Headlight restoration question?

[nooner]

I was trying to help a neighbor restore their headlights (since I got my 4" kit today) they had some wierd yellow "coating" type stuff on it. I could feel it with my hand, but a drill on full speed will SHR and a yellow pad wasn't making this tuff budge.

 

I don't know if glass is the same properties of clear coat... Can you sand with 2000 and work your way back up to 2500 and then 3000 and then get the 3000 out with the yellow or orange like I saw junkman do on clear coat with 2500 > 3000> orange with SHR? Or once you sand glass is it perminantly ruined?

 

I also want to try the same on plexiglass, like on a motorcycle wind deflector. There isn't the wierd yellow stuff, but it is scratched up like someone rubbed it with a steel wool pad. There is a sticker that says don't use abraisives on it, but minor scratches can be removed, but I wasn't sure if that was just a legaly obligated warning type sticker and if you can "take layers" of a plexiglass off, or is there some kind of protective coating like a clear coat on them too?

 

Thanks.

[Marylander]

[Superdutytd]

A picture is worth a 1000 words! Something sounds weird if it wouldn't come out.

[nooner]

yea, I will try to get some up.

 

Do you think it is possible that it could fade from the inside of the lens? It does look much better and maybe that is becuase the outside was cleaned.

 

It is an OLD (20ish years) neglected car if that makes a difference.

[GerryC]

It's been my understanding that you cannot remove scratches from glass with a portercable. Plexiglass, maybe.

 

What do these headlights look like? I used my PC with the 4" pads to clean my Taurus's headlights because I only have a cordless drill and found that it didn't spin fast enough to do any good (maybe the battery pack was low, idk). I used SHR on the orange 4" pad on the PC set at 5, and did 2 passes, cleared them right up.

[GerryC]

yea, I will try to get some up.

 

Do you think it is possible that it could fade from the inside of the lens? It does look much better and maybe that is becuase the outside was cleaned.

 

It is an OLD (20ish years) neglected car if that makes a difference.

 

It is possible that the inside faded if the seal dried up and air and moisture got inside the housing. My DD is also an oldish car and was neglected for years when it was owned by my mother, take a look what Adam's has done for it:

 

 

The headlights used to be as yellow as a pencil, and now they are as clear as they could be. I was close to buying replacement lenses on ebay for $30 each but 10 minutes with some SHR solved that problem

 

Take some photos so we can see what you're dealing with and steer you in the right direction

[nooner]

It is possible that the inside faded if the seal dried up and air and moisture got inside the housing. My DD is also an oldish car and was neglected for years when it was owned by my mother, take a look what Adam's has done for it:

 

 

The headlights used to be as yellow as a pencil, and now they are as clear as they could be. I was close to buying replacement lenses on ebay for $30 each but 10 minutes with some SHR solved that problem

 

Take some photos so we can see what you're dealing with and steer you in the right direction

 

nice job!

 

 

its not the best picture, it is night, I will ahve to wait for some sun to really show you.

 

I will try the PC and the 4" pads as it was a cordless electric and was lowish on power, so that oculd have been. The chuck is way out forn too, so it was VERY hard to keep from "running away" on me. I let it stay in one spot for "too long" since if they are ruined it is not a big deal if I "ruin" them lol. But it didn't even get hot to the touch, just warm, so my guess is low power as well.

 

Inspecting it closer, I think it is plexiglass, though, and not glass.

 

 

 

 

but here is the bike, it doesn't effect vision or anything, it would just look nicer....... small children might want to look away, it is bad.

 

 

 

 

 

[GerryC]

That material seems similar to what cars have covering their gauge cluster. I remember someone a while back tried to get the swirls out of that (I think it was Devin) but I forgot if it worked or if he just couldn't get his hands behind the steering wheel to really work at it. I've never tried to remove swirls from that type of material so I can't say for sure what will happen but I don't see how you could make it worse so it seems worth giving it a try

 

As for the headlight, if that haziness is on the outside it looks like it should buff out. Give it a shot with the PC instead of the drill and let us know. If you can literally 'feel' something on the headlight in that area you could also try claying them before polishing.

Edited October 1, 2009 by GerryC

[nooner]

That material seems similar to what cars have covering their gauge cluster. I remember someone a while back tried to get the swirls out of that (I think it was Devin) but I forgot if it worked or if he just couldn't get his hands behind the steering wheel to really work at it. I've never tried to remove swirls from that type of material so I can't say for sure what will happen but I don't see how you could make it worse so it seems worth giving it a try

 

As for the headlight, if that haziness is on the outside it looks like it should buff out. Give it a shot with the PC instead of the drill and let us know. If you can literally 'feel' something on the headlight in that area you could also try claying them before polishing.

 

 

Thanks, I will give the PC on my headlight a try tomorrow.

 

As far as the bike not getting any worse, I would ahve to agree and I have already tried it slightly, it didn't do much, but I wasn't sure if I would have to go deeper if I could. I don't know if they are like one think clear coat, of if the plexiglass has a thin clear coat on it or not.

 

Or if the sanding is an option, if it is possible to" bring back" from a sand.