What's the best way to get my headlights night and clear and bright again? The lenses have started to get a slightly hazy/yellowing tint to them. I've tried buffing compound on them, and that really didn't do much.

Any other ideas?

 

I use this and have had luck on many cars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t1RBw0IGXA

 

The Meguirs/Mothers/ etc buffing pad and compound stuff is a failure, do not buy that. It's nothing more then adding some wax, and minimally smoothing out the lens to make it appear clear again...till it's all washed off. Out of all the products I've sold on the market, the best one out there is made by 3M ( part#39008)

It comes with several grits of fine sandpaper to take off the top layer of damaged plastic ( The yellowing is actually caused by dirt/ rocks/ debris hitting it, not discoloration from the sun) and a buffing pad with a special buffing compound. It's about 25-30 bucks, depending where you get it. Follow the directions, and do not make any short cuts, it takes about 15-20 minutes to do a side if you really are going to take your time, or if you are a little unsure if your doing it correctly. Our lenses are easy to work on since they bulge outwards, and have no small bumps or plastic injection locations.

Two things:
One, buy a squirt bottle, and put water with a dab of dish sop in it, that will allow the sand paper to wet sand, and it removes any plastic particles that would scratch up the lens. Every 30 seconds bring the drill off the glass, and spray the sand paper off clean with the squirt bottle, that prevents the plastic stuck to the bottom of it from making small swirl marks that gouge the plastic.
Two, either apply a couple layers of painter's tape ( about 3-4...seriously, it's sand paper no matter how fine it is, it will ruin your paint/chrome bezel) or to make it astress free job, take the headlamp assembly out of the car, and remove the chrome bezel.

 

May I add beware Turtle Wax Headlight Lens Restorer. Followed instructions on the box, but found that the clarity produced in the final step by the wipe-on sealing solution does not last. The coating does not seem to dry. Probably would have had better results with Wesson oil! :-)

 

So Do I buy one kit for each Headlight or will one 3M Kit do both headlights?

Thanks,
Greg

 

3M, one kit should do both headlights. Works great, just be careful and take time to tape everything off properly.

 

My girlfriend has an older VW Golf that had horribly faded headlights….they just looked like solid yellow lenses. You couldn’t even see the bulb or any internals…that’s how faded and nasty they were. I used the 3M kit on both lights to test it out before I tried it on my Mini, and WOW…..I couldn’t believe how they look now. They are crystal clear, just like brand new glass. I wish I would have taken a “before” picture. They turned out amazing!! I used one kit to do both of her headlights…..they looks awesome!


Now when it comes to my Mini headlights, that’s a different story. One of my lights was a little faded, but the other ones looks fine. So I decided to use the other 3M kit that I bought and try to clean up the one slightly faded light on my Mini. As soon as I started sanding on the lens, I noticed that there was some kind of super hard protective coating on the lens. It didn’t want to sand off at all…and it kept gumming up the sand paper disc that came with the kit. It took me close to an hour of sanding, and all of the sanding discs in the kit just to do that one light. After I then went through the lighter grits of paper, and proceeded to polish the lens (just like I did with the VW lenses), after it was all said and done, the lenses on my Mini still looked a little cloudy. It was slightly better than it was when I started, but not nearly as bright and clear as the VW lenses.

Does anyone know what kind of coating MINI puts on those lenses? Did anyone else run into this problem with using the 3M kit to sand the lenses? Wow…what a pain. I wouldn’t have minded if it turned out nice and clear.

 

Have used ScratchX and a buffer on several lenses now and it is far from a failure, in fact, it worked great. I'm not sure what you were using, but calling it a failure is far from the truth.

What I use is stated above and it has resurrected many lenses. My mechanic used it first and I haven't looked for anything because it worked so well.

 

My Mini lights are slightly tinted so I do not have a issue with that car but my work car, ford escort , was so badly oxidized I was thinking of actually replacing them . One of the old time mechanics gave me a home remedy tip and the lights look like new .

The process :

DuPont white rubbing compound $ 4.50

Two shop wrags liberated from shop $ 0.00

Two Coronas. $ 5.50

30 min labour $ ? I was home anyway

Total cost $ 10




Randy
M7 tuning

 

You paid $2.75 for a Corona? Were you working in the parking lot at a bar?

Back on topic, I use Meguiars plastic cleaner and polish on other cars, seems to last about a year. A friend has an '06 that needs some headlight help, will see if it works on the Cooper.

 

Interesting statement. I have had headlight chip protectors on the car since it was new, and my headlights are as clear as the day the car was made. The surrounding chrome is a moonscape.

The car spent the last 9 years or so being garaged, but had spent plenty of time outside and on the interstate. It is currently kept outside 24/7 at my apartment.

Either the protectors kept the plastic from yellowing due to damage or they somehow block UV light.

The lenses are regularly waxed with the rest of the car however, even waxed surfaces can fade. My exterior paint is not as vibrant as the paint in the door jambs or under the dash.

 

I totally missed that comment and it is totally wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymer_degradation

He should start there but there is much more to read about.

 

Has anyone tried the RainX head light restore kit?

 

I don't mean to come off topic, but daflake,sorry, opinions are like *******s, everybody has one, and that is my personal opinion.

Yes the lenses will yellow after a while, but the yellowing is accelerated by the said debris/chemicals in the road/air coming into contact, and contaminating the polymer.

IQRaceworks: did your lens have a coating, or a layer of thick plastic that protected the lense? Years ago at Advance Auto I remember them selling a piece of plastic you laid over it to prevent rocks from breaking the lense.

 

And I am simply informing the forum that your "opinion" is wrong and you posted it up like it was a fact. Bottom line is that the discoloration is caused by oxidation of the polymer, end of story. Can it be accelerated? Sure, road debris and chemicals can help to hasten it but it is still caused by the sun and air. What you posted did not state this, it actually discarded it. I'm not trying to be a jerk, I just want people to get truthful information.

 

didn't some bmw's have their headlights damaged by having them polished. i have heard of people having to buy new lights because the hazing would not clear up. Maybe mini's are the same? i know mine are getting pretty hazy on my 05 and i gotta do something soon.

 

I have buffed mine up and had no problems.

 

I've used the Meguiar's Heavy Duty Headlight Restoration Kit which includes 1000 grit and 3000 grit sandpaper followed by the PlastX. Excellent results. Removed haz from a few cars (non MINI) with 200K+ miles.

 

When i bought mine new, i bought the 3m plastic covers for them...kinda like really thick window tinting material, but clear....has been on them since the car was about 3 months old, and still clear.
from what i understand, the plastic materal has a uv coating on them to protect them from yellowing, but at some bpoit it fails, or maybe gets polished off.........either way, tge polishing kits can TEMPORARILY improve them, but once the coating is gone, the plastic is gonna yellow...a polish might improve light output, but any car with plastic lights needs protection from early on, or replacement later........like the old FRAM add..."you can pay a little now, or a lot more later".

In my experance using the polishing kits, they do work...
For a time...but the plastic now has a softer uncoated layer that gets hazy faster, and eventually yellos......

 

+1

Put those on mine when I bought the car a year and a half ago. they were barely starting to haze but still almost looked new, but I knew if I didn't take care of them they'd go downhill pretty quick. bought the clear film to go over the headlights and completely solved the problem.

they look 90% new and haven't changed one bit since I put them on. I don't understand why car dealers just don't install these on all their cars in the factory, seems like it'd solve the hazing problem.