Headlight Lens Cleaning

Wet sand with 1500 and then polish with 3M compound. If you don't want to buy new lens take it to a body shop and have them clear coat the lenses. what ever you do it won't last a long time but will look good. Clear coating will be your cheapest option that will last the longest other than replacing them.

eDUBz wrote:
Wet sand with 1500 and then polish with 3M compound. If you don't want to buy new lens take it to a body shop and have them clear coat the lenses. what ever you do it won't last a long time but will look good. Clear coating will be your cheapest option that will last the longest other than replacing them.

^ This X2, you need to remove the old clear coat that is on the lens with the wet paper going to finer grits as the old stuff is removed. I ended up with 2,000 wet paper. Tape off the area around the lens and use a rattle can of clear coat to finish it up. This will last a long time, I did my DW '03 Beemer two years ago and it still looks great.

Rustycamperpants wrote:

eDUBz wrote:
Wet sand with 1500 and then polish with 3M compound. If you don't want to buy new lens take it to a body shop and have them clear coat the lenses. what ever you do it won't last a long time but will look good. Clear coating will be your cheapest option that will last the longest other than replacing them.

^ This X2, you need to remove the old clear coat that is on the lens with the wet paper going to finer grits as the old stuff is removed. I ended up with 2,000 wet paper. Tape off the area around the lens and use a rattle can of clear coat to finish it up. This will last a long time, I did my DW '03 Beemer two years ago and it still looks great.

Clearing them after polish is a good idea. Pretty sure there no clear on a lens to begin with though.
Wonder if 3 M clear bra would keep the shine on ? Easy to apply and durable.

Grit dog wrote:

Rustycamperpants wrote:

eDUBz wrote:
Wet sand with 1500 and then polish with 3M compound. If you don't want to buy new lens take it to a body shop and have them clear coat the lenses. what ever you do it won't last a long time but will look good. Clear coating will be your cheapest option that will last the longest other than replacing them.

^ This X2, you need to remove the old clear coat that is on the lens with the wet paper going to finer grits as the old stuff is removed. I ended up with 2,000 wet paper. Tape off the area around the lens and use a rattle can of clear coat to finish it up. This will last a long time, I did my DW '03 Beemer two years ago and it still looks great.

Clearing them after polish is a good idea. Pretty sure there no clear on a lens to begin with though.
Wonder if 3 M clear bra would keep the shine on ? Easy to apply and durable.

Was clear on the beemer, I tried the polish stuff and it wouldn't work. Just throwing in my .02 :-)

Polishing compound Flitz ... rag by hand works well. Amazon of course. :)

Mandalay Parr wrote:

I checked on replacing them but $400 each so I passed on that. In my case I would have had to purchase the whole light assembly not just the lens.

Have you tried rockauto.com?

I replaced the headlight assemblies on several cars that were around 10 years old and I paid about $28-45 for each headlight assembly.

Yes, they are Chinese clones of the OEM units and are not as well built, but they have been working fine for years.

Steve

Theres a very good youtube video on how to it and make it permanent. Many kits you use won't last more than a few months.

Recently had our trucks headlights done professionally, wet sanded, waxed, buffed. Much nicer, but they are crystalizing, I can see it.

I did the lenses because I just had a shop install the best bulbs I have ever seen, LED's. Bui!T in heatsinks, plug and play on our F350.

AMAZING!!!!! Even have hi/low beam and I did the driving lights.

I've done it a couple times, wet sand with something like 2000, think I started with 600 and worked my way down. Buffed with compound (electric buffer), then applied wax. Came out crystal clear.

There are Utube videos on it if you look.

Xflyhighx wrote:
I was in the car business for a while. My detail shop used to use bug spray with over 30 deat and it used to look good. Don't know how long it lasts, but the price is right. The deat does something to the plastic. I didn't believe it neither until I saw it done. He used a micro cloth to polish it.

yep, me too. I have been using this same technique for a long time. two of my vehicles are always parked outside and the summer sun takes its' toll on those plastic lens. it's inexpensive,always available,less work producing the same results, multi-use-keeping the bugs off you while you polish the lens, and it works.