Restoring Your Headlights With Pictures

[fastjetjockey]

Just thought I'd share my results with the forums also. Took plenty of pictures for comparison, at all stages of the process. Here's what I used: 1500 and 2500 grit wet & dry, PlastX, fleece buffing pad on a power drill, a heatgun (to speed up drying ) and some masking tape. Here's what I did...

Cleaned the headlight with some mild detergent-impregnated wipes, and masked the headlight surrounds as to not damage my paint from sanding.

Close up of the poo on the lens... after cleaning.

I then proceeded to sand the headlight with 1500 grit wet & dry. On the drivers side headlight I was a little hesitant. Don't be afraid to go to town on it though. Just don't sand a hole in your light lol.

Sanding got rid of the top oxidised layer of polycarbonate, and a lot of the other imperfections and poo. The light is still wet here.

Now the light's dry, and you can really see that it's sanded lol.

Same level of sandedness, just a dry lens.

I then stepped up to 2500 grit wet & dry. Started with some pressure, then eased off to more of a buff. Made super-sure I got the entire surface of the light.

Lens is still wet. Scratches have gotten smaller from the 1500 -> 2500!

Light is now dry, and ready for polishing.

I then gave the light 3 runs with some PlastX and the fleece buffing pad on a power drill, on low speed and applying low pressure. In between sessions I wiped the residue and dry polish off with a damp cloth, then buffed it dry with another.

Still some minor scratches as you can see. But you can only really notice it when up very close. I believe these can be fixed with some more abrasive polish, before using the PlastX.

What I used...

Such a fkn happy camper now. Makes the car look so much better!

If I were to do it again. I'd add in a more abrasive polish before the PlastX, like ScratchX, to get rid of those small scratches at the end. Now, just waiting on some GlassyLite nanosealant to seal it with, so they will never go yellow again! The whole process took me around 2 lazy hours. Good luck everyone!

Edited September 7, 2011 by fastjetjockey

[Madaz]

awesome post Dion

[Black.Magic]

very detailed!

but last time i polished my lights, i could see that there was a lot of oxidisation still left on the INSIDE of the headlight lenses!

how do you remove the lens so you can polish both sides?

[Greekos]

this used to always happen to my sisters supra, did the sanding and polishing trick worked every time, also used some of the jap plastic cleaner which did wonders, but it would always come back, got one of my old's mans panel beaters to spray some clear over and they never fogged up again. why i think happens is the protective coating gets eaten away over time an cause's the lights to fog up, sanding an polishing works but it will still fog backup without the protective coating. now I'm sure this has been posted up before.

[mickey]

yep I've been avoiding doing anything to mine until I find some good UV coating to stop it for another 10 years.

that glasslyte stuff looks interesting, been asking places everywhere and the people have no idea what I'm looking for...

[Madaz]

the australian website for it is under construction for some reason but the american one is up

http://www.glassyliteusa.com/

you could try snail mail and see if they reply

http://www.hotfrog.com.au/Companies/Glassy-Lite

[fastjetjockey]

Black.Magic, I do recall seeing someone posting up offering their services whereby you send them your headlights and they will do it all for you. Inside and out. It is a big pain to open up headlights, even more of a pain to seal them again. Have a search for it...

I just received my GlassyLite kit in the mail. I bought it off ebay from the seller back2clear. He sends out a little flyer offering support for the product and emplores his customers to spread the results via word-of-mouth. You can search the aforementioned user name, email him at [email protected], or call him on 0417 726 048. The kits go for around $34.50, and he operates out of Beerwah. I'll let you guys know how I go with the sealant.

GlassyLite on Ebay

Edited September 14, 2011 by fastjetjockey

[Madaz]

Black.Magic, I do recall seeing someone posting up offering their services whereby you send them your headlights and they will do it all for you. Inside and out. It is a big pain to open up headlights, even more of a pain to seal them again. Have a search for it...

I just received my GlassyLite kit in the mail. I bought it off ebay from the seller back2clear. He sends out a little flyer offering support for the product and emplores his customers to spread the results via word-of-mouth. You can search the aforementioned user name, email him at [email protected], or call him on 0417 726 048. The kits go for around $34.50, and he operates out of Beerwah. I'll let you guys know how I go with the sealant.

GlassyLite on Ebay

that never eventuated i remember it also

[Autumn33]

i gave this ago a few weeks back, didn't worry about sanding them just polished them for about half hour each with a plastic polish

Before:

After: not the best picture but you can see there heaps better

[Michael's R33]

These yellow headlights are like a curse you get rid of them but they just come back!!

[Madaz]

look up glassylite it puts a protective ointment on it so the UV doesn't turn the plastic yellow as quickly

>>Glassylite<<

http://www.glassylite.com.au/

[iwanta34gtr]

Just thought I'd share my results with the forums also. Took plenty of pictures for comparison, at all stages of the process. Here's what I used: 1500 and 2500 grit wet & dry, PlastX, fleece buffing pad on a power drill, a heatgun (to speed up drying ) and some masking tape. Here's what I did...

Cleaned the headlight with some mild detergent-impregnated wipes, and masked the headlight surrounds as to not damage my paint from sanding.

Close up of the poo on the lens... after cleaning.

I then proceeded to sand the headlight with 1500 grit wet & dry. On the drivers side headlight I was a little hesitant. Don't be afraid to go to town on it though. Just don't sand a hole in your light lol.

Sanding got rid of the top oxidised layer of polycarbonate, and a lot of the other imperfections and poo. The light is still wet here.

Now the light's dry, and you can really see that it's sanded lol.

Same level of sandedness, just a dry lens.

I then stepped up to 2500 grit wet & dry. Started with some pressure, then eased off to more of a buff. Made super-sure I got the entire surface of the light.

Lens is still wet. Scratches have gotten smaller from the 1500 -> 2500!

Light is now dry, and ready for polishing.

I then gave the light 3 runs with some PlastX and the fleece buffing pad on a power drill, on low speed and applying low pressure. In between sessions I wiped the residue and dry polish off with a damp cloth, then buffed it dry with another.

Still some minor scratches as you can see. But you can only really notice it when up very close. I believe these can be fixed with some more abrasive polish, before using the PlastX.

What I used...

Such a fkn happy camper now. Makes the car look so much better!

If I were to do it again. I'd add in a more abrasive polish before the PlastX, like ScratchX, to get rid of those small scratches at the end. Now, just waiting on some GlassyLite nanosealant to seal it with, so they will never go yellow again! The whole process took me around 2 lazy hours. Good luck everyone!

Great job explaining the process.

I did very similar steps on my evo head lights the other week and now also have the very fine scratches in the lens. And you see it when your really close to it or when the lights are actually on.

Anyone have any idea how to remove the fine scratches? I've hit them hard with 2000 grit sand paper twice now. (Couldnt find a finer grade anywhere).

I'm thinking about getting one of those mothers powerball 4lights kits. Has the finer grade sanding blocks and also a polishing tool that you can hook up to a drill.

[iwanta34gtr]

Update: I buffed with a powerball and they came up pretty damn good.

[SkyBlue92]

Has anyone bought the film headlight cover stuff from autobarn n can tell me if it's any good apparently stops yellowing n oxidisation.. ??

[R34GT-T]

What a mission... But great results

GlassyLite kit much easier and has UV coating ► www.glassylite.com.au

[iwanta34gtr]

What a mission... But great results

GlassyLite kit much easier and has UV coating ► www.glassylite.com.au

Hello, do you have any pictures of a before and after (high resolution) of headlights that have gone through the glassylite process?

Curious to see if there are ANY very fine sanding marks left afterwards (visibile in certain light, or when the headlights are on).

[Madaz]

fine scratches left would depend on how long you rubbed in the compound after sanding and even how much wet rubbing you did

i was left with very minor scratches but i don't doubt that was from the processes used before

IE i used to use silvo to clean my headlights

[iwanta34gtr]

fine scratches left would depend on how long you rubbed in the compound after sanding and even how much wet rubbing you did

i was left with very minor scratches but i don't doubt that was from the processes used before

IE i used to use silvo to clean my headlights

Yeah I have some very fine ones, pretty sure its because i should have sanded a bit longer with the 2000 grit to remove the deeper scratches.

I'll try again on the next car for sure.

[R34GT-T]

Hello, do you have any pictures of a before and after (high resolution) of headlights that have gone through the glassylite process?

Curious to see if there are ANY very fine sanding marks left afterwards (visibile in certain light, or when the headlights are on).

Mate the process polishes all the scratches away. if they are present your doing it wrong. Type 'glassylite' into the search bar at flickr.com for some pics