Headlight Cleaning Part 2

[mikesr1963]

My daughter and one of her lifelong friends spent the weekend. Her friend said that the place where she was going to get her car inspected in Norfolk failed her car because the headlight lens were foggy and wanted $140 to clean them on the spot. She told them no and to put a rejection sticker on it and she'd take care of it. Told her I'd take care of it for her for free. 40 minutes later before and after photos.

:

 

[wagdog]

Nicely done! How did you do that?

 

[mikesr1963]

I've done several sets with a Turtle wax kit. At the end I use a drill with a small buffing attachment for the last stage in the TW kit. Then I hand buff with Meguier's clear lens polish and scratch remover. This is the 5th set I've done with that one kit.

 

[jamesp]

Eerily, I was just going out to the garage to do this on my truck headlamps. I got the 3M kit from Amazon this week.

 

[mikesr1963]

Eerily, I was just going out to the garage to do this on my truck headlamps. I got the 3M kit from Amazon this week.

Be sure to pay yourself $140 and get yourself a little something. I couldn't believe they were going to charge that child that much money to that.

 

[Jbird]

Inspections are pretty much ripoffs.

The last couple of years I lived in SC, they would always find something with the caveat "Oh, we can fix that for $xxx"

I would tell them no, then go somewhere else for the inspection, and have it pass with no issues.

 

[Denverdave]

I bought a cleaning kit about a year ago and it had very little effect. Maybe the drill with the attachment makes the difference.

 

[Lerxst]

I bought a cleaning kit about a year ago and it had very little effect. Maybe the drill with the attachment makes the difference.

Think about the cause of the issue: the headlight cover on most cars is polycarbonate plastic w/ a uv resistant coating. The coating eventually fails and can look spotty or mottled and eventually the polycarbonate hazes up. The kits are essentially just abrasives to remove the coating, oxidized polycarbonate & polish up to clear plastic and the kit might include something to help keep further haze at bay. I've done the kits and I've just sanded and polished the covers then applied sealant; rinse and repeat several months later.

Getting the covers clear is just the first part of the battle...keeping them clear is the key. Last year I posted my results w/ the megs kit that includes a application specific clear coat to apply after the plastic is sanded. I think it's hands down the best consumer/otc kit I've used and the coating has held up w/ no visible degradation for over a year on the car which is kept outside 24/7 and recently driven across country. Spar varnish cut w/ mineral spirits is a popular DIY clear coat but that will slightly yellow w/ UV exposure over time.

 

[jp_nyc]

I did mine yesterday with an $11 Turtle Wax kit one of the guys at O’Reilly recommended. It worked pretty well, but I need to do it again with power tools. Last time I waxed the car I used a drill and forgot to skip the lights. So there’s wax gunking up the cracks and mineral buildup on one lamp.

 

[Jbird]

So, does this happen only to cars parked out in sunlight? I've never had a car with headlamp covers like that, but I have a garage to park my car in.

I will say that the car I drive now, 2014 Chevy Cruze, the covers might be slightly less than crystal clear, but they sure don't look foggy either.

 

[DdBob]

I bought a cleaning kit about a year ago and it had very little effect. Maybe the drill with the attachment makes the difference.

A few years back at work we bougfht a kit and cleaned one cars headlights, worked pretty good and the other , not so goo. Both were a big pain in the ass to do.
I just checked Amazon and for my jeep (04 G.C) both headlights new (left and right together) cost a grand total of 77 dollars shipped. Some of the other places (headlight depot, etc) might be even cheaper but screw it when mine go bad I'm just buying new one. When I bought the jeep it had two new ones (Depot brand so I'm assuming headlight depot.com) and they are still almost like new, 5 years later in the AZ sun. Some jobs (the whole time is money thing) it just doesn't pay....perjhaps if I was reired or had nothing better to do then I might give it a go but otherwise I'm just buying new headlamps ;o

 

[mikesr1963]

I bought a cleaning kit about a year ago and it had very little effect. Maybe the drill with the attachment makes the difference.

The Turtle Wax kit has two sanding pads with 4 different grits. It's those that are the key, IMO, to cutting the fog off the lens. The drill comes in when you do the polishing, doing a much better job than I can with my hands, to get all the small scratches out to make it clear again.

 

[jamesp]

The 3M kit worked like a charm. It came with three grades of velcro backed paper for the disk. The first two dry grades made quick work of the foggy surface layer. Then there's a wet wheel used to polish the lens with water. Finally there's a foam disc used with a polishing compound. The kit cost $17 and I can easily see getting three or four more sets out of it. Headlights on my truck would be $75 apiece to replace, so the just under an hour it took worked out for me. It was a nice rainy day in the garage project. The instructions say you can seal the lens with any synthetic wax.

This reminds me of the time years ago when we were all still thralls of HC. My coffee maker bit the dust on a Saturday morning and we wanted to replace it before the week got started. Out of habit (and b/c I love you guys,) I opened GJ and there was a post on coffee makers! Actually, now that I think about it, I bought one recommended by you guys and wound up hating it, but that's beside the point. The point is that whatever we're calling it, GJ rules.