Shopsmith Forums

lyall wrote:I use 1500 or 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper with rubbing compound and a good coat of wax.
A good clear coat should last a long time. I will try that next time.

A good clear coat of what?

My shipment arrived so there was no excuse for putting this project off. Weather was OK, a little rain in the forecast but the wind was pretty calm so I went for it.

I wasn't sure how the spray coat was going to work out so I really mask things up. Didn't need to do that. In fact it took twice as long to mask as it did to do the lens.

I took a few pictures but they don't represent how your lens might look so I can not say how well this would work for you. I will say it was a LOT faster and easier then I though it would be. They say you need to do this once a year and I could see me doing that.

I started by cleaning the lens and surrounding area. Mask the area then started with the "sanding". They provide a pair of pads with Velcro but it is so easy to do that hand sanding is all that is needed. The "polish" is put on the pad and just like when you are sanding wood you sand in only one direction. I picked the long direction and went at it. Since you build muscle memory from your wood working this is a natural for us woodworkers.

You can add a fine spray of water as you progress. I stopped twice to check progress but you can start to feel the areas were it isn't very smooth by how the drag feels. To check you spray extra water and wipe off. When you have a uniform haze on the lens you are done. This time you clean it and dry it and you are ready for the spray part of the job.

Note that since you are working in a hand wet mode you are not making plastic dust which was really nice.

The spray part is what had me worried. Over spray, runs, unevenness, and anything else I could imagine. Turns out it was easy. You do one wet coat and wait 3 to 5 minutes and do another coat. I did not see any indication of it wanting to run and it is like magic as the lens goes from hazy to clear. You really want to do this outside in a well ventilated area, the spray has a strong smell and I'm betting it is not good for you to breath in.

It drys pretty fast but I would just let it go as you don't want to find out it is not dry with a finger print on the lens. Now it takes 24 hours to fully cure so I'm planning on leaving the van sit until the time is up.

Here are the pictures I took.

Before, in real life it looks worse then the picture looks, not sure why??
In this shot the polish is on and you can see how I over mask the project.
This shot shows the direction of the polishing and it is about done and ready to be wiped off and cleaned.
This is a shot of the same lens after I worked on it. I could have taken off more I guess but there is always next time. I am however very happy with how it looks and I'm sure the performance will be back to close to normal.
This is a project that needed to be done and I'm glad I picked the product I did because it was super easy and quick. I appreciate the comments others have posted and I hope if you have this issue you give it a go to fix it yourself.

Ed

I used my micro mesh pads that I use for pen finishing. Looked brand new when I was done. Used it wet. Just a little elbow grease...

I simply avoid buying low quality vehicles that use plastic lenses for headlights. Higher quality cars still have glass lenses that never get cloudy. Most vehicles today are designed to be throwaway vehicles. You are supposed to drive them until they have their first problem, and then junk them. That way, you don't have to deal with all the engineering shortcomings they have.

The plastic lenses for the most part are polycarbonate plastic.

As for which is better, plastic or glass. Glass breaks and chips allowing moisture in the lens, polycarbonate yellows and scratches, take your poison! LOL

There is a UV coating applied to most of the plastic lenses. You need to sand that off and then polish or clear coat them.

Most of the kits are actually kind of expensive, but they have everything that is needed and buying individually in larger quantities would be more expensive yet if you do not use those types of products.

I did this piece which is WAY worse than your headlights ever could be. Yes it is not a headlight, but it is the same plastic just with color in it. Warning, since this is my website, there is a link to purchase product. Just ignore if this bothers you. I do believe there is some good info here though.

http://vintagesledpaint.com/polishing_p ... onate.html

Now once you have it sanded out, as some have mentioned, a UV coating should be reapplied. Some use automotive clear (which could easily go over the 1500 grit scratch without polishing). There are also UV cured coatings that are available. These are very thin and more like what was on the headlamp originally. If you do not apply a UV coating or clear, you will need to polish and it will still last several years without yellowing, but raw polycarbonate does scratch easy.

Reliable, not sure what kind of clear your kit had. The UV clears actually cures very fast which is a plus for a collision shop as they and the customer wants the vehicle out the door before you even start the repair...... LOL

A lot of headlights can be removed very easily. If that is the case, I would just remove the headlight from the vehicle before doing the repair. I would also pull the bulb out of the lens when sanding if the light is left in the vehicle so the vibrations do not break the lighting filament but I also tend to use air sanders. Muscle memory is not my kind of thing! LOL Actually my muscles are still remembering yesterday lifting sheetrock.... I need to get back at that today, but the muscles are saying NO! But the "Shopsmith" room is getting closer to reality.

garys wrote:I simply avoid buying low quality vehicles that use plastic lenses for headlights. Higher quality cars still have glass lenses that never get cloudy. Most vehicles today are designed to be throwaway vehicles. You are supposed to drive them until they have their first problem, and then junk them. That way, you don't have to deal with all the engineering shortcomings they have.

Rhetorical question! Might I ask what model of automobile do you drive and how long have you had it?

I can't afford that approach. I have had my truck since it was new in 1993 and I need to polish the lens. They have yellowed.

dusty wrote:

garys wrote:
Rhetorical question! Might I ask what model of automobile do you drive and how long have you had it?

I can't afford that approach. I have had my truck since it was new in 1993 and I need to polish the lens. They have yellowed.

I drive older vehicles. My new car is a 1989 Chevy Caprice that has glass headlight covers. My other vehicles are old enough to have glass sealed beam headlights. None of them ever need polishing because they are glass and it never yellows.

Aah, that may because I drive a Ford.

I know the lenses are yellowish and I don't believe they were when new; however, I do not know that they are plastic. They might be glass and their current color may be original decor.

You should be easily able to tell if they are plastic or glass. Tap on them with your fingernail. Plastic lenses have a hollow click of plastic. Glass lenses have a solid almost ringing sound.
Also, you should be able to feel the difference in hardness on your fingernail.