Scheerspeed: Headlight restoration on a 335i

[ScheerSpeed]

This customer just had OSS Designs prepare his headlights for him, and afterwards wanted me to perfect the lenses and make them clear again.

Upon my initial inspection, i thought a few passes with M105 and a wool polishing pad would do the trick, however i was mistaken. I ended up having to resort to wetsanding the headlights in order to level out the small surface cracks, which is what made the surface appear cloudy.

The reason this happens to headlights is because the surface is left for a long period of time without any sort of protection, thus from the sun constantly drying the plastic and expanding and contracting due to the heat, you start to get small surface cracks on the headlight. This situation can be completely prevented if you maintain your car regularly with the proper care products.

Here's how the headlights looked before







It took 2.5 hours for me to get the headlights looking like new again. my process was as follows:

-Taped off the surrounding area to prevent paint damage
-Wet-sand with 1000 grit until the cracks were completely removed
-Wet-sand with 2000 grit to remove sanding scratches and create a more uniform finish
-Wet-sand with 3000 grit to leave the surface ready for polishing
-Poilshed with Meguiar's M105 and a wool pad
-Polished with Menzerna SIP and a orange pad
-Polished with Menzerna 85RD and a blue pad
-Sealed with Menzerna Power Lock

and here's how the lights looked after





that's all for that one,

Thanks for looking!

Dom

[askjeeves]

great job with the headlights..

do you have any recommendations for regular treatment that can be done to the headlight to prevent the headlights from getting ruined over time?

[ScheerSpeed]

Originally Posted by askjeeves

great job with the headlights..

do you have any recommendations for regular treatment that can be done to the headlight to prevent the headlights from getting ruined over time?

Regular treatments of Clay, Swissvax Cleaner Fluid, and any Swissvax wax will take care of that.

You can also use a sealant like Menzerna Power Lock.

[askjeeves]

Originally Posted by ScheerSpeed

Regular treatments of Clay, Swissvax Cleaner Fluid, and any Swissvax wax will take care of that.

You can also use a sealant like Menzerna Power Lock.

thanks for the advice. i'm going to have to get a quote from you for a detail one day.

[ScheerSpeed]

no prob