Meguiar's PlastX - Headlight Restoration

[joe7987]

My headlights were looking terrible, so I went ahead and picked up a bottle of PlastX. Here are some before and after pics. The before pics actually didn't come out too well. They don't show the extreme yellowing of the haze that was seen in person. All the yellowing is gone, and most of the haze is gone. The headlights are still a bit scratched up, but not too bad overall. Definitely a nice improvement for a few bucks and a few minutes.

Now if only I could do something about my damned paint

EDIT: Image previews don't seem to be working, but if you click the dead thumbnails, the pics will appear.

 

[Wreckless Hype]

Blue Magic Headlight Sealant ( I could only find it at PepBoys - otherwise online) will keep them from hazing over as quick (like 3 months vs 1)

Also, mine: Not crazy bad, but hazy (left) and turned out much more clear (right)

 

[joe7987]

Thanks! I'll keep that brand in mind. This is the first time I've used anything on them, so i'll wait to see if they haze up again quickly.

 

[young_]

I had very good success with Meguiar's ultimate compound. It's just a rubbing compound, made specifically for paint restoration but worked wonders on my headlights. Lasted a good bit too. I'll see if I can dig up the pics.

Before:

After:

 

[joe7987]

I'll have to consider that too. Looks like it did a great job on your headlights. That might help me remove the last bit of unclarity. My biggest concern right now is my paint. My clearcoat is baaaaaadly peeling. It's to the point where I'm considering going out and getting a cheap Maaco paint job because that would look 100x better than my car in its current condition. I'm also considering a CF hood.. as my paint is worst on the hood. CF hood would be a bit more expensive than repainting the hood, but I've always wanted a CF hood and it might be a good excuse to get one.

 

[Wreckless Hype]

I'll have to consider that too. Looks like it did a great job on your headlights. That might help me remove the last bit of unclarity. My biggest concern right now is my paint. My clearcoat is baaaaaadly peeling. It's to the point where I'm considering going out and getting a cheap Maaco paint job because that would look 100x better than my car in its current condition. I'm also considering a CF hood.. as my paint is worst on the hood. CF hood would be a bit more expensive than repainting the hood, but I've always wanted a CF hood and it might be a good excuse to get one.

Then you just need to maintain the clear coat or they look like complete garbage. But I say do it!

 

[young_]

I've heard that Maaco usually goes wrong with the prep work and not necessarily the actual painting. You would save a good bit of cash if you did the prep work yourself too.

 

[TokyoSkies]

I used the sanding method (3M Headlight Restoration Kit + a power drill), then followed it up with some PlastX. After that, a coat of Caranuba wax on the headlights (buffed in pretty good) kept them decent for about 4 months.

Before:

After:

Sorry for butthole-quality pics. The 3M headlight kit is very highly recommended. That kit works miracles.

 

[young_]

Lol, this thread quickly became the "how we fixed our civics headlights" thread.

 

[Wreckless Hype]

Everyone else post your black coupes with crappy headlights and then tell us what you used to fix them

Well, there's a lot of good info about fixing your headlights. Maybe it should be renamed to "Headlight Repair" or something.

 

[joe7987]

I don't mind. Discussion is cool, however it comes about. All the tips are always nice too.
[MENTION=107513]young_[/MENTION] - We should add these tips to the super secret project the moderators have going on right now...

I've also heard the prep work is where they f**k up. I don't know the first thing about prepping a car to be painted though, nor do I have any painting-related tools.

As far as maintaining my clear after a Maaco paint job, yea, I figured. Honestly though, my car couldn't look any worse right now as far as paint goes. You can see a taste of it on the front of my hood. It's all over my hood, fenders, tops of the doors, trunk, etc. My car looks like crap. I let waxing fall to the wayside in grad school, and my car was a completely outside car in the Florida sun until recently. Now it's garaged and I'm starting to get a little bit of my free time back. I'm sure I could keep to waxing it every few months, and will definitely have it garaged from here on out. As long as the paint is all the same color, there's not much of a way that a Maaco job wouldn't drastically improve my car

 

[young_]

I don't mind. Discussion is cool, however it comes about. All the tips are always nice too.
[MENTION=107513]young_[/MENTION] - We should add these tips to the super secret project the moderators have going on right now...

I've also heard the prep work is where they f**k up. I don't know the first thing about prepping a car to be painted though, nor do I have any painting-related tools.

As far as maintaining my clear after a Maaco paint job, yea, I figured. Honestly though, my car couldn't look any worse right now as far as paint goes. You can see a taste of it on the front of my hood. It's all over my hood, fenders, tops of the doors, trunk, etc. My car looks like crap. I let waxing fall to the wayside in grad school, and my car was a completely outside car in the Florida sun until recently. Now it's garaged and I'm starting to get a little bit of my free time back. I'm sure I could keep to waxing it every few months, and will definitely have it garaged from here on out. As long as the paint is all the same color, there's not much of a way that a Maaco job wouldn't drastically improve my car

Lol, I was just trying to think of a way to mention the super secret project.

Sounds like a Maaco paint job would be just fine for your needs.

 

[Wreckless Hype]

^ I meant the clear coat on the cf. It's the worst. You just need to keep an eye on it, cuz when it starts to fade, the cf looks awful. Look up some faded cf and see the horror for yourself.

 

[joe7987]

Ahh ok. I understand now. Yea, i've seen it. It looks about as bad as my car does now.. lol. I've pretty much learned my lesson on not waxing. This is still my first car and I've now experienced the ill effects of not taking care of the paint. People used to walk by my car and say "Wow, that's a really nice car, man!" Now, they walk by and you can see the look on their face "I have to ride in this pos?"

It's funny too, because people used to interpret the lowness of my car and the sound of my exhaust as "feeling fast." Now they ask me if something is wrong with my car.

 

[mymmeryloss]

2000 grit paper and a rubbing compound

 

[d.m.lippold]

Love that plastx stuff. Been using it for years

Sent from my LGMS428 using Tapatalk

 

[Mr.Baker]

$35 shipped for a new Depo brand headlight, won't have to touch it for years.

 

[XpL0d3r]

On a roll with these old ass threads.