Headlight Restortation II

[harrellbenjamin]

Originally Posted by GTECH

Just food for thought,being we are talking about acrylic/Polycarbonate, I would tend to think that a varnish coating would yellow faster, as apposed to a water based application.I agree with your exploitations on how/why the headlights get damaged the way they do also a headlight is a sealed unit, the heat that the light creates from inside, and the temp outside the headlight has a great deal to the overall appearance / damage of the headlight along with that another preventative measure for a headlight would be to use a product that will clean and protect it,so it will help in the aide to help prevent some of the damage that occurs.the damage that happens to most headlights is that when the adverse conditions happen, the acrylic/Polycarbonate to a degree breaks down, so when there is road grime/dirt .. the headlight absorbs it and when it cools of hardness and stays there, and over time creates the damage that we often see, normally, when you wash/clean your car , normally you wax it, but what about the headlights ?? I myself prior to repairing headlights have done this, overlooking to protect the headlights,so when I am asked by customers how to try and prevent some of the damage that might happen, I have a product that I purchase by the gallon, and put it in small sealed containers and give it to them at N/C,it makes customers more aware how to maintain the headlight, I hope that this also sheds some light to headlight repair .

One thing that you need to realize before we all make this thing of recoating lens more than it is is that all Lens are factory coated with a varnish based product from the begining.This is what is used in the industry at the O.E.M. level.No magic potion,no snake oil etc.A water based product will never hold up as well but is just a bandaid type product that needs to be reapplied.No need to give anything to customer if recoated properly.Just do it right the the 1st time is all that has to be done.

[Chips-B-Gone]

What I have found is that once the origonal UV layer has been stripped completely from the lense and I buff and "reseal" the lense. I will allow it to dry keeping a close eye on the lense to see if the plastic aculally abords the coating. The plastic is naturally porous so some times this will happen, especially in chrysler products. I have only seen a couple where I had to give the lense a second coat. I will not release the vehicle until it is completely dry and I am satified with my work. I am pretty picky when I work on someone else's property... I'm with Ben, no need to give the customer anything.