Rubing compound to clean cloudy headlight covers?

[yetibone]

I used some Nuvite grade S on my Suburban with good results.

This is, however, not an economically sensible idea at $50 a lb, unless you already have the stuff for it's intended purposes.

[ben parrish]

Originally Posted by speeder

Success depends on how far gone the lenses are and which type of plastic they are composed of. Certain types, like those used on w210 Mercedes, ('96-02 e-class), are impossible to restore.

It never hurts to try, though.

Not true. I polished my wifes 98 E320 Wagon Headlights with excellent results...lasted three years but needs it again. I used 1000 grit going to 3000... finished with 3M buffing compound on an orbital high speed pad... looked new.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by 89911

This is what I used a couple of times. It also worked well for getting scratches out of some of the high polished plastic trim inside.

this stuff is pretty impressive, less than $10 if you just buy the stuff instead of the kit


Don't forget the blue painters tape to protect area around the lights

[Halm]

I just posted a new thread over on the 996 forum with pictures on my experiences today with PlastX and a couple of commercial sanding products.

[Palum6o]

I recently did this to my Mercedes headlights. I used the 3M kit. It will really depend on the severity of the clouding and how deep you need to cut. It took me quite a while to get the lens looking uniform. Overall the kit works really well using a drill and the sanding pads. I went a step further and used some 600 grit by hand, then 1000 grit. The kit comes with a 3M polish to smooth everything out. I ended up using a 3" da polisher from griots with the polishing pad it came with to get a more crystal clear result. From then I mixed a little bit of plastiX and metal polish mixed together, using the da to keep it nice and clear. Now they are super clear and shiny. I am trying different sealers, I've used the 3M sealer last and it seams to work ok. The 3M kit cost approx $20, and took me about an hour for each side following the instructions.

[JAR0023]

We had 3M do a demo of this last week for our appraisers. Took about 20 minutes with air tools. 800 dry. 2000 wet. 3000 wet. Finished with glaze and a D/A with foam head. The headlights went from opaque white to brand new.

According to the 3M tech the trick is to be willing to use the 800 to get through the hazed layer and down to virgin plastic.

J

[speeder]

Originally Posted by ben parrish

Not true. I polished my wifes 98 E320 Wagon Headlights with excellent results...lasted three years but needs it again. I used 1000 grit going to 3000... finished with 3M buffing compound on an orbital high speed pad... looked new.

Good to know! I've never done a real serious job involving sanding them down so I was going strictly on my experience with polish only. I had been told that certain lights, like those on the w210 cars and certain domestic vehicles, were made from a different type of plastic that was not save-able past a certain point.

I'm going to have to experiment with some junk lights and various grits of sand paper. Lord knows I'm not afraid to sand anything.