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06-17-2018, 01:02 PM | #1 |
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Headlight Lens Restoration
One headlight on my recently acquired car is 11 years old, the other is 1 year old. The older one appears to have a cataract, so I bought a 3M Headlight Restoration kit and got into the renewal. When I finished the project yesterday I was very satisfied with the result and stopped for the day.
Today I looked at the lens in a different light and noticed faint but obvious swirl marks on the entire lens surface. I re-did the last several steps of the process, (a) 3000 grit buffing pad and (b) the final polishing compound. I compounded the lens twice. All the swirls were still visible when viewed at specific angles. I guessed the polishing compound to be the culprit, that it might be a bit aggressive. I drove to Autozone and purchased a Meguiars product, http://www.meguiars.com/en/professio...-remover-16oz/ . That bottle of very fine polish compound did the trick. All swirls gone and the overall finish was much glossier. David
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06-18-2018, 07:28 PM | #3 | |
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07-02-2018, 07:58 AM | #5 | |
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https://www.summitracing.com/parts/m...t=All+Products David
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07-03-2018, 04:48 PM | #7 |
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Much too soon. I've owned the car for just 5 months, and bought it with the lens in its deteriorated condition. Previous owners probably had the car parked in the sun quite a bit.
I have a garage and now the car is parked in the garage 24/7. I drive it maybe once a week. It may be many years before I'll see the need for a re-do. David
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07-06-2018, 11:19 PM | #8 |
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Drives: '11 E92 328i LCI & '06 Z4MR
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Instead of using a sealer, can’t you just use a LaminX film over your lenses?
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07-09-2018, 06:27 PM | #9 |
My other car is on Mars
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Not sure about LaminX, but I have Headlight Armor and it has about the same life span as the bare lenses, but replacing it is a lot harder than doing the old sand and buff.
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Warning: May contain traces of nuts.
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07-11-2018, 06:17 AM | #10 |
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The best headlight restoration kit I've ever used has to be the Meguiar's Heavy Duty Headlight Restoration Kit. Comes with all you need, except a drill of course. Highly recommend it
http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/me...-0391037p.html |
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07-12-2018, 11:06 AM | #11 | |
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Drives: '11 E92 328i LCI & '06 Z4MR
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As bad as this?
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07-12-2018, 05:07 PM | #12 |
Why so serious?
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07-13-2018, 03:58 PM | #13 |
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Good to know. I used the Meguiar's but the "not so heavy duty" version. It did a good job and it was by hand. I'll try this one and use a drill this time. Thanks!
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07-13-2018, 06:29 PM | #14 |
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No worries! I can stand by that kit. It's great! Did my buddy's headlights. One kit can do 3-5 sets of headlights.
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07-18-2018, 07:16 PM | #15 |
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I used the Gliptone product that I bought from BavAuto during a sale. There is no sanding involved as it uses chemicals to peel off the oxidation. It also comes with a sealer. I did it this past January/February and loved the results with minimal effort. It is holding up great but the car sits in the garage at night and a parking garage during the day.
https://www.bavauto.com/bmw-headligh...on-kit-gt71647 |
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07-23-2018, 01:28 PM | #16 | |
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Drives: '11 E92 328i LCI & '06 Z4MR
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I put the clear coat at the end provided by Meguiar's but I'm letting the car cure at home, I'll be covering the headlights with Lamin-X today anyway to protect it from cracks or rock chips.
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07-23-2018, 01:44 PM | #17 |
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I followed this video to do mine. They turned out well. Here's his two year follow up video.
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07-23-2018, 02:07 PM | #18 | |
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08-10-2018, 08:18 AM | #19 |
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Wow everyone did an amazing job.
Personally I had a lot of luck with the turtle wax kit that comes in a box. However I do want to redo my Mazda and put Laminex film on them |
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08-10-2018, 01:44 PM | #20 |
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Not my Z, but a girl at my work had some of the worst headlights I had ever seen. I polished them up not only as a public service, but just to see if I could. They came out pretty nice.
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08-18-2018, 12:31 AM | #21 |
I plead the 5th.
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Good stuff y'all! I'll be tackling this, this coming week.
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08-27-2018, 08:02 AM | #22 |
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When you guys say "sealer" is that the same as "clear coat"? Getting ready to buy one of these kits and from my research, I was under impression that much like paint - starting with lower grit and ending with higher grit sand paper was in order, then moving to polish and wax - and finally clear coat - was the key?
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