Plastic Lense Restoration.

[94mx3precidia]

Just thaught i would do a review on a produckt i baught. I was hoping to get rid of some of the yellowing of my headlights so i picked up something called Plastic Lense Restoration Kit. Its made by permatex btw.

So i was expecting, you know just get rid of some of the yelloying but to my surprise the lenses are crystal clear and look brand new!!

Here is a picture of what i used---->

So basically what you get in the box:
-2 rubber gloves to protect your hands
-4 sheets of sand paper
-1000 grit
-1500 grit
-2000 grit
-2500 grit
-Instructions
-Plastic polish compound
-Cotton Rag

Things you might considder using:
- Water for the sand paper(it comes with wet and dry)
- Dremmel (for polishing after)

All you really have to do is sand with water and you have to sand in the oposit direction for each sheet untill youve finished with the 2500 grit.

After that, you clean the lense up really well then apply some of the polishing compound to the dremmel and to the lense and wait a cupple seconds for the polish to work. Polish the lense with the dremel going up and down.

So my lenses looked like this before i started



And this is what they looked like when there done.



And this is the finished product.




To me, this 10 dollar kit was well worth the 10 bucks, considering new lenses are alot from mazda and some of the aftermarkets have sealing issues. It only took me no longer than 3 hours to do everything only because i had some nasty scraches from rocks.

Ill be driving tonight so ill post a reply on how much brighter my headlights are.


p.s sorry about the picture links, i dont know what im doing wrong. I use the IMG code to post pictures and it seems to never work, any tips?

[umcamara]

Good job!

I used some metal polish to polish mine, and they turned out not bad. But yours look excellent. I wonder if removing the lens from the case and polishing the inside of the lens would make it even clearer.

[cstott282]

i might try the polish nexttime.. i never used that before .. when i did my lights on my 323 and my mx3 i just used a high grit sandpaper and wetsanded them.. cleaned htem off and sprayed clear coat on and it did the trick.. its been like a year now and no yellowing yet.. but those look great!

[94mx3precidia]

thanks for the replies!

If you have a spare $10 bill and 3 hours (max) of your time i highly recommend this. I just got back from my buddies house and i took the highway, everything is so much more clear and the markings on the road reflect the light a whole lot better. And instead of seeing yellowish light, its crystal clear white light, the high beams work alot better as well!

umcamar1: unless your lenses arnt sealed properly i dont think that taking them out and polishing the inside will amke a difference, i only polished mine cuz i had alot of scratches but the 1500 grit took most of them out and the 2500 grit really finishes things smooth.

The one thing out of all of this i would recommend is investing in a dremmel and a good polishing wheel, i stated off using the cotton cloth they gave me and it took long and it didnt turn out as nice as the dremmel. The only thing you have to watch out for the dremmel is that you cant keep it in one place for too long or you'll melt the plastic lense!

[matt753]

I think the problem with your images is that there are spaces before and after the link. Take them out and see if it works.

P.S. What store did you buy the kit from?

[solo_ryder]

Wow, I have used plastic polish before, but never got them that clean.. and I know a place that sells that stuff... gonna pay them a visit!

[94mx3precidia]

I baught the kit from where i work, i work at Canadian Auto Parts Supliers. Were basically just an auto parts warehouse and all the stores like speedy and midas, when the want to work on a customers car they get the parts from us.

Concerning my image posting, i tried it without any spaces and it still doesnt seem to work. Ill go back right now and delete the spaces and see if it works again.

[shameem]

Nice work on the polishing-

For the image codes - try turning the BBCodes on - for some reason it is turned off by default and you have to go into your profile to change it for future posts. For posts you already made i think you can click on "edit" and then scroll down to the bunch of checkboxes before the submit button - there should be a bbcode checkbox.

[solo_ryder]

His bcc is most likely off. I saw that kit at AutoSense. Here you go buddy for hte pics:

Here is a picture of what i used---->


So my lenses looked like this before i started



And this is what they looked like when there done.



And this is the finished product.

[danmyers686]

I got the same effect with some small grit sand paper, and some tooth paste rubbed on a peice of computer paper along with 2-3 hours of elbow grease...while watching the TV

[94mx3precidia]

thanks, got the bbCode thing to work!

[Mooneggs]

wow those are really great results I've used alot of different techniques before and that really takes away the yellowing! I wonder how long it will last?

[Dark_Rider2k3]

holy crap that is amazing

I'm totally paying a visit to Advance Auto to see if they have any of this stuff

[94mx3precidia]

ya that was what i was like, i was convinced that it wouldnt work that well but once i started polishing and seeing how clear it was i was like...no.... no way! i kept trying to see if it would wipe off or something.

Ill keep you guys updated and ill post a picture in a month to let you know if it stays the same or changes.

[fiestafrank]

As a former senior headlamp engineer and head of R&D with 15+ years in the industry, I want to warn you about what is happening here. Headlamps lenses have been made from PC (polycarbonate) for the last many years after previously being made from glass. PC can be formed into more complex shapes than glass and is less prone to shattering when hit with road debris plus is less expensive to boot. The problem is that it yellows when exposed to UV light (i.e. sunlight). So headlamp manufacturers "hard coat" the exterior with various products available from companies like DOW, GE and Red Spot to protect against the yellowing. A yellow headlamp lens is a catastrophic failure caused by the breakdown of this hardcoat. If you sand your lens to remove the upper layer of the lens then yes you can remove the yellowing. But, since you have also removed the remaining hard coat it will just yellow the next time much faster. Also, any sanding on the lens is likely to distrot the photometric beam pattern of the headlamps. Although I would be surprised if it made much of a difference after doing it once, repeated or heavy sanding can result in an unsafe condition. I would report any yellow headlamp lenses to NHTSA on their web site and if enought people complain Mazda will be directed to issue a recall and replace the lamps, they are a major safety device you know.