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Old 11-02-2015, 01:09 PM   #1
tmontague
 
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Headlight Restoration

Now that I have my HID's installed, I want to clear up the lenses. I did a quick wet sand and spray with clear coat type restore but I rushed the sanding part and now the lights are not uniformly clear.

I have some residue and plastic pieces inside my lens from doing the HID mod so I am thinking of just taking the lenses back off and giving it a thorough clean inside and then give it a really good wet sand from 400, 600 and then 2000 grit, cover with clear coat and then polish with a car paint polishy I have and then use a synthetic wax on top.

What my Q is, is what product should I use to re seal the headlight lenses? When I did it the first time was reuse the original factory seal as there was barely enough left. I don't want to do this again as I don't trust it to make a proper seal. What would be a comparable product that stays very tacky and never solidifies like RTV does and will seal the headlight lenses?

That being said I may end up just buying new headlights for $105 from Amazon and then just swapping the lenses onto my headlight housing to save the hassle. I can just spray with clear coat and keep them protected for a long time.

My current light have craze (cracks) on them not the typical fog and my non thorough sanding did not even come close to getting down to it.

Do you guys thinks its worth all the effort and time to sand it down or for $105 just buy new lenses and swap them and clear coat them?
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Old 11-04-2015, 02:26 PM   #2
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I'm in the same boat - restore or replace!?

I was considering buying new then adding Xpel clear covering... Still researching though.
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Old 11-04-2015, 02:59 PM   #3
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I've made up my mind. I'm going to just run them for the winter and next spring just buy new ones and swap lenses.

I'll be using a 2000 grit wet sand to lightly sand the new lens so the clear coat has something to stick to. Then I'll polish the lens and then I'll add 4 coats of clear coat. I'll be finishing that off with a synthetic wax. The lenses should then last a decade without any issues.

I could realistically sand the lenses I already did and re do, but that will take a days work and it's be easier to just use new lenses. We'll see though I may still try to fix my old lenses with a 400 grit paper and see how easy the clear coat comes off. It's all the crazing I have that will take a lot of work to clear if it even does
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Old 11-05-2015, 09:59 AM   #4
47_MasoN_47
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I used a 3M "medium duty" restore kit on mine about 2 weeks ago. They turned out fantastic!



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Old 11-05-2015, 10:43 AM   #5
tmontague
 
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Those turned out great!

I was looking at my headlight crazing last night. I actually noticed that an area where I sanded a little longer had in fact gotten rid of it all. The crazing does not go very deep, just on the surface of the lenses. I may just make this a winter project and use a tougher grit like a 400 eventually working up to a 3000 and spend more time sanding. This way I get rid of all the crazing and it turns out uniform like yours did.

As much as I want to clean the interior of the lenses, I want to see how they turn out form the outside once I do them properly. The lenses sealed back up really nicely and have no leaks so I'd rather not have to re open them unless necessary.
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