So i was bored, Had this wild idea while in home depot, why not make my headlights look new?





Before Removal and refinish





Look at that lovely Haze.

So with reckless abandon I bought

600, 800, 1000 and 2000 grit sandpaper, sadly Home Depot didnt have 600 grit (WTF?) so I had go to O' Irish auto parts and get 600. Which was the same price as Home Depots but only had 5 sheets vs 10 from the ones at Home Depot.

3M Lens and hard Plastic Cleaner and a bottle of Lens Polish (I used this for the Parking light/ side marker)

1 can of clear gloss coat.

Also not avalible at Home depot is Adhesion promoter.




Not wanting to let the Drill feel lonely I opted to remove the lights vs doing it still mounted



So starting with a 5 gallon bucket of soapy water i cut my sandpaper into squares and let them soak for a few minutes. Im no expert at sanding so i went and wet sanded with all the grits.

I spent a good 30 minutes hand sanding with the 600grit on each headlight
Thats after the 600/800 Grit sanding


And after 1000/2000Grit



Now at this point im more excited than a 5 year old boy at Hooters, My arm feels like it too!

I now used a terry cloth and the 3m Lens/Plastic Cleaner as the last scrub stage, And wow what a difference










After this I clear coated them, I didnt use the Lens polish because of this, Now only time will tell how this goes/last
Sadly i didnt take pictures of the spraying Adhesion promoter and clear coat.

And the end result





Driver side before

 

That looks friggin awesome. Ill put that on my agenda. Front brake job came out great. Thanks for the help.

 

It does look great. Thanks for the post and pics.

Jimmy

 

How long you think it will last and what can you do later as in putting other stuff on them to clean/protect?

 

Some wax them which helps a lot. You can also use one of many products out there with UV inhibitors made for plastic.

I use a 100% synthetic polish, marketed for Corvette owners that's approved for clearcoat, plastics and fiberglass. They advertise it's man-made formula has the highest UV resistance on the market. Pricey but it works.

I had rope lighting up high around my screened in patio/pool that the sun turned the plastic tubing so brown they were unusable after two years here in the Florida sun. When I replaced it a little over a year ago, I wiped the product on it with a cloth let it sit for about 30 mins then wiped it dry prior to putting it up. To this day, the rope lighting is as clear as the day I hung it. Which reminds me, it's probably time to take
out a ladder and hit it again...

 

Well everyone i talked to said the clear coat would protect the the lens (somehow i don't believe that, still testing lol) but would yellow in a few weeks, only reason i got this particular clear coat was 1. it said non yellowing and 2. it was the only decent product from home of dur-pot

But like i said only time will tell. Im hoping for at least a year. Im still hoping for covered parking but alas nada.

 

And what is this awesomeness called?

If it can keep rope lights from turning black and rough, im sold.

The wax method is next on my list if i start having problems with the yellow.

 

I don't like the FIX system as they start looking bad again around 2 or 3 years. New headlights can be as low as $50 each and will last you 8 to 11 years no scrubbing, buffing, sanding or painting required and new don't look kind of distorted as the FIX never looks 100%.


How much did you spend on all that FIX stuff $30 or $40?


These are $85 a set that's $43 each http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dodge-97-04-Dakota-98-03-Durango-Crystal-Chrome-Clear-Headlights-Pair-Lamps-New-/321647445064?fits=Year%3A1999%7CModel%3ADakota&hash=item4ae3ae8448&vxp=mtr

 

I swear you read my mind sometimes, those are exactly the ones i wanted buy, hate the round holo/euro looking ones. I think those look better with the OE Parklamp assembly.But yeah cost wise it was around $45 or so, but i have enough left over to do my wifes Accord now, possibly the work truck too.

 

I've never been one to temp Fix things if it needs replacing I replace the part. I understand at $50 or more each it sucks and is way over priced even on ebay for a plastic part that should cost about $25 I remember when the glass ones were around $15 not too long ago. I'm looking to buy these sometime in the next 3 months as my lights are just starting to get milky last replaced them in 06.