Polishing headlight lenses

I used to restore a lot of headlights at work, it looks like the uv coating has been sanded off in areas, and not in others. The best way to now restore these (and is how I did it at work in my trade - spray painter) is sand till those different feeling and lumpy areas are all gone. Till it's all uniform. Spend a lot of time with very fine grit sand paper used as wet rub method only (bucket of water, keep sand paper wet) ensure a sponge to wipe the what is called lollie water away before it dries as it will stain. Then using a 2 pack spray can of clear (yes these exist) do a light coat, then 2 full ones on each headlight. 2 can is sufficient for both headlights.
This gives crystal clear lights, uv protected as 2pack offers and you can very easily keep them protected with fine resin polish by autoglym or similar, they will stay nice for an extremely long time

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Originally Posted by Epic_Dragon

I used to restore a lot of headlights at work, it looks like the uv coating has been sanded off in areas, and not in others. The best way to now restore these (and is how I did it at work in my trade - spray painter) is sand till those different feeling and lumpy areas are all gone. Till it's all uniform. Spend a lot of time with very fine grit sand paper used as wet rub method only (bucket of water, keep sand paper wet) ensure a sponge to wipe the what is called lollie water away before it dries as it will stain. Then using a 2 pack spray can of clear (yes these exist) do a light coat, then 2 full ones on each headlight. 2 can is sufficient for both headlights.
This gives crystal clear lights, uv protected as 2pack offers and you can very easily keep them protected with fine resin polish by autoglym or similar, they will stay nice for an extremely long time

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Thanks Epic. That is what I was thinking. It was definitely like there were distinct layers. I wondered if it was a UV layer or something else. Awesome mate, thank you. Yes I was going to just go hard now and cut it right back, but thanks on the two pack clear. I’ll see if I can track it down.

Most welcome :) you'll find it from your nearest crash supplies shop or online. This is what it is, there are many brands :) Spray Max Automotive Car 2K Component High Gloss Clear Coat 400ml – Wholesale Paint Group

You can even get colours mixed and put in the cans as 2 pack too if ever need.
Make sure you pop the hardner in right before use and shake well. It won't dry without that and if popped in too early it will go hard in the can. (Its the red thing at the base, just press in)

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Originally Posted by DiscoJeffster

Thanks Epic. That is what I was thinking. It was definitely like there were distinct layers. I wondered if it was a UV layer or something else. Awesome mate, thank you. Yes I was going to just go hard now and cut it right back, but thanks on the two pack clear. I’ll see if I can track it down.

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Originally Posted by LGM

I tackled my headlights a while ago now in April 2019 and even though I live in a 'Sun Drenched' location the headlight have remained clear. Like DiscoJeffster the headlights were uneven in the finish so I persisted trying different grades of grit and then plastic polish followed by a liquid nano ceramic coat. They came up quite well and have not yellowed despite parking in the open quite a bit.

I have attached a few pics. On the before and after close up pics of the headlight lens you can see the pitting etc.

I tried using a kit with a wheel arrangement for my electric drill but did not like the aggressive nature of it so I reverted to the old school arrangement of hand rubbing! Bugger of a job but it did get results. Not every blemish came out but the lenses are vastly better than they were!

If I (when I) do it again I will be more persistent and reckon I will get a better result!

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Hard work, but paid off, looks great. Can you detail what you used?

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Originally Posted by Eric SDV6SE

Hard work, but paid off, looks great. Can you detail what you used?

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I have wandered up to the shed and checked out the supplies.........Isopropyl Alcohol, Mothers plastic polish, 600, 1200, 1500, 2000, 2500, 3000 wet and dry abrasive paper. A can of Rustoleum 2X clear coat. I also purchased a small but expensive bottle of ceramic nano polish which sadly I don't have around and am not sure of the brand. I was tossing up which to use, the Nano Ceramic or the Rustoleum clear coat. The old memory aint what it used to be and I did say I used the nano coating but from the pics (att) I reckon it was the clear coat that was used.

Sorry if I bum drummed anyone, but it was 3 years ago now!

I found a pic that really give you a perspective on the damage to the headlight covers.....lots of stone / sand pitting plus scratches. Also another pic with the spray tin of clear coat included just to jog the memory!

Its a bit scary when you get stuck in with the course abrasive paper as from that point on there is no turning back! You really need to keep the water up to the process and make sure you don't get too much of the residue on the vehicle as its a pain to get off once dried. I pretty much had a crack with all of the various grades of abrasive some were good and some were not. Go ugly early, but remember you need to get it baby's bum smooth before any clear coat is applied! If you jump in too aggressively you will need to spend the extra time to rub out the deep marks that you may make.

As others have stated you need to keep at it until you remove all previous coatings. It gets better as you work through the finer grade abrasives but it still looks cloudy until you apply the clear coat.

Hope that helps

Awesome, thanks for the advice. I may have a go. I will supply my own bikkies and tea as well.

Hi DiscoJeffster, I used wet and dry on mine until all was smooth and it looked so bad that I thought that it would never come back and then cut and polished until smooth, followed up with some Uv friendly clear (must get the good stuff, cheap stuff makes it worse than it was when you start), if your clear get a orange peel you can Wet and Dry with 2000 grit and the cut and polish until nice and smooth, made a good job, done it 3 years ago and still the same as when I done it, hope it helps, Cheers Merv

There have been various comments about the poly lens originally having 2 layers.
For what it's worth, that fits with the fact that polycarbonate sheeting for windows has a thin acrylic layer on both sides. According to my supplier, the acrylic is there to improve the clarity of the sheet but he warned me that the coating is softer than polycarbonate so scratches easily.

I’ve since been reading there is a UV protectant layer over the poly which I suspect is what I sanded through. Now I need to go harder across the entire lens to get rid of it, get a uniform finish, and then I’ll seal with two pack clear.

Like LGM already detailed, I used more grades of wet and dry paper. I think it’s asking too much if 2000 paper to clean up the scoring left by 800.

It’s worth putting masking tape on the body work around the headlights so the times you go off the lense you don’t scratch the paint.

Using a cork sanding block helped spread the sanding load.

Like has been said before, you’ve got to get to an even white/opaque lense with 800 before you start with 1200, then 1500 etc

Keep the lenses wet while you are sanding to get rid of the scrapings. You can get build up under the paper resulting in scratching.

Lastly, spray them with a UV resistant clear acrylic coat. Otherwise all the effort you put in will be gone in a couple of years.

It bloody takes ages and I reckon whoever wrote about spending $150 to pay someone else to do it was on to a good idea.