Hi Guy's/ My headlamps on my st220 are a bit hazy in places. What do you use on your plastic headlights? Heard toothpaste was good.But now heard a lot of bad things about it. Many thank's!
Hazing headlamps.
- Thread starter guineapig
- Start date
Meguiar's PlastX is truly incredible stuff. With very little effort - and I really do mean as easy as rubbing wax onto a car and buffing it off - I guarantee you'll be amazed at the results.
Don't mess about; see my 3M kit review.
The Xenon units on my 172 look almost factory fresh only £20 too!
The Xenon units on my 172 look almost factory fresh only £20 too!
Fair one. Ignore my post, the product I recommended and have great results from is clearly dog toffee and if you use it you will be simply 'messing about'. My apologies for misleading you.
I was refering to the toothpaste.......
If the lamps are hazed and pitted though, I'd go straight for a mechanical cut as I had very limited success with the polish type products. But, do as you will, I haven't tried PlastX though, I did have a set of "fit for the bin" lamps I recovered to very close to factory new with the 3M kit though.
I used insect repellent with DEET in it after a nod from another source. Works a treat. Took 2 attempts to get them fully chrystal clear again and not as much effort as using toothpaste, which I tried unsuccessfully...
Doesnt really matter what you use if you dont sand them with super fine grit then the hazing will just come back.
After sanding then a mechanical polish is best
After sanding then a mechanical polish is best
The Megiuars headlight restorer kit is awesome if the hazing isn't too catastrophic. I used it on Tiger's C2 headlights and backseateducation's C1s and it worked a treat. It includes a cutting compound, sanding pads, a drill-mounted auger and mitt, and a bottle of PlastX. £20 from Halfords. Make sure you mask around them light cluster if you're clownshoes clumsy.
Mako's C1s on the other hand needed the full sanding treatment. I removed them from the car to do this.
The best advice I can give you, regardless of what method you choose (or is necessary), is to make sure you protect the lenses after you've done it. Either a UV protectant, or frequent waxing.
Mako's C1s on the other hand needed the full sanding treatment. I removed them from the car to do this.
The best advice I can give you, regardless of what method you choose (or is necessary), is to make sure you protect the lenses after you've done it. Either a UV protectant, or frequent waxing.
It worked a treat too. I just keep forgetting to wax them!
Edit - I need a kit of my own one day, both our parents' respective cars need it doing quite badly (Honda CRV and Clio)
Micromesh kit, from the aviation industry, works exceptionally well on landing light lenses and plastic car lenses, had my exes puma headlights out as it had a bunch of gouges in it from a brick wall (previous) and made it disappear like new, only thing i used extra was G3 compound to finish, kits are on fleabay
Not personally, but I can see them working if the fogging isn't too bad.
As for toothpaste, I once suggested it myself but now recant that opinion. It's totally the wrong thing to use. The grain size is unpredictable, the foaming action interferes with the sanding, and your headlights don't need to be minty fresh.
I think the thing to do is to determine the level of aging and go from there. Autosol really isn't that abrasive, so you might end up going through tons of it when what you really should've done is just busted out the sander.
As with most things, experience in this is what you get after you need it. Unless you're lucky enough to own two Cougars of course.