Headlight restoration

L

lex89

New member
I was planning on sanding and polishing my headlights to get rid of some imperfections and return that clear shine you see in any new headlight. I know the 99 540 has a clear film on the headlights. Does the 99 528i? If it does, what can I do? I don't want to rip it and make them more susceptible to the elements.
 
I would try plexus and a microfiber towel. Sanding would be a big no no in my opinion. If the plexus doesn't work mother's makes a good plastic polish that I would try next.
 
I tried som novus #2, and that isn't even halfway worth it. I pumped my arm like crazy and barely got anywhere. Can I use the PC?
 
I used plastx with a foam cutting pad and then went back over them with plastx and a foam finishing pad and they turned out pretty well. Alot better then they were. You can try wetsanding your headlights I know that's going to be my next project when have the time. Just go slowly and take your time.
 
The thing is, I won't know I've gone too far until I've gone too far. I'll just rip through the lining and that's it, right?
 
I'm not sure if your headlights have a protective shield on them or not. You need to find that out first. If they don't you have alot to play with. If they do, you might just want to look into getting the protective shield replaced.
 
the thing is, even if your headlights have a protective film on them, it has probably already failed. since the purpose of it is to keep your headlights from going cloudy/foggy, and they have done so already, i dont think removing it would hurt. if you dont want to chance it, you could always contact the manufacturer. try using a plastic polish on a rotary or pc with a cutting pad first, then back down to a polishing pad as already mentioned. ive had great success with that, but sometimes the film cant even be removed with a rotary. wetsanding may be the only option.
 
They haven't gone cloudy/foggy (well maybe slightly, I don't remember how they looked originally), but there are chips and little imperfections all over, and I feel like they COULD look a lot better.
 
A 4" white polishing pad, speed 5, with some #80 really cleared up the headlights on the WRX we recently did, but they weren't toooo bad to begin with.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top