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I need to get my headlights restored...any suggestions?

2K views 12 replies 10 participants last post by  VTT5 
#1 ·
Sooo i have a 2005 s60, and the headlights r yellowish and quite clouded...but i keep my car in a garage and its always clean. What could i do without dropping around a grand at the volvo dealership?
 
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#3 ·
Re: I need to get my headlights restored...any suggestions? (Max Wells)

Quote, originally posted by Max Wells »
Sooo i have a 2005 s60, and the headlights r yellowish and quite clouded...but i keep my car in a garage and its always clean. What could i do without dropping around a grand at the volvo dealership?

1) Pre-wash or clean headlight area of vehicle.
2) Apply any type of masking tape to area around headlight.
3) Pre soak sand paper in a bucket of soap water for 10-15 minutes.
4) Take any type of empty spray container and fill with soap water.
5) Wrap sand paper around black rubber sanding pad. Spray soap water on headlight and sand area with sand paper keeping sand paper lubricated while sanding.
6) Dry headlight.
7) Attach backing plate to electric or cordless drill.
8) Attach wool-buffing pad to backing plate.
9) Use M105 with wool pad and buff out sanding marks using small brush in between applications to clean pads.
10) Repeat same procedure with yellow foam pad and Plastx.
11) Wipe down headlight area and remove tape.
 
#5 ·
Re: I need to get my headlights restored...any suggestions? (Max Wells)

Blah blah
There's a brand new product out by Mothers.
It's a headlight glass restoration kit.
You need to attach it to a power drill
Go Google it
 
#10 ·
dont do the sand paper poop! you can but unless you know what your doing your going to mess it up. go to Auto Zone or somewhere and get the lens cleaner made for this. i think its in a blue bottle. they make products for this. the people who sand and buff and all make it look good two, but there can be horror stories.
 
#11 ·
Re: (DGBibo)

Quote, originally posted by DGBibo »
dont do the sand paper poop! you can but unless you know what your doing your going to mess it up. go to Auto Zone or somewhere and get the lens cleaner made for this. i think its in a blue bottle. they make products for this. the people who sand and buff and all make it look good two, but there can be horror stories.

on my first try with that kit i posted above and a porter cable buffer with a 4" pad and some compound i got the following results.




If you prefer not to do it yourself, post up on Autopia.com(car detailing forum) and there are quite a few pros in your area that will probably fix them for under $100. Maybe more if they recoat them with clearcoat.
 
#12 ·
I used the following procedure:
- Remove headlight assemblies (not really that hard, but requires bumper removal)
- Wet sand with 600 grit, horizontal strokes only
- Wet sand with 1000 grit, vertical strokes only, till you can't see the horizontal strokes from previous step
- Wet sand with 2000 grit, horizontal strokes only, till you can't see the vertical strokes from previous step
- Machine polish with Plast-X, I used Porter Cable 7424 and an orange pad
- Machine polish with Klasse All-In-One on a white pad
- Apply Klasse Sealant Glaze by hand
- Reassemble

They look really good, but I should have spent a bit longer with the 600 grit to remove all the imperfections, or maybe even started with 400 grit.
 
#13 ·
Re: I need to get my headlights restored...any suggestions? (JRL)

Quote, originally posted by JRL »
Blah blah
There's a brand new product out by Mothers.
It's a headlight glass restoration kit.
You need to attach it to a power drill
Go Google it

A note: 2005+ have plastic, not glass, lenses to comply with the European rules to protect pedestrians. That's part of why the headlight wipers went away.
 
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