KillerPancake

It came time for the annual ballast replacement (that's another story! ) on my driver's side headlight. Being 5+ years old, with 170K km of stone chips, road crap and UV rays, the lens was looking pretty sorry, so I decided to clean it up while it was off the car. I snapped a few shots of the process, should anyone feel like taking on this project!


So here we have the BEFORE picture, with the assembly removed from the car. It actually looks a lot better in the picture than in person. Lots nicks from stones, overall haze and yellowing. There's a spot on the top leading edge where the original coating was in really bad shape, totally cloudy and feeling rough.

Next stage was to thoroughly clean using Simple Green, then wetsand using 400, 600, 800, 1000 and 1500 grit sand paper. This removed the original, damaged, coating and smoothed down the other physical damage. Here is where you'll have to decide how far you want to go. I decided to leave some of the deeper nicks from stone chips, as opposed to sand down too much lens material.


After wetsanding and drying. Oh no, it's screwed now!! Well hopefully not, but one thing for sure, there's no turning back now!!


Here's a 50/50 shot after the next stage of the process. This has been polished using a DA buffer, coarse cutting pad and Optimum Compound. Looks like there's some hope!


Here we are after another couple of passes with the buffer and the whole lens done. Things are starting to look good, but not perfectly clear just yet. A few more passes with the buffer using a finer compound and lighter cutting pad would yield perfect clarity. I decided to stop here however, as the next step of the process was to apply a coating. The coating would fill in any remaining imperfections from the sanding/buffing process and restore clarity, while leaving things a bit rough would provide a bit more bite for the coating. This was my reasoning anyway!

The plastic lenses come from the factory with a coating to help prevent damage and more importantly, block UV to keep the plastic from yellowing and deteriorating. While you can polish out damaged lenses and make them look new again, they'll start looking bad again in a few months without a coating to protect them. There are a few coatings on the market designed for headlight restoration. I surveyed the market a bit, and while some could be obtained, these are not as readily available here in the Great White North. Shipping of volatile, flammable chemicals across the border is typically frowned upon. After heavily googling the matter, I stumbled upon a thread on a detailing forum where some were using 50% diluted spar urethane to coat headlight lenses. The spar urethane is supposed to have a UV blocking effect. I would have seriously questioned the durability of this, if not for a fellow who did a year+ long study of this on a set of headlight lenses he restored on a particularly unloved vehicle. The headlights still looked great after more than a year of abuse. So I figured what the heck, the items are easily available and cheaper than any purpose-specific products, so I decided to go this route.


Here we are with the coating applied and still wet. Perfect clarity was restored at this point and any remnants of stone chips were filled in and no longer noticeable. By thining the spar urethane 50% it, flowed out very smoothly and evenly. I used a foam brush and there were no brush marks noticeable after things flowed out. Prior to applying the coating, I once again cleaned the lens with Simple Green, dried it and followed up with a wipedown using grease/wax remover. The goal being a perfectly clean surface that the coating would stick to.


Here we are after a few hours of drying time and the light installed on the car. While not totally cured, the coating was dry to the touch. The clarity remained and the lens looked as good as when it was wet. Basically, I'd say the light looks pretty much as good as new at this point!

Only one problem... I only did the driver's side light!


Here's the passenger side light, untouched. It's in a bit better shape than the driver's side was before I started, but absolutely unacceptable none the less! Again, the picture looks a bit better than this light looks in real life. I think I'll mask around this one and tackle it on the car next weekend. It certainly was easier to do the driver's side while off the car, but I have no reason to remover the passenger side assembly.

We'll see how the durability of the coating works out over time, but I'm optimistic given the experience of others. In any case, it's nice to see at least one light looking like new again! The deteriorated lenses were staring to detract from the overall look of the car.

fookoo303

Great job! I was on the hunt for a headlight protectant a while back when i restored my lights but could not find any. thanks for the tip, im definitely going to try that out.

ncmudbug

Autosport claims to have headlight covers that protect the glass. I haven't used them or seen them, but somebody might want to check them out: http://www.autosportcatalog.com/xpel...protection.cfm

WaveyKat

nice write up can you list the Products that you used please thanks!

C230 Mulac

nicely done, they look real good after the work you did!

TruTaing

Nice DIY! Sticky for sure! and ++ on the additional info on the products you have used!

AnswerSS

Looks great. Wetsanding can solve many problems, haha.

How much are the OEM ballasts by the way?

Star Rider

Looks great! What did you cut the urethane with?

C230 Sport Coup

I did something similar.
Sanded with 1500 grit, and then
buffed with PlastX from Meguliars.

I spiff them up monthly with some wax I picked up one day in
a gas station, I'll have to look at the container.
The guy came over and put it on my headlights, and they looked like new.
$10 later I had a can. Shoulda offered him 5.

KillerPancake

Here's the shopping list:

Pre-clean: Simple Green
Sanding: 3M Wetordry sandpaper, 400, 600, 800, 1000 and 1500 grit
Buffing: Optimum Compound, Lake County yellow heavy cutting pad, Ultimate Detailing Machine
Prep for coating: Simple Green followed by Duplicolor grease and wax remover
Coating: 50% Minwax Helmsman spar urethane, 50% paint thinner

I think about $750 online for a new one, but I paid $150 for a used one from Ebay.

I used plain old paint thinner, but have seen mineral spirits recommended also.

Norwichdelta06

is this way cheaper??

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Merce...Q5fAccessories

Star Rider

For that price you could change them every 10 months! I wonder what they look like in person.

C230 Mulac

not a bad price but i wouldn't do it, it's way too cheap so prob a sh*tty aftermarket plastic

Gavonder

I always thought that oil based urethanes & varnishes yellow over time. Keep us updated on how it lasts.

Thanks for the write up

GA