Is there a good product that actually removes this?
Beaurepaires does it for $50.
intrade,
Nov 24, 9:31am
mothers mag wheel polish.
kazbanz,
Nov 24, 10:17am
There is a headlight repair kit you can buy at super cheap that does a pretty good job for one or two sets of headlights. What isn't included in the kit is 48mm masking tape which I highly recommend. To do the job PROPERLY is a multi step process. Put simply 1)tape the paintwork round the headlight with tape. 2) WET sand the headlight 3) cut/polish the headlight 4) "paint" the headlight. 5) remove the tape. Theres a fair few tutorials on the subject but that ^ pretty well covers it off.
26copper,
Nov 24, 10:21am
Is that product for headlights?
gazzat22,
Nov 24, 10:30am
Turtle put out a good product with long lasting qualities but A lot of people use toothpaste,vim or just a good car polish.Try one of those.
kazbanz,
Nov 24, 10:31am
The kit at Super Cheap is a headlight restoration kit.
matt5209,
Nov 24, 12:11pm
For $50 Id just get Beaurepairs to do it.
supernova2,
Nov 24, 5:23pm
I did 2 bigish ones yesterday with Jiff. Wet cloth, squirt of Jiff and rub hard for about 10 mins making sure you only go in one direction ie sideways. Don't let the surface dryout.
Rinse off with lots water and clean cloth.
Not perfect but about 300% better than before I started
807,
Nov 24, 5:40pm
Brasso is another one . not a permanent fix but neither are the others, probably ?
marte,
Nov 24, 7:38pm
I bought a Visabela ( sp?) Kit off trademe for near $50 to do 2 headlights.
It did a great job, it's a 3 grades of sanding paper & clay polish on a pad + clearcoat kit. I took the headlight out, & sandpapered by hand, don't use the drill attachment or it will dry & heat the plastic, keep it wet. 3 grades of that & then the clay polish on the foam drill powered pad. Then wash & thin clearcoat & leave it in the bright sun face up for 2 days, 1 at least before refitting.
I don't like any crazing or yellow at all on my headlights. That's a big deal to me. So effectively it lasted a year, or would last 3-4 years for anybody else, probably 2+ for a WOF. So I did it again for the last WOF & I think I will get 4 applications out of. 2 application kit, though I might need some more fine sanding paper. I feel that the headlight has to come out so that the brush marks ( it's actually a foam pad) spread out flat in the clearcoat & that a full days bright sunlight a UV rays are needed to cure the clearcoat, before fitting & another day to make sure, so 2 days before fitting,for me.
I'd say 97%+ of the original if you do it properly & know what the original is like. Anyone else would think it's original, but you can see something of the brush marks & while looking at it with the headlight on. Next year I think I will have to do both sides.
If you can get a professional job for $50 & if you can see a example first, I would go for that. It's guaranteed. DIY & you have to, well, DIY, taking headlights out isn't easy if you have not DIY & you could break something & or change the aim of the headlights.
swivel,
Nov 24, 8:33pm
Dont laugh. But old tooth brush and some tooth paste
nice_lady,
Nov 24, 8:49pm
Brasso. Rubbed on then off. Works better than toothpaste and many other things. Strange but true.
ETA: Doesn't last all that long but is great to get you thru a WOF.
kazbanz,
Nov 25, 10:29am
My honest opinion is that you needed to be polishing a bit more then spray the clear coat on.
marte,
Nov 25, 7:24pm
With the 3 different grit sanding pads, done by hand, it takes ages, then after that, doing the Clay polish with the foam pad, using the battery drill, which is quite quick. The UV curing clearcoat application is quick but you don't want any dust to fall on it, and you want the headlight level & facing up so the brush marks flatten out before it cures ( it's quite thin & flattens out easy ) . I would prefer if it was a spray application. If it's done 'on the car's, well it's a messy job, lots of white powder in the sanding polish water runoff & clay powder in that clay paste runoff. And I think that the clearcoat would run if it's applied when the lights are still on the car. It's only 4 screws & 2-3 plugs to remove mine & that way I can do it at night time inside & put it out in the sun, face up till it cures a bit, then directly into the sun & shifting it as the sun moves, untill it's cured. I left it for most of the two days in the sun because I didn't want to mess it up refitting the headlight. I found that my UV light did not cure it, a neon blacklight, and another UV light I had. A old school sunlamp might, or maybe it needs 'UV C' band light to cure, so only Sunlight would do it if it needs UV C.
If you are OK with it going a bit yellow before the next WOF, plain Brasso polish would be OK. But I don't want mine showing any aging at all before the next 12 month WOF is up, even if it would still pass @ that.
There's a product that I found at the warehouse that does both polish & protect in one application. If it works it would be OK, since it can be done ' on the car ' & with the size of the bottle it could be done every time it needs to be done, like even @ 6 months.
If I paid $50 per headlight, I would expect a good 2 years minimum & possibly 5 years before it needs done again.
What I can't figure out is how they pass a WOF when you can hardly see the bulbs & it's yellow opaque.
26copper,
Nov 27, 5:38pm
$50 for the pair at Beaurepairs
Have found a deal on Grab one for $25, so going to give that a go. We shall see.
wind.turbine,
Nov 27, 6:02pm
$60 at repco for their kit, sand blocks to start with then 3 different grades of paper, I also added in 2000 grit as I had some, tool some time but they came up like new, also came with the spray on clear coat which needs two coats. it did come with masking tape but because im a rough bugger I would have probably gone through the tape and scratched the paint work so I just removed the headlights completely.
got them to re check alignment on wof re check and mr wof man happy as, even made a comment how good they turned out
marte,
Nov 27, 9:38pm
This seems a pretty comprehensive kit inc a electric heated clearcoat vaporiser setup. With 50mls of fluid. $36.55 + P&P of ~ $10 & free P&P on extra items
kazbanz,
Nov 28, 11:38am
Marte--I guess because for me its not just one car but more like 10 a month on bad months (trade ins included) I do the tape bit. I find heating the plastic a bit speeds the drying process for the clear coat so I don't (often) get runners in the clear. As far as WOF is concerned its usually how well they do their job not what they look like that matters
tygertung,
Nov 28, 12:08pm
I think it's shithouse how they put these rubbish plastic headlights on cars these days rather than the good glass ones like not so long ago which never gave any problems.
monsieurl,
Oct 17, 5:51pm
I used to use a "headlight specific" polish with a drill polish and buff attachment which did a great job but it was temporary and needed redone every 3-6 months, so do it properly and save the time in the long run! The wet sanding step up method that others have suggested then a polishing compound, lastly using a good quality clear coat with UV protection will fix it if not permanent then for many years.
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