Headlight Restoration? (Tiny cracks)

[scubachris]

the reason your headlight lenses are going yellow is because the uv resistant clear coat has been removed/compromised.
the only way to stop them going ellow again is to clear coat them again.
and as several people have said on here anything above 600 grit and the surface is too smooth for the laquer to adhere.
the people on here telling you to go up to 2000 grit and above,especially as you start with 320(as opie 55 claims) will remove the protective clear coat then the lens will go yellow again unless re clear coated..waste of time unless you are moving the car on.
either go gently with 400/600 if the pitting/haze is light and you can keep from removing the clear coat...OR use 320 and go up to 600 then re clear coat if pitting/haze is bad.

[rorz12]

Originally Posted by scubachris

the reason your headlight lenses are going yellow is because the uv resistant clear coat has been removed/compromised.
the only way to stop them going ellow again is to clear coat them again.
and as several people have said on here anything above 600 grit and the surface is too smooth for the laquer to adhere.
the people on here telling you to go up to 2000 grit and above,especially as you start with 320(as opie 55 claims) will remove the protective clear coat then the lens will go yellow again unless re clear coated..waste of time unless you are moving the car on.
either go gently with 400/600 if the pitting/haze is light and you can keep from removing the clear coat...OR use 320 and go up to 600 then re clear coat if pitting/haze is bad.

You can also apply PPF to the headlight instead of clear coat which will protect it from debris and UV light.

[Ralph III]

Just to clarify, as scubachris stated.

You can use 2000 grit sandpaper and above followed by a buffing to restore mildly faded headlights. In that instance, you are only removing the upper surface of the clear coat, just as with most normal wet sanding. Depending on how much clear remains, the headlights could last many more years before any other action is required. This is a very simple and quick solution that again, can last many years if the clear is still in overall good shape.

Otherwise, if attempting to remove all of the original clear coat in order to apply a fresh clear coat; then rougher sandpaper is necessary but nothing above 600 grit. 400 and 600 grit insures that the fresh clear coat will have something to adhere to.

I've done this in both fashions on many vehicles. I've never used the PPF as rorz suggests though, which might be an even better consideration. I just don't have experience with that.


God Bless,
Ralph

[PhantomXone]

Originally Posted by Opie55

What did the body shop charge to do that?

Sorry I'm not sure, I know the owner of the body shop so he had his guys do it for me for free.

[scubachris]

you have just repeated what i said !! and oppie said,quote "i use 320 grit and go up to 2500 or 3000 grit !!!

you need to get your eyes tested in stead of making yourself look silly.

we are all on this forum as we apreciate bmw 6 s or own one.
i actually thought your initial posts were good and correct,but then you decide to be argumentative.like opie 55..

[Ralph III]

Originally Posted by scubachris

you have just repeated what i said !! and oppie said,quote "i use 320 grit and go up to 2500 or 3000 grit !!!

you need to get your eyes tested in stead of making yourself look silly.

we are all on this forum as we apreciate bmw 6 s or own one.
i actually thought your initial posts were good and correct,but then you decide to be argumentative.like opie 55..

Hey Scubachris. I absolutely and sincerely apologize!

I was referring to Opie 55's original post that I recalled, where he stated "....if you are removing the clear coat....I have found that 320 is the best starting place...". He was referencing something I had posted in regards to the two different methods, or so I thought.

I did not see his second post, where he seems to in fact state you can start with 320 grit and work your way up to 2500 or 3000 grit, as you quoted. You are absolutely right, that is not correct. I have edited my previous post to re-iterate what you have correctly stated.

Take care,
Ralph

P.S. Again, I apologize for that.

[arucano]

After sanding and polishing, you will still need UV protectant to avoid yellowing. I used down to 1500 sanding and then spayed with a 2K clear on my son's X5. Most 2K clears have some degree of UV protection. They have stood up for 3 years so far and it is parked outside in the Texas sun all day. Do not polish before clear coating.

[scubachris]

hey ralph 111 no problem..i was having a bad day..girlfrend was diagnosed with cancer yesterday.i was a bit harsh..so i apologise for that.

we are all trying to help each other..cheers x

[Ralph III]

Originally Posted by scubachris

hey ralph 111 no problem..i was having a bad day..girlfrend was diagnosed with cancer yesterday.i was a bit harsh..so i apologise for that.

we are all trying to help each other..cheers x

Oh, so sorry to hear about that. My wife has fought two battles with cancer over the last decade (different types) but is doing great and clear. It was miraculous that both cancers were discovered and discovered in their very early stage, as she was having some unrelated and minor procedures done on each of those occasions.

We will keep your girlfriend in our prayers.

God Bless,
Ralph

[TinCanSailor]

Adding scubachris, Ralph III along with yalls families to my prayer list.

[Opie55]

There is a product that is made specifically for coating re-polished headlights. It comes in a syringe and costs about $80 for about a tablespoon of liquid. You apply it basically the same way you would apply ceramic coat to your paint. Apply a few drops to a small sponge or other suitable applicator, wipe it on, wait a few minutes, and buff it off. I used it on fully polished lenses and it seemed to work fine - that is how it is supposed to work. Applying it over lenses sanded to 600 would not work. I have not used 2k clear to date. You can also look at YouTube videos about products that cure with UV lamps.

As to whether regular 2k clear would fail to properly adhere to a fully polished lens, I don't know. That is certainly the case if you are painting most other things - like a panel on your car, so it may be true here as well. What makes me wonder is that you are spraying a solvent-based product on plastic so it may be sort of self-etching and "melt" itself into the surface.

[Opie55]

Also, although recoating the headlights by some method for UV protection is the way to go, you can get away with not doing it for a long time if your car is not parked in the sun all the time, especially if your lenses are deteriorating only along the top, as is often the case. My lenses look almost new except a 4x1" section on the top of one lens. The original clear could not be saved in that spot, so I sanded it off and polished the spot. The transition between "good" and "bad" is invisible and the only coating it has is 303 Graphene that I use on my whole car. That spot has not changed any in the year so since I did it.

[rorz12]

If you're going to go through the hassle of sanding down your headlights then as I mentioned in a previous post, you might as well apply PPF protection to the headlights afterwards. Not only will you get UV protection but you'll protect them from scratches and road debris which will also cause hazing in the future. Plus you don't have to worry about high grits or the clear coat not adhering to the headlight. Just sand them, wax and buff them and then apply PPF some reference links below (no affiliation)

https://ceramicpro.com/the-ultimate-...otection-film/

https://www.3mcanada.ca/3M/en_CA/p/d/b40066727/

[cortega]

Originally Posted by Opie55

That is your clear coat shrinking. They can be made to look brand new. The restoration kits sold in auto parts stores are no good whatsoever for this type of thing. The top coat has to sanded off. I can do a headlight in about an hour, but you have to be pretty diligent to make sure you completely sand out the prior scratches with next finer grit. I place precut pieces in a bucker of clean water and have a couple of dry rags. I use 320, 400, 600, 800, 1200, 1500, 2000, 2500 and 3000. By the time you get to 2500 the lenses are pretty clear already and have a satin glow. Once you are done sanding they will buff to like new with very little effort because 3000 grit scratches are so fine. Takes only a minute if you have an orbital buffer and a foam pad and a compound like M105.

Hey thanks for that! Thats the kind of info I was looking for. Do you recommend to use clear spary or ceramic coating atfer buffering?

Edit:
Just saw your post regarding using products for protection.

[xidamaaa]

Update:

Just finished one headlight today so I’m sharing my experience here with you all. I bought a 3M ultra headlight restoration kit which has 500, 800, 3000 grit sanding pads and clear coat. I also got a set of sand papers just in case.

So I found out that the 500 grit sanding pads that came with the kit were not enough for my headlights so I went down to 210. This took care of the tiny cracks but the scratches were deep and they were not easy to polish with higher grits. So I would agree with some people on this thread that 320 grit is probably a better starting point.

After 210 grit, I used 320 and 400 before returning to the 3M kit and picking up 500. Then it was the kit all the way. The result was not perfect as there were still some scratches but the clear coat that came with the 3M kit took care of those. It made a huge difference!

Appreciate all the contributions in the thread here. I couldn’t have done this without all your help!

[FlyinLowSD]

Originally Posted by xidamaaa

Update:

Just finished one headlight today so I’m sharing my experience here with you all. I bought a 3M ultra headlight restoration kit which has 500, 800, 3000 grit sanding pads and clear coat. I also got a set of sand papers just in case.
…

Great job! Thanks for posting before & afters. Give your self a pat on the back!

[xidamaaa]

Did the other side. This time I started with 320 - 500 - 800 - 3000 and it worked out great!

[Opie55]

I’ll have to try that next time. I would never have thought that 3000 grit could remove 800 grit scratches. I have always done 1200, 1500, 2000 and 2500 between 800 and 3000. So did you coat those?

[xidamaaa]

Originally Posted by Opie55

I’ll have to try that next time. I would never have thought that 3000 grit could remove 800 grit scratches. I have always done 1200, 1500, 2000 and 2500 between 800 and 3000. So did you coat those?

I did coat those by using the packages the come with the 3M kit. Jumping from 800 to 3000 worked fine for me although I was able to still see some prior scratches. But they didn’t really affect the final result much after the clear coat was applied. That being said, I think you can certainly spend some more time by using maybe 1500 and 2500.

[BeantownBriggs]

I used Cerakote Ceramic Headlight Restoration on our old, now gone, X5. We had it for maybe 2 yrs after the afternoon where I spend maybe an hour per headlight. As most have noted, you need to sand a lot, get all the old crap off, thengo with a finer grit, and you MUST apply a protective UV coating. https://cerakoteceramics.com/cerakot...storation-kit/

[Ralph III]

Originally Posted by xidamaaa

Did the other side. This time I started with 320 - 500 - 800 - 3000 and it worked out great!

Looks great xidamaaa!

[BambamOD]

Hi Xidamaaa,

Thank you for the photos of the process. Did you do the process by hand or with a machine? And if you used a machine can you share what brand and model you used?


Thank you!

Originally Posted by xidamaaa

Update:

Just finished one headlight today so I’m sharing my experience here with you all. I bought a 3M ultra headlight restoration kit which has 500, 800, 3000 grit sanding pads and clear coat. I also got a set of sand papers just in case.

So I found out that the 500 grit sanding pads that came with the kit were not enough for my headlights so I went down to 210. This took care of the tiny cracks but the scratches were deep and they were not easy to polish with higher grits. So I would agree with some people on this thread that 320 grit is probably a better starting point.

After 210 grit, I used 320 and 400 before returning to the 3M kit and picking up 500. Then it was the kit all the way. The result was not perfect as there were still some scratches but the clear coat that came with the 3M kit took care of those. It made a huge difference!

Appreciate all the contributions in the thread here. I couldn’t have done this without all your help!