Headlight restoration

As we all know our plastic Jap lenses cloud and grab oxidisation.

Mine were no exception, I gave them a good machine polish but wasn't enough.

As you can see my passenger side was still rather cloudy..

So I split the headlights using the oven on a temp of 100 degrees, and tin foil to stop any melting.. I then used a screw driver and worked my way around to pull apart, I then reheated at same temp with the same process in the oven to remove all the sealant. (Or as much as I could)

They already had Matt black sprayed innerds but where the lense had pushed against the inserts I had flat spots, so I've gloss blacked them now! Using tetrosyl gloss black. 1can! Still drying as you can see!

Go the lenses I used a 600grit paper, then some fine, used lapping paste I got from work.

Got home from work, then used green top 3m compound and das machine polisher on the inside and outer lense.

Absolutely great result, just one more lense to do them reassemble with new sealant.

Will update when assembled and then fitted.

Nice and shiny

Nice job! How long did you leave in the oven for?

They look really good!

What type of seal do you use to reseal them I would guess at Sika windscreen sealant as its magic stuff!

Oven time was around 2-5mins but I was cautious so kept checking and prying as I could.

I went onto reseal the light with auto sealant

This is the finished result, I might even do a finer compound finish once fitted to the car, but I will snap a shot when fitted to the supra later this week.

As you will see I didn't de-line them as I wanted to keep the original look and avoid dispersed light!!

hi, nice job, just polished mine tonight with the kit I got when I bought the car.

hi, nice job, just polished mine tonight with the kit I got when I bought the car.

:thumbs:

Going doing mine at the wknd, are they easy to open after a quick spell in the over?

You want to clearcoat them, otherwise you will be doing this every couple of months [emoji1360]

Going doing mine at the wknd, are they easy to open after a quick spell in the over?

Yea really easy to open prying with a screwdriver! Just make sure the sealant is heated enough

You want to clearcoat them, otherwise you will be doing this every couple of months [emoji1360]

Yea was thinking about applying ppf

Can you recommend a product to clear coat with. A Google search resulted in all kinds of stuff, and even articles saying never do it.

Can you recommend a product to clear coat with. A Google search resulted in all kinds of stuff, and even articles saying never do it.

Just use a good quality wax.

I sanded mine last year, started with 1000 grit all the way up to 7000. Then Meguiars PlastX and finally a coat of Meguiars NXT Tech Wax.

Any time I wash and wax the car I do the lights as well.

Been perfect now for over a year.