Read about using Autosol 13170 (metal polishing compound) on the plastic headlight lenses and then buffing them out, removing the &*^% that has them looking cloudly. Has anyone tackled this task and if so what were your results. The article stated a "return to original clarity" - I'm just looking to make them look as clear as can be since they seem to me to be very cloudy and changing the quality of light.

 

There are a few threads in the detailing forum about this. Any good polishing compound will work, but I like a product from Meguier's called Plast-X.

 

Meguiar's PlastX. It's an EXCELLENT product!

 

I've done a lot of polishing just using a bench grinder, for polishing aluminum parts on my motorcycle. There's different type of buffing wheels (and shapes) and different compunds for different types of metals. I polished my tailight lens with a Jeweler's Rouge compund that worked real well. Not only did it clean up the plastic, it gave it a nice shine and also retained that shine. If you go to the expense and trouble of buying a wheel (you should just need 1 buffing wheel for that) and the Jeweler's Rouge bar, you might as well do all the plastic lenses on the whole vehicle.
HTH......GradyJ

 

Threads to read: https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...hreadid=185264

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...hreadid=180126

Hope they help.

SL

 

My only caution to the first thread from Tony is that a lot of the more modern headlight plastics may or may not have a protective coating over the plastic to increase clarity. Wet sanding this type of plastic should be, in my honest opinion, a very last resort immediately before buying a new assembly and after all other options have been exhausted to the fullest.

I'm certainly not saying it's a bad thing but, a lot more damage can be inflicted rather than corrected utilizing this technique. Obviously, Tony did an outstanding job with it... on the other hand, I've seen it go exactly the opposite way from his results.

Again though, kudos to Tony for a nice write up and before and after!

RP

 

^I agree. Sounds like more work than using a polish.

SL

 

If anybody is really that worried, get the one dollar packet (wal-mart and autozone next to the headlamps at both) and try it on your corners. There extremely cheap to replace if you screw up or don't like it....twenty dollars on ebay and your back in business.

however, my .02 cents I love the Plasti-x

 

Found that I had a couple of samples of NOVUS polishes - #1, 2 and 3 - so I manually applied the #3 on both lenses and followed up with the #2 and cleaned them up with #1. What a difference.

Now I am going to do the same thing but using a buffing / polishing wheel with my drill following the instructions from Eastwood.com on renewing headlights.

 

IMO the headlights usually will go several years before they start to fade. And they only turn yellow if you apply some sort of goop (such as Armor-All) on them.
Regardless of any 'protective coating', they are about a quarter inch thick and you can polish them down with compound many many times before you ever start to worry about grinding them down too thin. My Ranger was over 5 years old before I ever had to do anything with the headlights and now I hit them once or twice a year.

 

On many vehicles that I've seen and have talked with other detailers about, there is actually a different, more resiliant, type of plastic resident on the extreme outter layer of the headlight lens plastic itself. This layer is far from the full thickness of the plastic back towards the bulb and measures in mils not inches. That's the protective layer I spoke of...

Yes, you can burn through it pretty handily with certain products.

RP