Over time, the outer surface of plastic headlights begins to turn yellow, scratches and dullness appear on it.
This problem can be solved by grinding and polishing. This is a long and difficult process. It can be made much easier and faster by using a special commercial kit for chemical polishing. When used correctly, remanufactured headlights will be as good as new.
What you will need:
Chemical polishing process
The headlight being restored must be removed. If the work will be carried out without dismantling, then you should protect all surfaces around, especially the hood, by covering them with masking tape. The polishing itself should be carried out indoors, since dust is very undesirable for this process.
First of all, the headlight is sanded with sandpaper by hand or with a machine. You need to remove the top protective layer from ultraviolet radiation and get to the plexiglass. You can start with abrasive P400 or P600, and gradually move on to finer sandpaper.
A sanded headlight will become matte.You can check whether the deep scratch is gone by pouring water on the surface. All defects are clearly visible on wet glass.
The final sanding is done manually with water using a block and fine sandpaper. The movements are made back and forth, but not circular. It is necessary to remove risks from previous sandings.
Then the headlight is washed, dried and degreased.
20-30 ml of polishing liquid is added to the heated cup from the kit.
The guide spout is placed on it using an O-ring.
A power supply is connected to the cup and it is plugged into the network.
After a couple of minutes, her nose comes up to the glass. The escaping fumes instantly dissolve the surface of the plexiglass, and it floats.
All remaining marks and haze are leveled out, and the headlight becomes transparent in the treated area.
Fumigation with vapors of a chemical solvent is performed in a row. If there are any risks left somewhere, you can go back and hold the spout a little longer until the surface is smoothed out.
In the future, if there are no deep scratches, it will be possible to restore it by chemical polishing simply after degreasing without sanding. The method is very convenient and fast, and most importantly does not require expensive equipment.
