How to polish headlights so it lasts (re-adding UV protection)

[Baltothewolf]

Doax, did you wait 5-10 minutes between coats? Also, if the temp is below 75F, it will not cure properly and will run on the next pass.

[Daox]

The Metro mainly lives outside. It does occasionally get garage time.

Yes, I did wait about 25 minutes between coats and I did it inside so I was within the specified temperatures they say in the instructions. They do say its designed to only need one coat, but you can put two on.

[oil pan 4]

I bought one of those kits for the VW. It has real hazy head light lenses and the Germans never make anything easy to work on so I am not looking forward to finding out how difficult changing the head lights can be.
I figure I can at least use the UV protector on the new head lights I just installed in the Hyundai and the plastic lens LEDs on my suburban.

[Daox]

I just used the kit on my sister's Jetta I'm working on. Her headlights actually have some deterioration inside the housing though... they were pretty horrible, and now they're okayish.

[hamsterpower]

Originally Posted by Daox

I just used the kit on my sister's Jetta I'm working on. Her headlights actually have some deterioration inside the housing though... they were pretty horrible, and now they're okayish.

You can open headlights by baking them in the oven at ~ 200*F for 5 minutes and prying them open. Then clean them out, polish if necessary, and use new silicone caulk to re-assemble. I've done it a couple times with good results.

[Izatt82]

Will be doing this mine are bad as well.

[cowmeat]

I posted Turtle's headlight restoration in December of 2014 in this thread, and the Blue Magic lasted a little over a year. It was starting to haze lately, so my son brought Turtle over and we re-applied Blue Magic restorer and Blue Magic sealer.

I applied it with my cone buffer again, and it literally took only about five minutes to do both headlights. A year in the scorching Florida sun isn't bad for a five minute job!

[Jackcloud]

What method did you use to polish and seal?

[solarguy]

The factory lights in my 04 jetta were looking pretty scabby. I polished them with a (turtle wax product--I think) and less than a year later they were looking pretty scabby again.

Conveniently, or not, I hit a deer and got two new factory headlights, and less than a year later, you can see some kind of surface coating has failed in a patchy pattern. For what they cost, I expected better.

Looks like buffing and sealing are in my future.

[cowmeat]

I use the cone buffer below that attaches to my cordless drill to buff them out.
Then I use the spray on Blue Magic sealer to seal them.

Meguiar's Brilliant Solutions Wheel Polishing Kit - Walmart.com