Badly scratched 04 BMW 325xi headlights...

[Time 2 shine]

So a buddy of mine asked me to restore his 2004 325xi headlights that are super cloudy and scratched badly. So i wet sanded by hand with 600,1500,2000,3000 and the buffed with surbuf pad/M105, LC white/M205 and LC blue/PO85rd. They are 100% better for safety purpose but still have a lot of scratches that just make them look crappy. So my question is if did multiple passes with 600 and wasn't able to get all of the scratches out are the headlight pretty much as good as there gonna get?


Edited 11-12-11

Driver side corrected passenger not

After a lot of wet sanding and polishing im still left with deeper scratches and lots of dots

From a distance they dont look to bad

 

[Crossfire]

I am just wondering why your friend doesn't just replace the lenses. Its easy to do and they only cost about $30 a pair. After you figure your time and materials its not worth it.

 

[Rocket]

How deep were the scratches?

 

[Time 2 shine]

I am just wondering why your friend doesn't just replace the lenses. Its easy to do and they only cost about $30 a pair. After you figure your time and materials its not worth it.

He looked online for a pair and im pretty sure he didn't find a pair for $30 or he would have bought them. So if you know where he can order a pair for that cost please let me know. There was no charge so time and materials is not a problem. He is happy with the results which is fine but i just wanted to see if i could get them as close to new as possible.

 

[Time 2 shine]

How deep were the scratches?

Deep enough to where i could still catch a little bit of a finger nail after 3 passes with 600. By the way the car looks, it seems that through out its whole life it saw nothing but "Slap-and-Scratch" automatic car washes or just really bad personal washing.

P.S. my friend just bought it used with 90k on it two weeks ago.

 

[Rocket]

If you can catch it still with your nail I think it might be too deep. I would have to see it to be more confident in my answer though. I think it also would depend on how comfortable you feel sanding more.

 

[Time 2 shine]

If you can catch it still with your nail I think it might be too deep. I would have to see it to be more confident in my answer though. I think it also would depend on how comfortable you feel sanding more.

Im comfortable sanding more but the lowest grit i had was 600. There are scratches that you can't catch with a nail but are still really noticeable. Im gonna see if i can take a pic tomorrow and post it.

 

[Crossfire]

He looked online for a pair and im pretty sure he didn't find a pair for $30 or he would have bought them. So if you know where he can order a pair for that cost please let me know. There was no charge so time and materials is not a problem. He is happy with the results which is fine but i just wanted to see if i could get them as close to new as possible.

Tell your friend to check the e46fanatics website when he needs parts. I have bought a bunch of parts 2nd hand there for good prices. Members often sell headlight parts. I have a pair now that I may list soon.

 

[Time 2 shine]

Tell your friend to check the e46fanatics website when he needs parts. I have bought a bunch of parts 2nd hand there for good prices. Members often sell headlight parts. I have a pair now that I may list soon.

Will do, thanks..

 

[Beemerboy]

I would replace them as well. But FYI you should have started with 2000 and went to 3000 the 600 was the issue. You have some deep sand marks that are not going to be easy to get out. Plus buffing them with a machine helps as well.

 

[Stokdgs]

If the headlights are Xenon HID lights, the lenses are not replaceable. A new Xenon headlight costs around $500.
You can replace the headlight unit on the older halogen lights sometimes, but after awhile, Hella started gluing the lenses to the headlights so well that taking them apart destroyed the part you were going to use over again.

Having done this on our 97 540i I can tell you its not even too easy, but it is do able if the lights are not Xenon's.

You may just have to keep wet sanding the lenses down enough to remove all the deeper scratches and as you start removing the higher grit scratches, and eventually get to the highest grit paper and have removed all the previous grit scratches, then the polishing should work.
Are you using a Rotary ?? You need a rotary in order to take advantage of the Meguiars 105/205 combo.

I bought an '03 Bimmer with lights like you described and they were Xenon, and spent a long time with the higher grits, soapy water and a small rubber sanding block, and then a while with the rotary and a 3" pad with the aforementioned compounds and got the lenses back to new.

Good luck, its not the easiest location to work on, if you decide to pull the lights out (and I would not suggest that you do this), be very mindful of the ballast connected directly to the back, it holds huge voltage that can be very dangerous.

Dan F

 

[Time 2 shine]

I would replace them as well. But FYI you should have started with 2000 and went to 3000 the 600 was the issue. You have some deep sand marks that are not going to be easy to get out. Plus buffing them with a machine helps as well.

Sorry i didnt explain more in depth. I first started with 105 on a orange pad which wasnt enough, so then i tried a yellow pad still not enough and then went to the surbuf with 105 which was a lot better but still lead to wet sanding. I did start with 3000 and work my way down when it wasn't giving me what i wanted in terms of removal. All done on a Flex DA, nothing was polished by hand. The scratches that are left are definitely not sanding marks. I do realize that they probably should be replaced but given i had the spare time i wanted to see if i could revive them.

 

[Time 2 shine]

If the headlights are Xenon HID lights, the lenses are not replaceable. A new Xenon headlight costs around $500.
You can replace the headlight unit on the older halogen lights sometimes, but after awhile, Hella started gluing the lenses to the headlights so well that taking them apart destroyed the part you were going to use over again.

Having done this on our 97 540i I can tell you its not even too easy, but it is do able if the lights are not Xenon's.

You may just have to keep wet sanding the lenses down enough to remove all the deeper scratches and as you start removing the higher grit scratches, and eventually get to the highest grit paper and have removed all the previous grit scratches, then the polishing should work.
Are you using a Rotary ?? You need a rotary in order to take advantage of the Meguiars 105/205 combo.

I bought an '03 Bimmer with lights like you described and they were Xenon, and spent a long time with the higher grits, soapy water and a small rubber sanding block, and then a while with the rotary and a 3" pad with the aforementioned compounds and got the lenses back to new.

Good luck, its not the easiest location to work on, if you decide to pull the lights out (and I would not suggest that you do this), be very mindful of the ballast connected directly to the back, it holds huge voltage that can be very dangerous.

Dan F

I was not using a rotary just my flex Da. I know that a rotary should be used but i don't have one yet. I did leave the headlights in the car i just opened the hood and taped around the light. A lot of the more noticeable scratches are vertical like this back slash " / ". I think i might just wait until i get a rotary and wet sand some more. Oh and they are Xenon. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Stokdgs]

Zach,

You are doing a great job on this. Thanks for helping out your friend!

Wow, sounds like the car wash really wrecked these lenses over the years - cant think of any other reason for the vertical scratches unless someone used a brush on them and scrubbed them in that direction so precisely..

You will be able to make them perfect even with your PC but it will just take longer. Meguiars 105 is really a great remover of scratches and finishes down pretty darn good but it takes time to get past its whiny stage, and then settling down and working.
Try to balance as much rotation as possible without heating the lenses too much, so that the 105 can work as much as possible. Same for the Meguiars 205.

You are doing them on the car just like I have done a few times. Its not the most desirable position to be in because Bimmers are typically low.

You already got them to come up from sanding to polishing, so you can choose to go further and repeat the process or stop somewhere along the way!

And as with all things that are polished, the smoother we get them in the sanding stage, the clearer and glossier the finished product will always be.

I cannot think of a single person that I could count on to help me do something like what you are doing for your buddy ! This says so much about the kind of guy you are.

Dan F

 

[polisher]

pics?

 

[Time 2 shine]

Updated with pics...:bigups

 

[Stokdgs]

Zach -
Thanks for the great pictures.
If these are Xenon lights, when you start the vehicle and they turn on, they also self level themselves - have you seen these lights do that? Xenon lights are also much brighter than anything else, since they burn a gas to make the light. This self leveling feature that is attached to the light will also make replacing them more difficult, as if the price alone wasn't enough..

The regular Halogen lights have these dorky plastic levelers that are usually broken rendering the leveling wheel you see on top of the light fixure inoperative and they are usually or should be replaced every time you pull the lights out for anything. If I were going to replace lenses on Halogen BMW lights I would only buy Hella products and not the cheap Chinese crap out here that might not fit perfectly and give you way more problems, but that's just me.

It looks to me that the white dots are compound stuck in the little craters in the lenses.

You may need to consider sanding down past all the craters, and this will go away.
I used 3M wet or dry sand paper on a small square rubber sanding block, and a hose that continually dripped water as I sanded to help remove the material faster and keep the paper clean longer. It's kind of messy but it works and is very efficient for wet sanding. I went through some paper to do this. It wasn't just a half sheet, etc..

Your finished light looks great ! I am sure the total light output is way better than before you did the work. I would have to think that your compounding technique is perfect here. No compound is going to ever be able to remove craters that are as deep as those look to me. It is up to you guys to decide how much further you want to take this.

Dan F

 

[Time 2 shine]

Zach -
Thanks for the great pictures.
If these are Xenon lights, when you start the vehicle and they turn on, they also self level themselves - have you seen these lights do that? Xenon lights are also much brighter than anything else, since they burn a gas to make the light. This self leveling feature that is attached to the light will also make replacing them more difficult, as if the price alone wasn't enough..

The regular Halogen lights have these dorky plastic levelers that are usually broken rendering the leveling wheel you see on top of the light fixure inoperative and they are usually or should be replaced every time you pull the lights out for anything. If I were going to replace lenses on Halogen BMW lights I would only buy Hella products and not the cheap Chinese crap out here that might not fit perfectly and give you way more problems, but that's just me.

It looks to me that the white dots are compound stuck in the little craters in the lenses.

You may need to consider sanding down past all the craters, and this will go away.
I used 3M wet or dry sand paper on a small square rubber sanding block, and a hose that continually dripped water as I sanded to help remove the material faster and keep the paper clean longer. It's kind of messy but it works and is very efficient for wet sanding. I went through some paper to do this. It wasn't just a half sheet, etc..

Your finished light looks great ! I am sure the total light output is way better than before you did the work. I would have to think that your compounding technique is perfect here. No compound is going to ever be able to remove craters that are as deep as those look to me. It is up to you guys to decide how much further you want to take this.

Dan F

I don't recall the headlights self level when he turned them on so i could take a pic and they don't seem really bright so maybe there not Xenon.I was using 3m wet/dry sandpaper that i soaked over night and had a spray bottle mixed with water and soap to spray as i was working. As for the dots that you say look like compound i would have though that the APC and IPA wipe down before i put a coat of 845 on them would have got rid of any compound. I do plan on sanding down further in a couple of weeks when i have some more time off of work. Thanks again for the reply's and helpful info.

 

[RSAV]

why didn't you put any sealer on those lights? 1 part mineral spirits + 1 part spar varnish will work wonders. I've done 50 + sets of lights with no problems so far. just make sure they are as clean as you can get them before you apply. use a paper towl to apply, liquid will self level on it's own..

 

[Time 2 shine]

why didn't you put any sealer on those lights? 1 part mineral spirits + 1 part spar varnish will work wonders. I've done 50 + sets of lights with no problems so far. just make sure they are as clean as you can get them before you apply. use a paper towl to apply, liquid will self level on it's own..

I don't know much about spar varnish but, collinite 845 will last a couple of months. I'm ordering some Opti coat to use for some other things and will use it for headlights the next time i restore some.