Wet sanding and polishing didn't work on headlights
03-14-2010, 11:46 AM
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Wet sanding and polishing didn't work on headlights Ok I spent all day yesterday wet sanding and polishing my headlights to get the scratches and yellowness out of my headlights. Well it seems like all the fogging is on the inside of my headlights they still look like ****. Can I take the lens off like I had done for the whistler mod and do the same process to the inside of the headlight or is the inside have a softer coating of plastic that this will not work on. I guess I could try as I really have nothing to loose but just seeing if anyone has tried it before. The hazing is definitely on the inside.
03-14-2010, 02:11 PM
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You can "attempt" to , but I dont think youll have much success . Reason ... I noticed your headlight bezels are painted . If their hazed on the inside , its chemical etching from the paint . It happens when their re-assembled to soon after painting . Even though the paint may be dry to the touch , it still lets out a gas u cant see while it cures fully . This gas will break down polycarbonate plastic , which is what the lens is made of . Ive tried to save a couple lenses before where this happens , but the damage generally goes to deep in the plastic to beable to sand out sucessfully . You can make it look better , but when the lights are on it will still appear as if theres thousands of teenee hairllines in the lens . If the paint u use states a full cure time , typically the do ( like dry to touch in 2-4 hours with full cure at 24-48 hours ) I would stretch it to the 48 hours to cure . Just because its in a pretty harsh environment getting really and then cold , humidity ect ect .
**Some types of silicones , if when the lens is installed back on the housing and silicone squeezes out into the inside of the light housing , can also cause this . Silicone , even when fully cured emits a gas when heated like when in direct sunlight . Even though silicone will o the job just fine , I always recommend a urethane sealant to seal the lenses back up , its what all the OEM's and aftermarket companies use .
I light of , sorry to say , I think youll be purchasing a new set of headlights .
**Some types of silicones , if when the lens is installed back on the housing and silicone squeezes out into the inside of the light housing , can also cause this . Silicone , even when fully cured emits a gas when heated like when in direct sunlight . Even though silicone will o the job just fine , I always recommend a urethane sealant to seal the lenses back up , its what all the OEM's and aftermarket companies use .
I light of , sorry to say , I think youll be purchasing a new set of headlights .
03-14-2010, 02:18 PM
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yeah same thing happen to my buddies headlights. we tried sanding and polishing but it did nothing. we also took it apart and cleaned the inside out, which definitely made an improvement but it never ended up perfect. He never repainted his headlight brackets so i'm not sure how this happened. His car does have 100k + miles and who knows what the previous owner used on the headlights.
