clear coat of headlights peeling

johnnydinh701 · Jun 18, 2009

i realized that the clear coat of my headlights are peeling, i was wondering if i should get those headlight restorers or just wetsand and plastic polish or....

here are some pics

Millz · Jun 18, 2009

hey so what i did was wetsanded and polished them up till they were sparkling...

looks very good, every week when i wash my car i put more polish/wax on to keep them looking good

once you wet-sand obviously you take the protective UV coating off and now ur lights can turn yellowish if you don't maintain them properly (hence my regular polishing/waxing)

i am probably going to get clear vinyl and put it on top of the lens to make sure that they dont start yellowing, protect a bit against stone chips etc

BTW: my lights looked exactly like that when i did em

to start off... buy plastx polish, and try using it without wetsanding and all that jazz

if you like the result, sweet, if not, just wetsand

OH, and make sure to take painters tape and tape off the area around your headlights, i put fine scratches on my bumper under the headlights while wetsanding :squintrun:

HondaLuver83 · Jun 18, 2009

Millz said:
hey so what i did was wetsanded and polished them up till they were sparkling...

looks very good, every week when i wash my car i put more polish/wax on to keep them looking good

once you wet-sand obviously you take the protective UV coating off and now ur lights can turn yellowish if you don't maintain them properly (hence my regular polishing/waxing)

i am probably going to get clear vinyl and put it on top of the lens to make sure that they dont start yellowing, protect a bit against stone chips etc

BTW: my lights looked exactly like that when i did em

to start off... buy plastx polish, and try using it without wetsanding and all that jazz

if you like the result, sweet, if not, just wetsand

OH, and make sure to take painters tape and tape off the area around your headlights, i put fine scratches on my bumper under the headlights while wetsanding

Once your done wet sanding, spray a clear coat in layers. Then when it completely dry, use a polish and wax. Once you do that, it should be good for a while and maintenance free.

KnightRyder · Jun 18, 2009

make sure you apply some sort of plastic polish or wax or something everytime you wash your car, its just a precautionary step to make sure your lights done haze or yellow since wetsanding does remove a thin layer of what used to be on the headlight.

Millz · Jun 18, 2009

HondaLuver83 said:
Once your done wet sanding, spray a clear coat in layers. Then when it completely dry, use a polish and wax. Once you do that, it should be good for a while and maintenance free.

WOW how did I not think of this before...

this seems like a very good idea

no issues with the lens appearing hazy under the clear once its applied?

HondaLuver83 · Jun 18, 2009

Millz said:
WOW how did I not think of this before...

this seems like a very good idea

no issues with the lens appearing hazy under the clear once its applied?

Its just like painting lip kits and other plastics. Once the clear coat is applied, it will be sealed. You have to wet sand it down first tho so the clear coat sticks. Add two coats, doing it one coat at a time and letting it dry.

Let it dry over-night. Once dry, it might not appear to be super clear. It depends on your spray can skills. Use some polish/scratch remover and some McGuire's wax, it should take care of it and make it nice, clear and shiny. I have never tried this, but it's probably worth a shot. If you can't get it shiny with the polish/scratch remover, use some rubbing compound and then wax.

Millz · Jun 18, 2009

im gonna try this on the extra set of lights i have that im going to blackhouse, ill see how it turns out

HondaLuver83 · Jun 18, 2009

Millz said:
im gonna try this on the extra set of lights i have that im going to blackhouse, ill see how it turns out

Sorry for the confusion on the other thread, I thought you were talking to you OP. Yeah, it should turn out well. Just don't use more than a couple coats of clear, otherwise it will take too long to dry.

tunerbum147 · Jun 18, 2009

another suggestion is to wet sand and the buff and polish. then get some lamin-x film and cover them if your worried about the spray can skills not being too good and leaving not a real clear finish

Millz · Jun 18, 2009

HondaLuver83 said:
Sorry for the confusion on the other thread, I thought you were talking to you OP. Yeah, it should turn out well. Just don't use more than a couple coats of clear, otherwise it will take too long to dry.

no worries brah... you got pissed off for the same reason I did initially LOL

anyways im pretty confident spray-painting, i was thinking of doing 3-4 coats i used a heat-gun last time i painted and it dried the clear like a charm

clear coat of headlights peeling

johnnydinh701

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Millz

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HondaLuver83

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KnightRyder

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Millz

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HondaLuver83

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Millz

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HondaLuver83

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tunerbum147

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Millz

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