Anyone know a good method of restoring headlights?

samuelsteven

samuelsteven

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Mines are gettin a little weathered and foggy on the inside. I don't mind cutting them open, but whats the best way to go about doing it?
 
im sure someone will chime in about restoring your lights...

but since you dont mind opening up your lights, get in on the LS angel eye group buy :D
 
I'd actually like to, but unfortunately I dont have the funds for a $200 modification right now. I just spent more then I wanted repairaing my DCCV problem... Id definately be comfortable with an install like that though..
 
with the group buy it comes to $150 or less, were still waiting to hear from the guy, but its complete understandable.

On a more relevant note, I had good results from the 3M headlight restoration kit i bought from walmart. Used on my Volkswagen tho not my LS, not that the car brand matters, just sayin lol
 
Are they dull? Because the 3M kit will work great on that.. Or if you have painting skills, start sanding and end with 1000 grit.. Then clear over them..

As for the fogging, that is the sealant going bad.. Do you have the grey or black sealant?
 
This is the third time I posted this.

I have had multiple success stories and no failures with this process. It takes time, but is far better than these junk kits they are trying to sell. What you are going to need is 800 grit sandpaper, 1,000 grit sandpaper, 2,000 grit sandpaper, a polisher that fits on a grinder, and plastic polish for a wheel buffer (it looks like a crayon). Take the headlamp assembly off of the car and clean thoroughly. Wet sand by hand with the 800 grit until the headlight's roughness has gone away (about an hour). Then move on to the 1,000 grit and wet sand it until it is smooth and does not catch anything on your skin when you move your hand across it (about 30 to 45 minutes). If anything catches, wet sand again with the 800 grit. If needed, sand again with the 1,000 grit. Then wet sand with the 2,000 grit until it feels as smooth as a baby's ass (about 1 hour). Careful attention in this next step must be adhered to to make sure you do not burn the plastic and waste time sanding more or ruining your headlight. Attach the polisher to the grinder. Make sure the grinder is secured. Turn on the angle grinder. Apply the polish to the buffer until it seems as if it has covered the contact point of the polisher. Take the headlamp assembly and starting from the left to the right (or vice versa) press the headlamp lens against the polisher until you get the results you want. Make sure you keep moving the headlamp assembly at all times or you may burn the headlamp lens. Make sure that the polish is always coated on the polisher. When you believe that you have a clear lens, wipe off the excess polish on the headlamp lens. Repeat this step over until you have achieved the desired results. This does make a mess but will show that doing it this way will save you from buying new headlamps and last about 5 years (My fathers 2000 camaro headlamp lenses just started to fog up again after I did this exact process to them in 2005. I will be doing this process to my 04 LS also. It took me about an average of 4 hours for each headlamp to be done correctly. The same can be done for the fog lights.
 
FASTLLS said:
Are they dull? Because the 3M kit will work great on that.. Or if you have painting skills, start sanding and end with 1000 grit.. Then clear over them..

As for the fogging, that is the sealant going bad.. Do you have the grey or black sealant?
Click to expand...

Yes,theyre dull and as for the sealant, I don't know yet. Which is the good one to have? Im guessing your talking about baking them right? Do i have to take them off in order to find out?
 
No.. You can see it when they are still on the car.. If there is condensation in them and they are the grey sealant, you can bake them and push them on harder to try to get them to seal better.. Plus, grey makes the angel eyes a breeze to install
 
FASTLLS said:
No.. You can see it when they are still on the car.. If there is condensation in them and they are the grey sealant, you can bake them and push them on harder to try to get them to seal better.. Plus, grey makes the angel eyes a breeze to install
Click to expand...
Let me go and check and Ill snap a few pics. Its a Gen II by the way
 
I find it funny how a major
Topic will come up with diy explanations then a billion other threads pop up asking how to do the exact same thing lolol
 
if you really hate the moisture problem, you can open the headlights, dry them, then reseal them better. if you want to take the nicks and scratches out from the outter plastic, use 2000 grit sandpaper, sand down a layer, and buff/polish the plastic back to a transparent clear
 
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