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Easy way to restore plastic headlights.
https://www.auszookers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=23962		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  Liljim [ Mon Jul 18, 2011 2:26 am ]
Post subject:  Easy way to restore plastic headlights.
Got another jimny the other day, and it's headlights were sandblasted and yellow at the top.

I've had a roadworthy knocked back for this in the past.

Not wanting to pay for new headlights i used what i had around and they came up perfect.


-2500 grit wet and dry sandpaper.
-a bottle of brasso from the supermarket.


I sanded with the paper wet for about 15 mins on each light, sanding in only one direction makes it easier to get the scratches out later.

I then washed and dried the lights with clean water and cloths.

Then I used the brasso on a cloth and polished in a circular motion until the scatches were gone.

I was surprised how well it worked, they now look new.

I found that the brasso alone worked great on the clear plastic over the instrument cluster too.
Author:  Birdman1985 [ Mon Jul 18, 2011 2:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy way to restore plastic headlights.
Did you only do the exterior of the light or did you remove them and do both ext and int.
Author:  BlueSuzy [ Mon Jul 18, 2011 3:21 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy way to restore plastic headlights.
Autosol metal chrome polish works also. Its a very light cutting polish.
Author:  Liljim [ Mon Jul 18, 2011 3:31 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy way to restore plastic headlights.
I only did the exterior, I didn't need to do the inside.

Yeah Autosol would work well too, brasso is all i had at the time.
Author:  squizzytaylor [ Mon Jul 18, 2011 3:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy way to restore plastic headlights.
Any before/after shots?
Author:  Liljim [ Mon Jul 18, 2011 4:19 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy way to restore plastic headlights.
I didn't actually take a proper before shot, because i didn't think it was going to work, but here's a cropped image from a shot i took the other day, you can't see how bad it was because it was too far away, but you get the idea.
Author:  Moag [ Mon Jul 18, 2011 4:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy way to restore plastic headlights.
Good job. Just doing the above will make your lights so much brighter.

I took my lights out when i did mine as the bull bar kind of gets in the way - (no need to do the inside).

2000 grit wet and dry one direction (soak your wet and dry first) and use a water spay bottle to keep it nice and wet - large scratches and chips.

2500 grit opposite direction - fine scratches and heavy oxidisation of UV protective layer.

3000 grit opposite direction again, wipe dry to see if your got a dull even surface.

Polishing compound - what ever floats your boat! toothpaste (works just) I was happy with Meguiar's Plastx (clear plastic cleaner and polish)

Finish with bit of hard polishing wax.
Author:  stocker [ Mon Jul 18, 2011 6:46 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy way to restore plastic headlights.
Meguires makes a Head light rejuvinator that you can buy for 15 bucks, Works a Treat :)
Author:  Liljim [ Mon Jul 18, 2011 7:00 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy way to restore plastic headlights.
stocker wrote:
Meguires makes a Head light rejuvinator that you can buy for 15 bucks, Works a Treat :)



What's in the kit?
Author:  gdaymatee [ Mon Jul 18, 2011 7:02 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy way to restore plastic headlights.
Ive seen this done with all the above and then some clear coat over the top. A guy in mexico came up to our car in the shopping centre and did it for $10.... we were sceptiacl but it worked great.
Author:  stocker [ Mon Jul 18, 2011 9:09 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy way to restore plastic headlights.
Liljim wrote:
stocker wrote:
Meguires makes a Head light rejuvinator that you can buy for 15 bucks, Works a Treat :)



What's in the kit?



A Big top hat, Magicians coat and Guide to magic tricks...



i kid i kid...

Its just a liquid ( similar to a cut and polish i guess ) that you put on the lights, leave it to dry, then buff it off with a dry cloth :)
Author:  zuk85 [ Tue Jul 19, 2011 7:13 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy way to restore plastic headlights.
we get those kits from repco for work up here sure other places do to.

it comes with like 4 stages of application, like apply some gel, then wipe, then apply cut, and light sand, then polish with nice rag they supply, then final wash with some type of metho and clean rag again and your done.

comes up a treat though better than new I reakon.
Its crazy how many cars from "backpackers travelling" get knocked back on road worthy for there stained lights.

but mate for a bit of brasso and wet and dry and that result how can you pass it up look fucking sweet. Im going straight out to give the autosol a lil go.
Author:  TheOtherLeft [ Tue Jul 19, 2011 9:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy way to restore plastic headlights.
Where can you buy 2000/2500/3000 grit wet/dry? I tried Bunnings and Supercrapauto and they don't stock it.

Would a house paint place have them?
Author:  Moag [ Tue Jul 19, 2011 9:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy way to restore plastic headlights.
Have you tried a body shop?

Ebay Link if you can't get some locally.
Author:  monley [ Tue Jul 19, 2011 11:29 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy way to restore plastic headlights.
Bit off topic- but are the jimny head light's in like 2 bit's? Like do they have a outer peace cus i got water in mine, but i don't think it's in the globe housing it's self :?
Author:  Moag [ Tue Jul 19, 2011 11:52 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy way to restore plastic headlights.
Don't really know.

The front polycarbonate lens looks like it might be glued on when clipped on during manufacture, sandwiching the reflector and aiming mechanism.

Did you leave the rubber boot of the back of the lights? I've had water up over my lights a couple of times now (with lights off) with no dramas.
Author:  monley [ Tue Jul 19, 2011 12:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy way to restore plastic headlights.
Moag wrote:
Don't really know.

The front polycarbonate lens looks like it might be glued on when clipped on during manufacture, sandwiching the reflector and aiming mechanism.

Did you leave the rubber boot of the back of the lights? I've had water up over my lights a couple of times now (with lights off) with no dramas.


no! I had the rubber boots on, but the HID globe holder thingy is means it Carnot seal around the globe tightly. :?
Author:  atari4x4 [ Tue Jul 19, 2011 12:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy way to restore plastic headlights.
lol HID fail
Author:  Moag [ Tue Jul 19, 2011 1:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy way to restore plastic headlights.
Look on the bright side; you might have a sharper low beam cut off, due to the high tide mark now.
Author:  Liljim [ Wed Jul 20, 2011 5:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy way to restore plastic headlights.
TheOtherLeft wrote:
Where can you buy 2000/2500/3000 grit wet/dry? I tried Bunnings and Supercrapauto and they don't stock it.

Would a house paint place have them?



Hobby shops that sell plastic model planes and cars etc have it right down to stupidly smooth.

As do jewellers supplies stores.
Author:  Birdman1985 [ Mon Aug 15, 2011 5:15 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy way to restore plastic headlights.
You guys are freaking awesome.

As soon as i find some million grade sandpaper, ill be giving this a crack.
Author:  gjb977 [ Mon Aug 15, 2011 5:45 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy way to restore plastic headlights.
I just use the Meguires paint cleaner. (stage 1)

It's normally used to get the swirls and oxidation of auto paint work.
Author:  TheOtherLeft [ Wed Aug 24, 2011 3:33 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Easy way to restore plastic headlights.
I just cleaned my headlights using Moag's method above.

A few $$$ on ebay for some 2000/2500/3000 wet & dry, masking tape, some Silvo I already had and now I have new looking headlights. One of my headlights was only 1 year old due to a run in with a hilux and had yellowed slightly so was dubious there would be much of a difference but it came up looking new.

Very impressed with it and saved from buying the Maguires/Mothers stuff.

I also tried it on my partner's 1997 Mitsu Mirage but it has glass headlights and wasn't yellowed at all. For a car 14 years old to have better headlights then my 2002 GV says something about the cheapness of Suzuki.
Author:  Scales [ Thu Dec 29, 2011 12:38 am ]
Post subject:  Headlight restoration - my experience
Gday guys,

Just thought id share an experience i had the other week. My Jims headlights were starting to look a bit sad with yellowing/oxidisation, primarily along the top 1/4 of the lens.

After a fair bit of research on do's and donts and youtube howto's etc. I finally decided to bite the bullet and do the wet/dry sanding technique and finish with a polish. some ppl advised against due to removing uv layer with sandpaper, but hey, was already damaged right? what have i got to loose?

I originally bought a proper primex (i think) kit from supercheap and followed the instructions on that for the 1st headlight. and im telling you, its probably not worth the 30 bucks for the kit, unless the pissy little bottle of polish is worth its weight in gold (smelt suspiciously like brasso). the rest of the kit was just varing grades of wet/dry and some latex gloves.

HOWEVER, the kit did its job and looked pretty good for doing the whole thing by hand (be aware its some arm breaking work, i removed the lights for the job, and was still pretty full on)

For the 2nd light i used the same technique for the wet/dry but instead of using the supplied polish, i bought some meguires plastx polish (supercheap) and used a soft buffing pad attached to my power drill. MUCH better result, unsure if it was the plastx or the buffing pad, but either way, worked a treat so repeated that process on the 1st light.

Now they look like new (save a few nicks that i cant remove), it was time to address the claims that my UV layer is now destroyed/removed. so after some more research, i bought a 1mx30mm length of "3m paint protective film" from a place called ozishield.... google it if your keen

after spending some painstaking time applying the film, im more than happy with the result, and i have an invisible headlight protector installed now that will hopefully guard against stonechips. Was a bit of a pain installing the film and i definatley recommend removing the lights to do it so you can just cut the excess off when you put it on.

The increase in light output is definatley noticeable. and it seems a lot whiter colour on the road.

Anyway, thought some of you may be interested in that, as im sure it is probably an issue for some.

Sorry, no before/after pics, was stinking hot and i was hot n bothered during the whole lot so couldnt be arsed. Can get some after pics when i get home however.
Author:  31zook [ Thu Dec 29, 2011 1:38 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Headlight restoration - my experience
Nice, if there is some good tech in this thread then we can move it across. Good write up ;)
Author:  TheOtherLeft [ Thu Dec 29, 2011 2:19 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Headlight restoration - my experience
Good tech here:
Headlight restoration
Author:  Scales [ Thu Dec 29, 2011 3:12 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Headlight restoration - my experience
yeah fair enough, I did things a bit differently. Specifically the film application. and i used a diff polish but yeah... didnt notice that thread.

i recommend the film pretty hard, for 30 bucks worth of film, i rekon itd take a stone a lot better than those ugly plastic protectors. I coulda applied it a bit better but overall its awesome stuff, and the guy who sold it was more than helpful on tips over the phone (was a bit of a chatterbox actually)
Author:  stockman [ Thu Dec 29, 2011 8:09 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Headlight restoration - my experience
Did the wrong thread get moved a cross?
Any chance of this one being merged with the one mentioned above?
Author:  31zook [ Thu Dec 29, 2011 8:30 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Headlight restoration - my experience
Why? now both are in here and if you read this thread you will see a link in the first few posts.....
Author:  stockman [ Thu Dec 29, 2011 7:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Headlight restoration - my experience
31zook wrote:
Why? now both are in here and if you read this thread you will see a link in the first few posts.....

Because the 'good tech' one isn't in here!
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