Headlight outer lens replacement

I had some faint scratching on my Litronics that I thought could be removed with a headlight restoration kit. Unfortunately after unsuccessful attempts with the RainX and 3M kits, I think I've possibly ruined the outer plastic lens on both lights. Does anyone know of a way to purchase replacement lens without having to pony up for two entire headlight assemblies? Thanks.

I don't believe you can just get the outer lenses. You may be able to find a decent donor set but you have to bake the units to get them apart. I bet your current ones can be saved. You just need to get really aggressive with the sandpaper. If you can spare time without them, send them to me and I can recondition them for you.

Unless you melted tbe lense with too much pressure, it.can br saved. Take it to a automoti e glass shop, they should be able to bring it back to life.

Well here are some pics of the damage. In the first pic you can see a roundish shape that looks like it has a different opacity than the rest of the lens. I'm guessing that it is simply a lower layer of plastic that it has been down to than the rest, but I'm not sure. The second pic is of the worst of it. I had attempted to "save" the light by using a spray clear coat. That didn't turn out well so I began to sand it off. The spot in the second pic began to show during that sanding process and it feels completely smooth from the top. It appears that the clear coat removal may generated extra heat which then melted the plastic underneath. I'm not entirely sure because it is totally smooth from the top.

Stop all DIY work and take them to a paint shop. If they can't restore them, they'll know someone who can - but if you keep working on them, you're going to ruin a set of incredibly expensive headlights.

Got your message Isla. Let me look closer when I get home from work.

Ok thanks. For reading various things online, it seems that these headlights have a pretty thick outer coating, possibly the original UV protection. If that's the case, then the spots with differences in opacity in the first pick may simply be areas where I was successful in in penetrating the outer coating. All I know is that I'm not gonna touch them. :-)

PM sent. You'll be ok!

Update: I found this guy through someone in the local PCA chapter. http://www.facebook.com/headlight.restore.1 He was quite confident that he could fix them and he wasn't lying. The lights came out amazing and they look new. Gator, you were right, these lenses are tough as nails. What appeared to be burns was simply the plastic showing underneath the thick clearcoating that the factory puts on these headlights. Josh at the above link took them all the way down starting with 80 grit, then brought them progressively up to 1000 grit, then thick clear coat, then a 2000 and 3000 wet sand. The man is a miracle worker and my lights look better than ever.

I tried kits and also found them to be crap. But look up my thread here on rennlist. I followed a magazine guide, using various grades of sandpaper, followed by paint cutting compounds. It worked perfectly. Total cost of stuff from eBay about $150 - and leaves enough stuff to do several more pairs of headlamps

It takes some time and patience. More time needs to be spent with the courser paper if there are deep scratches. then progressively work through to the super fine cutting compounts

That's great news Isla! That sure did save you a lot of coin. Glad it worked out.

I have read Sanding and Polishing the Headlight only worsens this situation as you Remove the UV Coating on it and it makes it Yellow Faster... True?

Quotes source post: 12331088

It really depends. If your headlights are yellowed or corroding, then your UV is degraded anyway. If you have scratches that need repair, then you again don't have much choice. There's a lot of debate on the interwebs about headlight restoration. I think the blanket opinion that putting clear coat on them won't suffice isn't accurate because there are a wide range of clear coats of varying quality. A high end clear with UV inhibitors is going to last much longer than any wax. And a simple UV wax treatment is far better than no preventative maintenance on a restored headlight. Needless to say, if you restore them, you will need to maintain them just like your paint, using quality waxes/sealants or clear bra films. Just my $.02.

^^^ This is all true. Once the factory UV coating is removed, the lenses will rapidly yellow. The correct remedy is to apply a true clear coat. The sealant that comes with the home kits is very temporary and not worth the price of admission. I have restored dozens of headlights and I use a clear coat sprayed via a HPLV gun. No failures to date. Another good consumer option is OptiLens. Easy for the DIY'er to use.

Apologies for somewhat reviving a dead thread, but came across it in a panic search. I had the bright idea to improve my headlights using the 3M kit. I first tried with an orbital polisher, but that made things worse before it made them better (scratches etc). Then I started polishing using a drill. Now I got to a point where I have several "hot spots" on the lens. I'm curious what I'm doing wrong and where I should go from here. Basically, I'm heeding the warnings about not spending too much time in any one spot and about not applying too much pressure; it takes me probably 3 seconds to go from one edge to the other. The lens also never really "fogs up" like 3M says. Maybe I'm going too fast?... Any advice on what I should do? I'm in Japan - so Dr. Headlight isn't going to be an option for me. I'd still prefer to DIY it, but not sure if I'm making things worse or not. Any help welcome. Thanks! iJEXgTCl.jpg

Quotes source post: 12890949

Suggest you PM Gator996, as if you read the preceeding posts, it sounds like he's done these for other folks before. Sounds like yours can be returned to "good-as-new," but it might require a professional and cost a few coins (but much less expensive than replacement).

I think what you see going on with your "hot spots" is that you've gone through the clear-coat and reached the plastic of the actual lens. You haven't ruined anything, but now you've got two different surfaces (lens and clear-coat) that you're trying to polish to the same shine - which will never happen. I think what the "pro's" are doing is totally removing the clear-coat, polishing the lens to a brilliant finish and then applying a new clear-coat or film. Obviously, this is the correct procedure, but it's a little scary for someone who hasn't done it before - especially when you're working on a light unit that going to cost you $500 - $1000 if you ruing it Good luck with it!

Quotes source post: 12891287

I think what's freaking me out is the fact that despite spending some time on the other areas, it doesn't appear that anything is actually happening there. Like, I don't feel like the UV coat is in any way disappearing. I don't know if my discs are worn out or simply insufficiently strong, maybe? *scratches head*

I think you should read this entire thread....some good hints on polishing the headlights https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...ed-yellow.html

Pseudo Nim have a look at this, http://911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=851...+restorationit It may help you understand, i think the bit you are missing is the lights will have to get totally cloudy looking (you will think they are ruined) before they get better, and to stop heat a random orbital polisher is best on slowest speed, a drill can be used but more care is required. good luck or this http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t...+light&start=0 or this http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t...t=polish+light

you can sand the edges with wet and dry paper by hand, if coating/damage is not going then wet&dry is worn or not course enough to remove damage

Quotes source post: 12891485

Thanks ... the problem I'm having is that I do understand they're supposed to get cloudy, but I'm not getting to that point at all Basically, running the drill with the P500 disc over the lens does _absolutely nothing_ - it definitely got scratched up more than it was so far, but not enough to call it "cloudy" (as in my pic). And now it won't go better or worse, just kind of stays in that state.

Use ample amounts of wAter while sanding, the milky colored water is a good thing. I've used the 3m kits with great success, the key is you really have to sand down aggressively to give you a consistent opaqueness. When your done sanding with proper grits light will be cloudy it is only when you use the cutting compound when the lights actually clear up.

try 320 wet&dry paper but remember the lower number papers are, the rougher, so more work to get back shiney. also use loads of soapy water in a circular motion by hand see how you go. i have an electric polisher which is worth its weight in gold you can polish everything, car, caravan, boat & headlights! very easily then. not expensive but far better than a drill LINK http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/17183...s=true&ff13=80

Quotes source post: 12892572

I've every tool, but I guess I'm too dumb to use it properly I have an orbital polisher, but the 3M pads are too small for it. So I'm stuck using the drill, I guess, since I don't have the impression that I can use the 500grit ones to rip off the UV coating by hand...

by hand i feel you will need at least 320 or you will get nowhere fast, do not be frightened it will all polish back up, but you must use rough enough paper to get it cloudy, only then are you actually removing the surface, and getting back to new plastic ready for polish. if i was round the cormer i would come and bring my Das polisher, but i am in UK

Quotes source post: 12892594

Haha thanks... appreciate it. Guess I'll give it another go, this time with some water! So am I understanding correctly that, at least, those "heat spots" should become bigger, as that's the real "underlayer"?

Definately soapy water!! loads of it , keep washing your paper and the debris away, washing up liquid, soapy water is best its called 'fairy liquid' (honest) in the uk!! this lubricates the process ans stops hot spots! have you not used soapy water

Quotes source post: 12892688

Nope, 3M instructions don't mention soapy water until about grit 1000

this is why you are struggling and causing hot spots/damage to the light Ignore 3m, loads of clean soapy water at all abrasive paper levels. once you have sanded thoroughly at 1200 paper (with soapy water ), wipe dry with clean towel then start polishing with coarse polish 1st and whatever other polishes you have right up to fine bodywork polish, then you should have crystal clear lenses you then either need to polish every couple of weeks to keep good or get an aerosol of clear gloss uv laquer and spray them for a better protection. Good luck

I would add that with each step up to a finer grit paper that I would first rinse the headlights off and dry them to make sure that I've removed any residual grit from the coarser paper. And a whole lot easier to polish the headlights with them removed from the car (easy to do on a 996).

I ran into a similar issue last Spring. What I found was that the OEM clearcoat on these lenses is incredibly hard. I thought I ruined my lense but a pro (not the Craigslist $40-type guys) was able to save mine and make them look perfect. He ended up having to use 80 grit to get all the clear off. Find a pro and ditch the home kits, they only seem to work if your clearcoat was heavily damaged/corroded.

Quotes source post: 12895061

This is EXACTLY (bolding mine) what I am getting the feeling of. My lenses weren't too bad (car was well maintained), so I'm not sure I should have even gotten into it - but definitely, it would appear that the original UV coat was basically untouched. So removing it seems to be a very, very tough job.

Quotes source post: 12890949

Ask around local detailing shops to restore your headlights. Here's my turbo's before: FullSizeRender_2_zpsgjr3gvf5.jpg after: 194D0A9A-9248-400D-8F6E-C52397252266_zpspjav3qwz.jpg

I've done a fair number of headlamps with success. Most people don't get the mfg clearcoat off on the first attack at the job, and the clearcoat won't buff. It takes a while, and there's really little benefit in using a power tool until near the end of the job. Tape off the edge of the body where it meets the lens. I generally start with 3M 320 wet/dry. Get a decent size bucket with warm soapy water. Not a lot of soap but a few bubbles. Keep the paper very wet, and start sanding. Go all the way to the edge of the light with 320. Once you have the entire lens cloudy with a consistent opacity using 320, then go up to 400 and repeat. Up to 600, and 800 grit and keep working the entire lens with each finer grit using the same wet method. Once you get to 800, you can change paper to 3M diamond Cloth 1200 then 1800/2000. Some folks find these on a disk, but I do it all by hand. After the whole thing is done with 2000, clean it with clear water. Don't use the bucket water as it still has that milky plastic residue. The lens should be consistent fairly clear from edge to edge. Now you can use the coarse compounding liquid. I generally use Meguir's M105 but there are other vendors. Start with plenty of compound on the lens and use any rotary drill or buffer you want. Just never stop moving the tool around. Don't stop in any spot and use a fair amount of pressure. Keep putting compound on, it'll make a mess everywhere but you need to work this for a while to get into the tiny scratches left behind by the 2000 grit. Rinse again with clear water. Next up is Meguir's M205 Mirror Glaze, and the same process. That should just about do it, unless you want to use the ultra-fine stuff by hand. Some folks apply a coat of clear after the 1800/2000 grit, but I don't like to do that. The clear will oxidize faster than the actual polycarbonate of the lens and then you have to sand it all back off over again in a year. I just leave the poly lens and touch it up with 1800/2000 grit once a year then polish again.

After I refinished mine I added the Xpel film to them. It protects the plastic and adds a UV shield. I hope I don't ever have to refinish them now because the film is pretty thick and should keep the lights from fading over time. Plus I keep my car garaged both at home and work so the only time it sees sun is while driving.