HEADLIGHT/HEADLAMP - REPAIR

A headlamp is a lamp, usually attached to the front of a vehicle such as a car, with the purpose of illuminating the road ahead during periods of low visibility, such as darkness or precipitation. Headlamp performance has steadily improved throughout the automobile age, spurred by the great disparity between daytime and nighttime traffic fatalities: the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states that nearly half of all traffic-related fatalities occur in the dark, despite only 25% of traffic travelling during darkness.

While it is common for the term headlight to be used interchangeably in informal discussion, headlamp is the technically correct term for the device itself, while headlight properly refers to the beam of light produced and distributed by the device. http://en.wikipedia.org

TOOLS NEEDED:

• Clean rag or towel
• Bucket of soapy water
• Latex gloves--to protect those with sensitive skin
• tape--to mask headlight to prevent damage to surrounding paint job
• A plastic lens cleaner or soap and water
• A polish/compound--preferably plastic polish designed for plastic
• At least (4) grades of wet/dry finishing paper--600, 1200, 2000, & 2500 grit - this is dependent upon the severity of the oxidation (some lenses will only require 2500 or 2000 grit sandpaper - and make sure the sandpaper is marked for wet/dry use)
• Sanding block or soft hand pad--keeps sandpaper moist and is very flexible (suitable for today's headlight designs)
• High quality shop towels
• car wax or similar compound

You can buy all of this separately, or purchase a kit like the Lens Repair Kit from 3M that has everything included in it except for the common household drill, microfiber cloth and spray bottle with water.

REPAIR:

Foggy/Cloudy Headlights

1. Determine if the damage to the lens is on the outside or on the inside (if inside you will notice moisture and you may need to remove the lens and or drain it. If damage is on outside of the lens first try cleaning it off with a cleaning solution like Windex. You can also use a watered down degreaser to clean off the headlight lenses. Follow this with a car polish or plastic polish available anywhere.

Follow directions on bottle and do not apply in sunlight and be sure not to get it on black, ruberized plastic parts as it will make a white film that is very hard to get off.
You can use a rotary buffer to make this process faster and obtain better results. To make this repair last longer seal with car wax or silicone sealer

2. There are easy kits like the lens repair kit from 3M that are available at local automotive retailers that make this project really simple. All of the tape, sand paper, lens polish and directions are included, and there's an online video that shows you how to do it.
Mask around the headlight. Protect your car's finish with masking or painting tape. Don't use duct tape as it can ruin or lift the paint on your car

• Mask around the headlight. Protect your car's finish with masking or painting tape. Don't use duct tape as it can ruin or lift the paint on your car.
Clean.
• You can use sandpaper, but remember the sandpaper will leave scratches thus requiring more steps to remove these scratches. First wet the sandpaper in a bucket or cup of soapy water.
• Spray the headlight with a commercial plastic lens cleaner or just soap and water (degreaser also works fine). Wash the lens with a clean rag or a shop towel.
• Remove oxidation.
• Dip one finger into a plastic polish or a compound designed for plastic. With the lens still wet, apply the polish evenly over the entire headlight.
• Grab a sanding sponge or a soft hand pad and take out the starting sandpaper which you decided earlier, in most cases, the 600-grit sandpaper.
• Fold the sandpaper in three around the Soft Hand Pad Or Sanding Sponge.
• Dip the sponge and the sandpaper into the soapy water.
• Sand, using a side to side motion, applying even pressure, periodically wetting the sponge and the sandpaper in the soapy water. (Avoid contacting paint and other surrounding surfaces.)
• Sand while keeping the surface wet.
• Continue the sanding process with the finer 1200 grit, then even finer 2000 grit and finally 2500 grit sandpapers to remove scratches left by the previous grit.
• Apply the plastic polish/ compound after sanding with the 2500-grit sandpaper. This time, let it haze, then buff/wipe off with a shop towel.
• Clean the lens with a plastic lens cleaner or soap and water. This is to remove any polish residue
• Apply wax (protectant) to the headlight lens.
  • Note, this is a preview of the finished lens, if you are not satisfied up to this point you must repeat Steps 1-5 until the lens is clear.
  • Seal the lens with wax or silicone sealer.
  • Fold a shop towel into four and squeeze a quarter-sized amount of wax or polish onto it and let it soak in for a few seconds.
  • Apply to the lens using a single stroke going from left to right gradually working your way down the entire lens.
the headlight lens

THINGS TO REMEMBER:

• If the headlight lens has light discoloration with no apparent scratches you can try a solvent like napthalene which works quite well on headlights, start with the 2500-grit sandpaper. If the contamination is pretty severe, start with a rougher grit like 400. In most cases you will have heavy/severe discoloration with apparent scratches/imperfections requiring a (rougher) grit sandpaper like the 600-grit. The higher the number, the finer the grit: 600 Roughest=>1200=>2000=>2500 Finest
• The first sanding step is where you will actually remove the "bad layer" of plastic. The other grades of sandpaper are to remove the scratches left from the previous grit so your sanding time decreases as you work your way up in grit. (Remember 600=>1200=>2000=>2500)
• Once sanding has begun you will soon see milky drippings as you sand---this is the goo you want to remove. Keep sanding until the surface feels really smooth & the drippings become more clear.
• Grab the next grit sandpaper, in this example it would be the 1200-grit then repeat the same process and again for the 2000 and finally the 2500-grit sandpaper.
• It's best to do headlight restoration in the shade, not in direct sunlight.
• Lift the hood of the car so you can have full access to the top of the headlight lens for cleaning / restoring.
• Always evaluate headlight lens for any moisture or cracked parts. If there's any moisture trapped inside the lens, this means there is a leak somewhere in the headlight assembly and cleaning the outside of the lens will only minimally improve the appearance and light output. The inside of the headlight lens needs to be cleaned, dried and then sealed to prevent further moisture from entering. You can also remove excess moisture by drilling a hole in the lens to let the moisture out and then reseal with a rubber plug or silicone sealer.
• Wear protective gear: gloves, goggles, old clothes, etc.
• Soak Wet/dry finishing papers for about 5 minutes in soapy water.
• Make sure to clean the headlights well - remove any bugs, tar, contaminants etc. before proceeding with wet sanding.
• During wet sanding, always keep the pad and sandpaper wet. Water is the key to "wet" sanding.
• All commercially purchased solutions or homemade ones should be paint safe, but should be rinsed/wiped off rather than being allowed to dry on the vehicle's paint - nothing does the paintwork of a car any good if it's dried on!