 3M product I believe and it took a while but I was real impressed. I was just thinking there was clear coat like product to finish it off. I realized I could have done a bit more, but I thought it looked great, especially being an older van with scratches from the kids. I really just wanted cleaner and clearer headlights.

[zibbit]

are people respraying clear on their headlights after polishing? I'm assuming automotive 2K clear would do the trick.

[Billfitz]

Read Post #9.

[Techno 9000]

Originally Posted by zibbit

are people respraying clear on their headlights after polishing? I'm assuming automotive 2K clear would do the trick.

Some do and, if you have the kit and ability, 2k is a way to go.

Personally used a Turtle Wax headlamp restoration kit that came with a wipe impregnated with a 'sealer'. That lasted well for several years until I sold that car.

As my 100k mile 'shotblasted' lamp covers were in a right state, I decided to take the clear coat right off with 160 grit and polish back up from there.

[Ennoch]

I've done this quite a few times on cars, and some have been transformed from yellow and opaque back to new looking. Sure, unless you clear coat it you'll end up with degradation but sometimes just hitting them with something like Megs Ultimate Compound when doing the rest of the car is actually sufficient to keep it to an acceptable level (this is in the UK where UV damage is far less than somewhere like the south of Italy or Texas!).

My usual starting point is 800 grit wet and dry, but if it's really bad then I'll go down to 480 grit. Just be careful with this as you need to ensure that all the marks you create with this are removed by your subsequent stages. 480 > 800 > 1200 > 1500 > 2000. It takes effort, and sometimes I've shortcut this for a quick MOT pass on friends cars, but on your own car it's worth taking the extra time. I usually then hit it with a coarse pad on the DAS with some compound, and then finish with a polish on a medium polishing pad like a Megs yellow. If you then wipe the headlight down with pane wipe you can then either lacquer, or use a ceramic/SiO2 paint/plastic coat as that does help protect. I've done my old 02 CRV a few times this way, and similarly my 03 Impreza. However, both of those were yellowing. With the marks on your headlight as they are, I'd be inclined to leave it for as long as possible unless you're planning to lacquer with 2K clear, which is seriously nasty stuff. Not only to yourself but everything around you too. Most of the 1K urethane coats I've seen used from the kits simply don't stand up to the test of time when they're getting pebbledashed and end up looking worse than you started with pretty quickly.

[Billfitz]

UV is stronger at high altitudes. My daughter who now lives in Salt Lake City, 4200 feet elevation, has to bathe in sunscreen. I'm at only 500 feet, and never use it at all.

[Boostedphil698]

Buy new headlights, and then PPF them.

[troyorbinson]

There are definitely bmw 3.0 cs restoration AUS services that can help with the problem.

[smrtypants44]

Originally Posted by 435i_Phil

Buy new headlights, and then PPF them.

Yup I am ocd about headlights so this is the first thing I do after buying a car.

[Billfitz]

IMO buying new headlights because the lenses need to be restored makes as much sense as buying all new clothes because the old ones are dirty. Restoring lenses is more of a job than doing a load of wash, but not that much more.

[zatelli]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

IMO buying new headlights because the lenses need to be restored makes as much sense as buying all new clothes because the old ones are dirty. Restoring lenses is more of a job than doing a load of wash, but not that much more.

I mostly agree with what you've said. I think he's better off having the headlight lens replaced by a shop since he might not open the housing properly, or apply the glue properly, leading to undesired leaks. It's definitely significantly more involved than doing the laundry, but done right it can save him hundreds of dollars in parts and labor

[AlmondJayRoM3]

I pretty much do what ennoch posted above. Wetsand, compound, polish, then protect with a proper ceramic coating.

While any urethane or ceramic coating doesn’t provide the same UV protection as stock, a good ceramic coating can last at least a year and any little degradation can be polished out during your normal paint correction process.

I’ve also used the cerakote kit recently on my 2009 mdx. Waiting to see how long it lasts.