actually red what he is saying is that bill is doing more work than is needed

 

Sanding headlights is not the best way to remove oxidation. The damage caused by sandpaper is irreverseable and unnecessary.
Badly damaged headlights have to be resurfaced, that is a complex job as described.
However the headlights shown on the car above did not need to resurfaced.
a pure liquid non abrasive acrylic lens deoxidizer would have removed the oxidation in seconds without changing the factory specs (IE) removal of the UV layer.
Oxidation is a reoccurring natural event. The lights will oxidize again. You can only sand a piece of plastic down so many times before you have nothing left of the UV layer and original lens surface.
Very good images show scratches left in the lens after the cleaning.
The other side of the problem is, without a UV layer the lens will not only cloud but eventually turn yellow from exposure to the elements. When it turns yellow nothing will make them clear again.

 

Don't sweat it Bill, I had an *** clown in my thread about restoring headlights too.

There's always somebody that thinks they know more than you.

Nice job on the write up!

 

if polish does not work then sanding is the only way to restore oxidation, weather it be paint, metal, plastic or anything of the sort.

the sanding marks were obviously reversible. you can see this in the 50/50 picture and the after that the marks were taken out, so i don't know what you're talking about when you say it's not reversible.

next, the headlights in the picture did need to be resurfaced, again look at the before picture of the car sitting in the parking lot.

now, what exactly is a "a pure liquid non abrasive acrylic lens deoxidizer"? im assuming you're talking about one of the "merical" headlight pastes you can order or find at walmart. they won't achieve the same results in seconds as i did in an hour or so. also, you said that the "a pure liquid non abrasive acrylic lens deoxidizer" would take the oxidation off without removing the factory protective layer. this is not true because the oxidation is in the factory protection, thus in order to take the oxidation off some of the protective layer has to come with it.


i agree with you that oxidation is a natural reoccurring event, and while this is true, mildly oxidized lights left unattended will oxidize faster than repaired and properly maintained lights. we've established that in order to remove oxidation, protection must come with it. that being said, after an oxidation removal proper protection must be applied regularly. there's literally thousands of waxes and sealants that the reader can choose from to add UV protection and further protect the light after the correction. that being said: the new layer of protection will protect the light from both oxidation and yellowing. while the new layer might not be as durable as the original factory coating, it's more durable than what was previously on the light (a damaged layer of factory protection).



this post is over 4 months old. would you like me to post current pictures of my car with these unoxidized headlights? i live in texas with terrible sun and heat.



and thanks crash94!