Polishing acrylic headlights

[perucho]

Polishing acrylic headlights

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Happy New Year everyone! It was cold and foggy here in Sacramento so I decided to do something about the yellowish headlights on my 03 996 C4S. I got the car about 3 weeks ago and it looks great but the headlights were somewhat yellowish. Looking at them closely, I noticed that there were very fine cracks and oxidation on the surface and decided to try to polish them. I found a "headlight lens restoration system" by 3M for $20 at Autozone. I removed the headlights and cleaned them well. Th

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• Author
  perucho
• Category
  Carrera (996) - Common Fixes and Repairs
• Submitted
  01/01/2009 08:26 PM

 

[kbrandsma]

That's amazing. Thanks for sharing.

[Loren]

:thumbup:

Perhaps this should get moved to the DIY section?

What do you folks think?

[catmanluge]

:thumbup:

Perhaps this should get moved to the DIY section?

What do you folks think?

Great Idea!

[GranburyChuck]

Very nice. I didn't try the sand paper but just a polishing compound. My results were not as dramatic because I didn't go through the steps of the sand paper.

BTW, just finished polishing the surface oxidation off of my hood an spoiler using Griot's polisher and #2,#3 polish. Looks much better than before although still need to do some more. Saved me from a repaint.

[kbrandsma]

Definitely move it to the DYI section!

[norcal_tom]

We use a similar process to this on aircarft windscreens called micromesh. The grits go up to 5000. It's not really sanpaper though, it's specifically made to be used with water. The clarity after the process is unbelievable.

Nice job on the lenses, they came out great :clapping:

[perucho]

We use a similar process to this on aircarft windscreens called micromesh. The grits go up to 5000. It's not really sanpaper though, it's specifically made to be used with water. The clarity after the process is unbelievable.

Nice job on the lenses, they came out great :clapping:

Thanks Tom. The last two were wet sanding (2000 and 3000 grit). I agree that going to a finer grit would give better results, but they ended looking great for about $10 a piece ;) By the way, I also live in Carmichael!

Oscar

[norcal_tom]

NICE!!! So I guess I'll be loking for a C4S now :D

[PowerJ]

Oscar,

Thanks for that great DIY along with the pictures. I first tried the McGuire's Headlight Restoration Kit and it was just so-so. I purchased the 3M one thanks to you at Auto Zone and they came out great.

Thanks again,

[Deepsix]

I did this also and got similar results, had a few nasty brown adrenaline moments though when I thought I had damaged the lenses beyond repair and they were all foggy +1 for the 3M kit, well worth the money IMHO

Edited January 29, 2010 by Deepsix

[DaveFL1976]

I used the same 3M kit for my '99 996 and the results were impressive. They're about 90% of where I'd like them to be. I might buy another kit to see how good I can get 'em, but I really recommend this product. Especially for the price. You're going to pay a shop $100+ to do a half-assed job when you can do it yourself for $20-$40. I do recommend earplugs, though, as an hour+ of drill motor whine isn't good for the ears.

Anyways, the last part of your post mentioned that you were going to do a UV protection to the lenses. Did you find a suitable product? if so, what was it and how'd it work?

[venturawildes]

I just did my drivers side headlight with the Sylvania kit. Outstanding results, there is a new headlight on the right and you cannot tell them apart. $24.00 sure beats 2 grand.