Polishing headlight lenses

**DiscoJeffster** · 4th June 2022, 06:10 PM

So, I gave it a crack today, trying to polish up my headlights which are pitted and sun damaged. I thought it would be far easier than it turned out.

The kit I had came with a P800, P1500 and P3000 rotary pad set and some UV safe polish. All was going well until I found that the lenses didn’t sand up evenly. Some parts went rough and others polished. Hard to explain so I have pictures. No matter how much I sanded and polished I couldn’t get a consistent finish. The end result once polished was a distinct difference in the end result. I found hitting it with some scratch remover helped to even out the finish and then polish, but it’s still noticeable.

So, does anyone know what I did wrong, what I don’t understand, how to get an even finish?

In the first photo you can see the finish anomaly on the edge and the top. The second photo it’s more pronounced on the left.

**Jeffoir** · 4th June 2022, 07:41 PM

Hi,
is there sun damage on the inside of the lens in addition to the front?

**DiscoJeffster** · 4th June 2022, 07:56 PM

Originally Posted by Jeffoir

Hi,
is there sun damage on the inside of the lens in addition to the front?

Quite possibly, but that texture for want of a better word only showed up once sanded.

Edit: you can feel the texture difference on the lens so it’s not an effect of the inner. Weirdly it doesn’t matter how much I sand the texture difference remains

**Eric SDV6SE** · 5th June 2022, 08:49 AM

The polycarbonate still has fissures in it (thats the texture you feel) so you need to keep polishing. I had the same yellowing but only on the top edge. I think my bullbar shades most of the front face and its inside a garage most times. I used a Dremel and the polishing pad, then finished off with toothpaste. Came up ok. Issue is the new layer of poly that you expose does not have a uv protective layer, so it ages 3x as fast. I did the headlights on my kids' cars with an electric polisher and "cut and polish", Came up like new but they yellow again so fast.

**DiscoJeffster** · 5th June 2022, 10:22 AM

Nah. It’s not the fissures, it’s lumpy. It’s weird. It’s like there a hard and soft part in the polycarbonate. You can feel that it’s smooth on the weird sections and then rough. When polished there’s a clear difference. I tried sanding on the spots and it doesn’t change. It’s weird. Maybe I need to hit it with a P400 to really get into it and see.

Yeah I know I’m now screwed with the UV, but they were trashed anyhow. I wonder if you can get new lenses for them?

**Mog60** · 5th June 2022, 10:34 AM

Originally Posted by DiscoJeffster

Nah. It’s not the fissures, it’s lumpy. It’s weird. It’s like there a hard and soft part in the polycarbonate. You can feel that it’s smooth on the weird sections and then rough. When polished there’s a clear difference. I tried sanding on the spots and it doesn’t change. It’s weird. Maybe I need to hit it with a P400 to really get into it and see.

Yeah I know I’m now screwed with the UV, but they were trashed anyhow. I wonder if you can get new lenses for them?

You may be able to get what you need from Powerful UK.

You are being redirected...

Video showing removal of lens: How to remove and strip down Land Rover Discovery 3 headlight - YouTube

Hope this helps. Peter

**Eric SDV6SE** · 5th June 2022, 10:52 AM

Originally Posted by DiscoJeffster

Nah. It’s not the fissures, it’s lumpy. It’s weird. It’s like there a hard and soft part in the polycarbonate. You can feel that it’s smooth on the weird sections and then rough. When polished there’s a clear difference. I tried sanding on the spots and it doesn’t change. It’s weird. Maybe I need to hit it with a P400 to really get into it and see.

Yeah I know I’m now screwed with the UV, but they were trashed anyhow. I wonder if you can get new lenses for them?

You're a perfect candidate for the chinesium Defender headlights that were released for the Discovery a while ago?

**DiscoJeffster** · 5th June 2022, 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by Eric SDV6SE

You're a perfect candidate for the chinesium Defender headlights that were released for the Discovery a while ago?

No I’m not. No money!!

**DiscoJeffster** · 5th June 2022, 11:56 AM

Originally Posted by Mog60

You may be able to get what you need from Powerful UK.

You are being redirected...

Video showing removal of lens: How to remove and strip down Land Rover Discovery 3 headlight - YouTube

Hope this helps. Peter

Nice find. Cheers!

Originally Posted by Eric SDV6SE

You're a perfect candidate for the chinesium Defender headlights that were released for the Discovery a while ago?

No I’m not. No money!!

**LGM** · 5th June 2022, 01:06 PM

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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