Cloudy Headlights

[Lemo79]

Hey all,
Our 2006 GU Patrol when we bought it this week had cloudy headlights, didn't look the best. I said to my wife that Super Cheap sell kits for refreshing these and that we should do so. Anyways before we picked the patrol up my wife had found an interesting Pin on Pintrest, yep you guessed it cloudy headlights. The cure = toothpaste. So today while I was addressing a few small details on the Patrol she attacked with the toothpaste. Thought I would share the results here as this is obviously a common problem with the patrol as we seen a few when looking for ours.
http://i570.photobucket.com/albums/ss143/danil14c/Patrolheadlights_zpsfba020b4.jpg
The passsanger headlight done, the drivers not.

Good result I would say, come up heaps better.

Lemo.

[threedogs]

Its a good cutting compound,
on dream car garage on TV they even use steel wool and a buffer for the windscreen.

[Hodge]

Me and a workmate were checking out our cars thursday and he pointed out my cloudy lights, and told me to colgate it. I just assumed it was general wear on the lights, and deep down I laughed when he mentioned it to me, but now that I see this post, I'm definitely gonna have a crack at it tomorrow.

[threedogs]

Yeah old Dave Sullivan fix from years gone by, oldie but a goodie

[trekster]

Are the later model headlights plastic lenses?

[Hodge]

Are the later model headlights plastic lenses?

Not sure about models after mine, but my 2009 definitely feels plasticy.

[mudnut]

I have been using toothpaste on the tojo van's headlights, for years. After rinsing them off, I use a bit of armour all to get a shiny finish.

[04OFF]

The problem is caused by the breakdown of the factory plastic UV stabilised coating, a decent headlight reviver kit will also come with UV resistant coating to apply to the headlight surface once finished, it is important to apply this or the problem will just recur again very quickly.

And while the toothpaste may leave your lights minty fresh, its really only something to do if you don't intend to keep the car (or are happy to do it every month)

[flashman1207]

toothpaste is also the best thing to stop swimming goggles and masks from fogging up..... And smells nice too

[79raven]

I had yellow coloured headlights on my Ef. On fordmods they mentioned a trick using wet/dry sandpaper. That works and works well.
Taken from a fordmods tech doc
This document Describes how to repair yellow headlights, caused by the formation of dirt film on the cover of the lens.
This is due to the rapid heating and cooling of the lens in wet weather conditions.
The heat produced by using high beam lights causes the headlights to become slightly melted. Normally this is not a concern, however in wet weather the lens are cool, creating a molten-like substance on top of the headlights - the yellow film.

To complete this mod you will need the following:
1 x sheet wet and dry 600
1 x sheet wet and dry 800
1 x sheet wet and dry 1200
1 x sheet wet and dry 2000
some dishwashing detergent
water
tape (nothing too sticky, something like plastic packing tape will do)
screwdriver
Plexus, turtle wax, McGuire's ScratchX, or some other polishing element
Sanding Block

Depending on products you already have you should only spend a maximum of $25. The Wet and Dry is about 50 cents to $1 a sheet. A sanding block isn't required, but it makes the job easier.

This should take approximately 30 minutes per headlight.
2 Minutes to removing front indicators.
3 Minutes preparing the headlight.
5 - 7 Minutes for each stage of sanding.
5 minutes doing a final polish and returning the indicators.

Removing the Front Indicators

The removal of the front indicators is fairly simple. There is one screw located within the engine bay underneath the black plastic trim that runs along the top of the headlight (in the red area).

 Removing the Indicator


1 -Remove this screw using a Phillips head screwdriver.
2 - Slowly edge the indicator out of the slot - TAKE YOUR TIME! if you pull off the indicator lens it needs to be replaced. So get in behind the black plastic lining on the side of the indicator.
3 - remove the bulb holder

Preparing the Headlight
The headlights needs to prepared in order to protect the bumper from being scratched during the sanding process. The best method is to line the headlight with tape.

Preparing the Headlight

1 - Run a length of tape approximately 30 centimetres long down your pants. This is order for the tape to lose a majority of its glue, meaning it is less like to damage your bumper when you remove it.
2 - slot the tape under the headlight.
3 - repeat the process in order to line the entire headlight
4 - add as many layers as you think you will need, because they will wear through.

Sanding the Headlight
Just some points to begin with.
1 - Take your time, if you go to fast you could sand the headlight unevenly.
2 - Continue in the same back and forth motion, otherwise the finer sanding will take a long time.
3 - Don't be afraid to continuously wet your sandpaper. The wetter the better. The more water the less chances of scratching the lens during sanding.
4 - Don't stress about the milky lens at the beginning, it refines in the process.

Ok lets begin!

1 - Fill a bucket with warm soapy water
2 - Attach the 600 Wet and Dry to the Sanding block.
3 - Dunk the sandpaper into the water and begin sanding slowly back and forth the lens in a left-right direction.
4 - Dunk the sand paper again and continue
5 - repeat this process until the lens becomes milky and feels smooth.
6 - Swap the sandpaper for the 800 and begin again
7 - repeat steps 3 through 5.
8 - swap for the 1200 Wet and Dry, and repeat;
9 - and then the 2000 Wet and Dry.
Polishing the Lens
The final stage is polishing the lens. This is in order to give the lens a new protective coat, as well as making it shine. Simply coat the lens in one of the polishing elements, let it stand and then polish it off.

Letting the polish stand

I prefer Plexus as it is a Plastic Polisher and is designed to fill in the minute spaces to give it an even surface to polish.

There you go. Brand new-looking lens for the price of nothing!

Polished Lens

[Limmy]

Autosol metal polish works too

[mick.]

Coming from a smash repair back ground and now working with lights 7 days a week I can tell you sanding a plastic light is one of the dumbest things you can do to a headlight. It's a bit like removing the clear from your metallic paint. If you want to rejuvenate a headlight simply use a polish designed for plastics and then wax your light. This is half the price of the headlight rejuvenation kits. Yes it's dearer then toothpaste but toothpaste just cleans the light it doesn't seal the light from the UV rays causing the issue in the first place. In fact it accelerates the yellowing process as every time you clean your lights with toothpaste they will get yellower quicker and quicker as your removing the little UV projection that was still there.

All plastic headlights have a UV coating on them as mentioned above but most are actually like a layer of clear meaning when you start rubbing the headlight back you are removing the clear which cant be replaced as it's a part of the molding process. Yes you can put a liquid UV protection polish over it but again that's like removing the clear from a metallic car and putting a polish over the top totally useless.

I hope this clears up some myths before to many people start destroying there headlights. lol

Cheers Mick

[79raven]

Coming from a smash repair back ground and now working with lights 7 days a week I can tell you sanding a plastic light is one of the dumbest things you can do to a headlight. It's a bit like removing the clear from your metallic paint. If you want to rejuvenate a headlight simply use a polish designed for plastics and then wax your light. This is half the price of the headlight rejuvenation kits. Yes it's dearer then toothpaste but toothpaste just cleans the light it doesn't seal the light from the UV rays causing the issue in the first place. In fact it accelerates the yellowing process as every time you clean your lights with toothpaste they will get yellower quicker and quicker as your removing the little UV projection that was still there.

All plastic headlights have a UV coating on them as mentioned above but most are actually like a layer of clear meaning when you start rubbing the headlight back you are removing the clear which cant be replaced as it's a part of the molding process. Yes you can put a liquid UV protection polish over it but again that's like removing the clear from a metallic car and putting a polish over the top totally useless.

I hope this clears up some myths before to many people start destroying there headlights. lol

Cheers Mick
Well I can tell you I did mine 2 years ago and they are still like new. No issues what so ever, and for the cost of a couple of sheets of wet/dry I am happy. I also know of numerous people who have done the same with zero problems. Cant be that dumb. What would be dumb is spending big money on new lights or wasting money on headlight cleaning crap. The headlight cleaning stuff and even the plastic cut/polish has abrasive qualities, so whats the difference?

[79raven]

Do a search on the net. The only dumb thing I have found about it via a search is it takes longer than using " professional cleaning products". Wet/dry sand paper is maybe $1 a sheet compared to, say this product from Supercheap for $45
http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/products/Meguiar-s-Lens-Correction-Kit.aspx?pid=342505&menuFrom=20204#Cross

[mick.]

Well I can tell you I did mine 2 years ago and they are still like new. No issues what so ever, and for the cost of a couple of sheets of wet/dry I am happy. I also know of numerous people who have done the same with zero problems. Cant be that dumb. What would be dumb is spending big money on new lights or wasting money on headlight cleaning crap. The headlight cleaning stuff and even the plastic cut/polish has abrasive qualities, so whats the difference?There is heaps of differences.

1. Not every light is made the same way so yes it may work with your lights but not the GU parked next to yours let alone another make or model. GU lights like all car lights are made from heaps of different plastics and who ever can make them cheapest at the time. So far since I've been modding lights I've seen GU lights made in about 5 different types of plastics in the series 3 alone. For example in the reflectors alone prior to having the chrome plating they can be beige, green, yellow and clear in series 3 lights alone and the lenses vary also. Some are a harder polycarbonate then others. This is all major factors in what damage you can do to your headlights. Also the reason some fade quicker then others.

2. being using a polish is totally different to using 600 wet when you don't need to rub a headlight with something that course. A course cutting polish is equal to using about 4000 wet or finer depending on the polish which is not going to remove the all UV protection that's left like 600 wet would and quickly.

3. You can get the same result by just using a coarser compound followed by a polish and wax all of which most people have in the shed. So not only is it cheaper it will last longer.

4. I agree you don't need a headlight rejuvenation kit to restore headlights and I already said you don't so you might want to read what I said a little better there.

5. I don't need to search nothing as I learnt from professionals when I was in the trade not backyard hacks posting on the internet. This is not aimed at you but aimed out where you got your info from.

Your methods are not something I'd recommend as it can destroy lights but that's entirely up to you if you want to do that or not. I've seen your methods fail plenty of times though where insurance companies have asked us to do a similar thing to remove a scratch in a headlight only to come back a month later with one clean light and the one that we cut back with sandpaper and polished go yellow. It's really a 50/50 on what lights it will work on and what it wont.

Like I said it's up to you what you want to do but I'm just letting people know the correct way to do it without any risk at all of there lights going yellower in 3 months time.

Cheers Mick