Headlight repair - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Alright, I bought a clear headlight off eBay a week or so back, but didn't notice this horrible scuffing on the pics! When it arrived, I quickly referred to the eBay page to see if I've been duped, but it was visible in the picture, just not pointed out directly by the seller. The grooves were so deep they could provide some aerodynamic lift! Oh well, what to do? I looked into repairing it. After spending much time on detailing forums researching, this is what I did. It turned out so well I should have taken more pics! I first cleaned the lens with glass cleaner. Then with some 3M 100 grit wet sandpaper and plenty of water, I sanded sanded & sanded until the whole scuffed up area was cloudy and smooth. This took a lot of elbow grease and about 2 episodes of Top Gear before it finally smoothed out. At first I had tried some 400 but it didn't touch it after 30 min, then to 200, which also barely touched it. The 100 did the trick. After some reduction in cloudiness, I moved to wet sand #800, moving in a perpendicular direction to the previous sanding direction, but this time including the whole headlight, really focusing on the bad areas. Move on when the paper glides over the lens with little resistance and it looks noticeably clearer. Repeat this technique then with 1000, then 1500, then finally 2000 wet sandpaper. Finally, I topped it off with 3 treatments of Meguires Plastix X with a Mothers polish ball on a high speed drill, until all the fine scratches were gone. At this point it looks great! Now, all the sanding probably removed some of the protective layers on the lens that prevents sun damage and yellowing, so a good protectant is necessary. One of the most recommended is Meguires Techwax 2.0, which is not really a wax but a protective polymer. Two coats of that and the headlight looks like new! It probably will require the occasional polish with Plastic X to keep it from yellowing but sure beats buying a new light!

Here's the finished lens!

Not bad! I've heard of some users on the forums that put a protective film on their headlights after refinishing them, by 3m I think. Would hate to see your work go to waste by a rock chip! +1

Hmm, I'll look into that film, prob not a bad idea since most my driving is freeway, and the other headlight is brand spanking new.

Check out SEM Solaray UV headlight coating. I think there is even a youtube video doing it on a Porsche 997. Your headlight will yellow if you don't replace the coating you just sanded off.