Repairing Acrylic Headlight lenses, bad and good experience

summit · 09-04-2009, 08:09 PM

Don't you miss the days of glass seal beams. I hate the plastic lenses on pretty much all headlights these days. Anyways I set out to figure out if I could have some success getting the optical clarity back. I'm maintaining 3 vehicles and sooner or later they all need work.

The bad experience - a kit from Bright Solutions Inc. that the local Lordco store recommended. Very expensive large package that when you open it up is mostly full of lint free paper towels and rubber gloves with very little product to work with. As far as I could tell using the directions achieved very little improvement. Junk, don't buy it.

The good experience was a product used in aviation purchased from Aircraft Spruce. Its from Micro-Surface finishing products and contains a series of fine grip sand papers micro mesh pads and polishing pads with some cutting and polishing liquids. It was cheaper than the Bright Solutions kit and contained all you need to refinish the lens. Follow the directions and it works great.

Hope this prevents some from waisting a bunch of money like I did.

summit · 09-04-2009, 08:26 PM

oops the "Bright Solutions" kit is made by Symtech Corp not Bright Solutions Inc. My bad

stumpuller454 · 09-04-2009, 08:32 PM

good write up, i was considering doing the lenses on the ole tractor i just bought....

gmctrucks · 09-04-2009, 11:30 PM

Look on You-Tube on how to fix up cloudy headlights. Stump my brother is working on his 1941 tractor my dad overhauled it completely over ten years ago but he has a oil leak on it and he fixing it before they paint it again. In fact they use it every week.

stumpuller454 · 09-05-2009, 07:28 AM

my tractor isn`t that old, lol. mines a 97`. it has plastic headlights, which are in decent shape, me just being the guy I am i want them to look their best.

BernieB · 09-05-2009, 08:00 AM

This is the best stuff I've found for cleaning plastic lenses. I use it on the lightbar on my truck:
Novus plastic polish #1, #2 AND #3 2oz bottles (1 each) - eBay (item 370237821956 end time Sep-28-09 11:48:12 PDT)

summit · 09-05-2009, 08:58 AM

I think there are a number of good products out there for cleaning plastics if the surface is still in good shape. I've tried a few and if the plastic is scratched, crazed or hazed they don't work. The Micro-Surface is designed to repair aircraft windows and can resurface damaged plastic. There are different products for different types of plastic so you need to be careful. The stuff I used is for Acrylic. Also works great on motorcycle windshields.

BernieB · 09-05-2009, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by summit

I think there are a number of good products out there for cleaning plastics if the surface is still in good shape. I've tried a few and if the plastic is scratched, crazed or hazed they don't work. The Micro-Surface is designed to repair aircraft windows and can resurface damaged plastic. There are different products for different types of plastic so you need to be careful. The stuff I used is for Acrylic. Also works great on motorcycle windshields.

Ditto for the Novus. Its made for polishing lenses and removing scratches from a few different types of plastics. But, as with anything, it's best to read the instructions first and know what you're getting into.

scavanger · 09-05-2009, 11:10 AM

The local parts store sells a kit with sandpapers , polishes and a ball much like the Mothers ball for wheels. The local GM dealer has used them and was real happy.
I will get the name and post sometime next week
I actually picked up some 600 and 800 wet paper and some plastic polish made by 3M which is actually a very fine rubbing compound.
I had to do the rubbing by hand but got pretty good results. A DA with small polishing pad would work nice.

Scav.

chengny · 09-05-2009, 06:14 PM

I used (well let my friend use) some PlastX by Maguires on his headlight lenses the other day. They came out beautiful - he could not believe the difference. They approached factory condition - other than the yellowing. I think that the yellowing which is UV damage is internal and cannot be fixed. A little background:

I had been using it on some interior/dash parts (instrument cluster lens for example) without much luck. I had three cluster lenses and figured "No guts, no glory" - I picked the runt of the litter and tried applying the PlastX with a common wax applictor pad - clamped onto a run-of-the-mill B&D random/orbital sander. I was amazed! What would have taken hours, was done in 10-15 minutes.

So anyway - I told him to try that method on his headlights and ... well, back to the top of the post.

09-05-2009, 07:28 AM	#5
stumpuller454 Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Grande Prairie, AB Posts: 2,206	my tractor isn`t that old, lol. mines a 97`. it has plastic headlights, which are in decent shape, me just being the guy I am i want them to look their best. __________________ SUPERCHARGED 454 K2500 GMC! Watch My Youtube Videos!!<<<

09-05-2009, 08:00 AM	#6
BernieB Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Fredericksburg, VA Posts: 3,876	This is the best stuff I've found for cleaning plastic lenses. I use it on the lightbar on my truck: Novus plastic polish #1, #2 AND #3 2oz bottles (1 each) - eBay (item 370237821956 end time Sep-28-09 11:48:12 PDT) __________________ If the guys who design 'em had to take one home, use it every day for 2 years, and do all the maint and repairs themselves, cars would have a button on the dash to change the oil, filters & plugs.

09-05-2009, 06:14 PM	#10
chengny Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: So. NH Posts: 266	I used (well let my friend use) some PlastX by Maguires on his headlight lenses the other day. They came out beautiful - he could not believe the difference. They approached factory condition - other than the yellowing. I think that the yellowing which is UV damage is internal and cannot be fixed. A little background: I had been using it on some interior/dash parts (instrument cluster lens for example) without much luck. I had three cluster lenses and figured "No guts, no glory" - I picked the runt of the litter and tried applying the PlastX with a common wax applictor pad - clamped onto a run-of-the-mill B&D random/orbital sander. I was amazed! What would have taken hours, was done in 10-15 minutes. So anyway - I told him to try that method on his headlights and ... well, back to the top of the post. Attached Thumbnails __________________ 1986 Sierra Classic Still Stock

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09-04-2009, 08:09 PM	#1
summit Full Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 37	Repairing Acrylic Headlight lenses, bad and good experience Don't you miss the days of glass seal beams. I hate the plastic lenses on pretty much all headlights these days. Anyways I set out to figure out if I could have some success getting the optical clarity back. I'm maintaining 3 vehicles and sooner or later they all need work. The bad experience - a kit from Bright Solutions Inc. that the local Lordco store recommended. Very expensive large package that when you open it up is mostly full of lint free paper towels and rubber gloves with very little product to work with. As far as I could tell using the directions achieved very little improvement. Junk, don't buy it. The good experience was a product used in aviation purchased from Aircraft Spruce. Its from Micro-Surface finishing products and contains a series of fine grip sand papers micro mesh pads and polishing pads with some cutting and polishing liquids. It was cheaper than the Bright Solutions kit and contained all you need to refinish the lens. Follow the directions and it works great. Hope this prevents some from waisting a bunch of money like I did.

09-04-2009, 08:26 PM	#2
summit Full Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 37	oops the "Bright Solutions" kit is made by Symtech Corp not Bright Solutions Inc. My bad

09-04-2009, 08:32 PM	#3
stumpuller454 Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Grande Prairie, AB Posts: 2,206	good write up, i was considering doing the lenses on the ole tractor i just bought.... __________________ SUPERCHARGED 454 K2500 GMC! Watch My Youtube Videos!!<<<

09-04-2009, 11:30 PM	#4
gmctrucks Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Houston,Texas Posts: 4,642	Look on You-Tube on how to fix up cloudy headlights. Stump my brother is working on his 1941 tractor my dad overhauled it completely over ten years ago but he has a oil leak on it and he fixing it before they paint it again. In fact they use it every week.

09-05-2009, 08:58 AM	#7
summit Full Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 37	I think there are a number of good products out there for cleaning plastics if the surface is still in good shape. I've tried a few and if the plastic is scratched, crazed or hazed they don't work. The Micro-Surface is designed to repair aircraft windows and can resurface damaged plastic. There are different products for different types of plastic so you need to be careful. The stuff I used is for Acrylic. Also works great on motorcycle windshields.

09-05-2009, 11:10 AM	#9
scavanger Senior Member Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 394	The local parts store sells a kit with sandpapers , polishes and a ball much like the Mothers ball for wheels. The local GM dealer has used them and was real happy. I will get the name and post sometime next week I actually picked up some 600 and 800 wet paper and some plastic polish made by 3M which is actually a very fine rubbing compound. I had to do the rubbing by hand but got pretty good results. A DA with small polishing pad would work nice. Scav.