Headlight Plastic

[LexKid630]

how do you make the headlights look less "sandblasted" ? All the sand on the road makes the plastic look foggy and scraped. What can you do to fix it? Not prevent, but fix. I know of the 3M film stuff you can put on it.

[cmmetcalf]

If they truly are plastic, you can water sand them with 1000 grit and 2000 grit wet sandpaper. The higher the number the less material is removed when sanding. Make sure the sandpaper is thoroughly pre-soaked (soaked in clean water for at least 20 minutes before use) and that the water bowl water is changed frequently and the sandpaper cleaned in the water bowl to remove debris. If you notice a build up of material on the sandpaper get it off or change to another piece.

I would suggest starting with the 2000 grit paper at first to see how much it helps. If you need to remove more pitting and deeper scratching go to the 1000 grit but always finish with the 2000. Use plenty of clean water. After finish sanding with the 2000, use a good plastic polish such as Meguiar's Plastic Polish #17 with clean soft cotton polishing rags.

I always finshed off with a good hard wax to blend out the scratches after final polishing (it also helps to remove bug splatter and the such-like easier.

This was leaned through years of airplane ownership with Lexan windshields and windows. Also several past articles including the June 2005 Roundel also feature this work.

Hope it helps

[LexKid630]

Thanks; i'll give it a try ;)

[SW03ES]

I would try using something like the Novus plastic cleaning system first. Wetsanding is a skill and its not something you can just "do".

[jonw440]

I would try using something like the Novus plastic cleaning system first. Wetsanding is a skill and its not something you can just "do".

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I detailed my Daughter's new (pre owned 2003) Saab 9-3 Linear yesterday.

I saw the headlights were foggy looking so I got out my PC 7424 with the Sonus 4" SFX Spot pads and went to work.

Here is the before picture.

I used Meguiars PlastX, the green and Blue Spot pads ,Plexus plastic cleaner/polish and Some Sonus Der WUnder Buffing towels.

I first washed the lights when I washed the car.

I took my shop vac and put the hose on the exhaust side and blew dried the headlights so water wouldn't keep dripping down while I was polishing them.

Now I primed the pad with the Plexus polish/cleaner and applied a small half dollar size dab to the green 4" spot pads.

I turned the PC to 4 and polished until the PlastX started to dry.

I then wiped the remaining polish off and re polished the same way a second time.

The last step was to put the blue finishing spot pad on and apply more PlastX but set the speed to 5.

The result was a lot better than doing the polishing by hand and you wont get shocked from the static electricity associated with polishing plastic by hand.

Now if your lights are glass, just substitute the Plexus and PlastX with Autoglym Glass Polish.

Here is the finished results.

I also polished the fog lights and tail lights.

The camera had a fingerprint on the lens thats why there is a fog in the center of all pictures... I never said I was a photographer... :P

Here is the products I used.

Sonus SFX 4" spot pads

Sonus Der Wunder Buffing towels

Meguiars PlastX Plastic Polish

Plexus Plastic cleaner

Autoglym Glass Polish

[LexKid630]

wow does that look great!

[JasonATL]

Following jonw440's suggestion, I tried Meguiar's PlastX on my 1999 RX 300's headlights. They had some scratches, fogginess, and bug stains.

I took a few before/after, just for fun.

I used the PC 7424 with 4" foam spot pads. I taped off all surfaces that I wasn't polishing with PlastX. The first pass or two helped, but it was clear that it needed more. Since it was so easy, I did 5 passes on each headlight -- 3 with a coarser pad and 2 with a finish pad. Buffed with a microfiber towel. Tons of static now. Very happy with PlastX. I will probably give the tail lights a pass next time.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

[jonw440]

Following jonw440's suggestion, I tried Meguiar's PlastX on my 1999 RX 300's headlights. They had some scratches, fogginess, and bug stains.

I took a few before/after, just for fun.

I used the PC 7424 with 4" foam spot pads. I taped off all surfaces that I wasn't polishing with PlastX. The first pass or two helped, but it was clear that it needed more. Since it was so easy, I did 5 passes on each headlight -- 3 with a coarser pad and 2 with a finish pad. Buffed with a microfiber towel. Tons of static now. Very happy with PlastX. I will probably give the tail lights a pass next time.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

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Those look GREAT!!

I know what you mean by the static electrisity........

Plexus works as a weekly "cleaner also!!

[LexKid630]

oh my God!! that looks wonderful!!!