Headlight restoration
Discussion
Is it economical? If you attempted it, how long did it take you?
My headlights are relatively smooth, but have heavy browning (oxidisation?)
New Peugeot headlight with a motor costs £103, and I'm trying to decide is it worth restoring, or should I buy new? Car is about 12 years old. Some restoration kits cost £40. Is there any market for road-legal but oxidised headlights? The MOT has always passed without any advisories on the headlights.
Thanks for any advice!
cheers,
Simon.
My headlights are relatively smooth, but have heavy browning (oxidisation?)
New Peugeot headlight with a motor costs £103, and I'm trying to decide is it worth restoring, or should I buy new? Car is about 12 years old. Some restoration kits cost £40. Is there any market for road-legal but oxidised headlights? The MOT has always passed without any advisories on the headlights.
Thanks for any advice!
cheers,
Simon.
You don't need a kit, but to do it properly do you need to remove the light unit and use either a foam pad on a drill or a polisher.
Start with wet and dry paper, then a coarse and then fine compound, finish with a coat of UV lacquer....
They can come up like new with enough work. Maybe an hour on each at least.
Factor in the costs and time... maybe buy new.
Start with wet and dry paper, then a coarse and then fine compound, finish with a coat of UV lacquer....
They can come up like new with enough work. Maybe an hour on each at least.
Factor in the costs and time... maybe buy new.
I used this kit: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Autoglym-Headlight-Restor...
It has all you need and I used a cordless drill for the power. Just follow the instructions carefully and whilst your headlights won't be 'showroom' afterwards they should be much better.
It has all you need and I used a cordless drill for the power. Just follow the instructions carefully and whilst your headlights won't be 'showroom' afterwards they should be much better.
Its not hard to get them back to looking great as Tony states, however once you start, be aware that its a process that you will have to repeat.
You can either sand them back and then work finer and finer grit and end by polishing, but they will fade again over 6-12 months from the UV once you start down this road. Alternatively you can clear coat them instead of polishing which gives UV protection and a longer term finish, but lacquer doesn't like sticking to plastic especially when its sanded so fine before spraying, so eventually it will fail, but overall its going to improve them drastically and save you a load of money on new ones as long as you accept that you will have to do them again in a year or two.
Example before:
Example after:
You can either sand them back and then work finer and finer grit and end by polishing, but they will fade again over 6-12 months from the UV once you start down this road. Alternatively you can clear coat them instead of polishing which gives UV protection and a longer term finish, but lacquer doesn't like sticking to plastic especially when its sanded so fine before spraying, so eventually it will fail, but overall its going to improve them drastically and save you a load of money on new ones as long as you accept that you will have to do them again in a year or two.
Example before:
Example after:
Solvol autosol or Peek, even T Cut, all will do the job acceptably without having to remove the lights, 10 minutes of elbow grease a side will see a marked improvement, of the metal polishes White Diamond leaves a protective coating of some sort but its expensive stuff so i wouldn't necessarily buy it just for this purpose.
A coat or three with a decent anti UV wax polish afterwards will help keep them bright, but inevitably they'll dull over again so a couple of minutes cutting back every 6 months or so will be needed.
A coat or three with a decent anti UV wax polish afterwards will help keep them bright, but inevitably they'll dull over again so a couple of minutes cutting back every 6 months or so will be needed.
A new genuine part headlamp, with either fittings for the old motor or indeed a new motor, @ £103 incl tax each is amazingly cheap these days, but its still well over £200 plus snapped off fittings etc compared to 1/2 an hour polishing and maybe £8 a tin/tube of metal polish, no contest in my humble.
Wish mine were that cheap for the Prado, polishing helps keep them serviceable but after 20 years of weathering some crazing is visible deep inside the plastic lenses which would be impossible to polish out without ending up with wafer thin lenses.
Can get aftermarket (Depo) with fittings for swapping over the motors for around £125 each, new OE approaching £400 each, others on the Landcruiser forums have Depo aftermarket light units fitted for many years which fit perfectly and are lasting as well as OE, mine are not bad enough yet to warrant changing though and its a bumper off job anyway so definately a summer performance.
This isn't always the case with aftermarket, the original headlights on our Mk1 Mitsi Outlander crazed really badly @ 5 years, no help from the maker (such lack of interest no doubt adding to their lack of new car sales and eventual disappearance from GB) with new units some £350 each which quite frankly i wasn't prepared to pay for such an overall disappointing and thirsty vehicle, so bought some aftermarket units which were hells own job to find which fitted basically where they touched...the saving grace for the Outlander was its handling in poor conditions was every bit as sure footed as any of our Subarus maybe even better.
Wish mine were that cheap for the Prado, polishing helps keep them serviceable but after 20 years of weathering some crazing is visible deep inside the plastic lenses which would be impossible to polish out without ending up with wafer thin lenses.
Can get aftermarket (Depo) with fittings for swapping over the motors for around £125 each, new OE approaching £400 each, others on the Landcruiser forums have Depo aftermarket light units fitted for many years which fit perfectly and are lasting as well as OE, mine are not bad enough yet to warrant changing though and its a bumper off job anyway so definately a summer performance.
This isn't always the case with aftermarket, the original headlights on our Mk1 Mitsi Outlander crazed really badly @ 5 years, no help from the maker (such lack of interest no doubt adding to their lack of new car sales and eventual disappearance from GB) with new units some £350 each which quite frankly i wasn't prepared to pay for such an overall disappointing and thirsty vehicle, so bought some aftermarket units which were hells own job to find which fitted basically where they touched...the saving grace for the Outlander was its handling in poor conditions was every bit as sure footed as any of our Subarus maybe even better.
Thanks everyone for the replies, a lot of info here. I don't think I'm bothered by a little time spent on the lights, what would be more annoying is having to repeat the process. I think I probably will go for the new units, but I might try restoring the old ones once they're off the vehicle as knowing my luck I'll get a pittance on Ebay if I sell them and could be handy as spares.
Mine look like this:
The beam deflector also needs removing and resisted my attempts to scrub it off with alcohol, probably not helping the beam either!
thanks again!
Mine look like this:
The beam deflector also needs removing and resisted my attempts to scrub it off with alcohol, probably not helping the beam either!
thanks again!
Edited by Simon54 on Thursday 8th January 01:35
OP, those lights would be readily sorted by hand, with some wet and dry and a modicum of elbow grease, in about 30mins total.
You don't need a kit but they are convenient as they have everything you need in them. Get a decent brand, 3M/Meguiars get plenty of love on here.
The key to not having to do it again is the sealant you use once you have got the lights clear. The most durable is aerosol clear lacquer - you will need to mask up the surrounding area if you use this. UV sealant polish is much easier to apply but needs redoing regularly (the sealant only, not the whole process!).
It's an easy job and actually quite satisfying to DIY. Good luck!
You don't need a kit but they are convenient as they have everything you need in them. Get a decent brand, 3M/Meguiars get plenty of love on here.
The key to not having to do it again is the sealant you use once you have got the lights clear. The most durable is aerosol clear lacquer - you will need to mask up the surrounding area if you use this. UV sealant polish is much easier to apply but needs redoing regularly (the sealant only, not the whole process!).
It's an easy job and actually quite satisfying to DIY. Good luck!
Edited by dontlookdown on Thursday 8th January 07:32
Simon54 said:
I don't think I'm bothered by a little time spent on the lights, what would be more annoying is having to repeat the process. I think I probably will go for the new units
Whichever option you go for, you'll need to re-do it at some point, after all, the lights you have now started out perfectly clear and clean. It all just depends on how long you're intending to keep the car as to whether the new lights will keep their shine for long enough without work.I bought a kit from Lidl the other week as I've never got round to cleaning mine off completely and lacquering them, £8 for various grades of wet and dry and a couple of tubes of stuff. Then I read the instructions and it says I'll need to repeat the process every 2-3 months. At the moment, I just go over them with some light compound every time they look a bit misty.
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