HondaBoy
02-10-2008, 02:32 PM
this pertains to the outside surface of a plastic headlight lense.
my mom's '97 neon had the signature foggy yellow headlights as a majority of aged chryslers have. well over the years they have just gotten worse and worse. so bad as she had to drive with the high beams on just to see at night, still couldnt see very good. well i decided to try something. i picked up some 1000 and 1200 grit wet/dry sand paper and some meguiars PlastX clear pastic cleaner and polish at work. stuff goes for about $6-$7 for the 10oz bottle. anyways i sanded the rough oxidation off the headlight with the 1000 grit sand paper and plastic surfaces wet. used a circular motion. when the rough oxidized surface had come off, i went over it again wet, with the 1200 grit until it became quite smooth. dried the lense surface and used a 6 inch foam polishing pad attached to a drill to spread and work the polish on the plastic lense. i went over it about 7-9 times to completely smooth the surface out and ended with a new looking headlight with no yellow and no haze. this worked for me. took about 25 minutes to complete the process. spent about $15 and still have enough sand paper and polish to do a bunch more. also did this on my friends audi's headlights that were pitted. they came out very nice also and improved night driving noticeably.
http://www.meguiars.com/estore/products/product_G12310.jpg
this product has also worked for me on other plastic surfaces, not always smooth surfaces either. but mainly on smooth plastic is where it works best.
for a smoother finish, go over with 2000 grit and/or 2500 grit. i would recommend that, but it will buff out with the process i used.
my mom's '97 neon had the signature foggy yellow headlights as a majority of aged chryslers have. well over the years they have just gotten worse and worse. so bad as she had to drive with the high beams on just to see at night, still couldnt see very good. well i decided to try something. i picked up some 1000 and 1200 grit wet/dry sand paper and some meguiars PlastX clear pastic cleaner and polish at work. stuff goes for about $6-$7 for the 10oz bottle. anyways i sanded the rough oxidation off the headlight with the 1000 grit sand paper and plastic surfaces wet. used a circular motion. when the rough oxidized surface had come off, i went over it again wet, with the 1200 grit until it became quite smooth. dried the lense surface and used a 6 inch foam polishing pad attached to a drill to spread and work the polish on the plastic lense. i went over it about 7-9 times to completely smooth the surface out and ended with a new looking headlight with no yellow and no haze. this worked for me. took about 25 minutes to complete the process. spent about $15 and still have enough sand paper and polish to do a bunch more. also did this on my friends audi's headlights that were pitted. they came out very nice also and improved night driving noticeably.
http://www.meguiars.com/estore/products/product_G12310.jpg
this product has also worked for me on other plastic surfaces, not always smooth surfaces either. but mainly on smooth plastic is where it works best.
for a smoother finish, go over with 2000 grit and/or 2500 grit. i would recommend that, but it will buff out with the process i used.