Lukas99GS

Headlights after cleaning with bug spray 40% deet. My GS and moms civic

Saw a video on this a while back on YouTube, kinda figured it was a gimmick but since I was changing out my moms headlights and I saw a bottle of bug spray in the garage I decided to try it out on her car lol, I was amazed at how well it worked! Idk why but it does, used it on my car with the same results, they look better now then any point since I've owned the car! The tiny scratches and stuff are still there obviously but there's no cloudiness or yellow at all. And it only took two minutes. Just thought I'd pass it on to you guys

Debonair

Report back after a few washes and some time in the sun. I'm curious to see what kind of staying power this has.

Kyle Harty

iTrader: (17)

Why not just use a product that's meant for plastics?? Technically, anything slightly abrasive will clean the film off to some degree but Plast-x is readily available, cheap, and effective and you know it won't have any unintended effects.

Mr Jokster

iTrader: (8)

The only way discussion with clearing headlights should be held is with using clear coat period... any and ALL other ways are temporary and useless.

angus

iTrader: (4)

While not totally useless, it is true that unless you re-apply the clear coat that seals the surface of the plastic, it'll just keep fading again -

Some have had success with rattle can clear (there is probably only one product that would really work - spraymax from eastwood)

Some have had success with film (clear or tinted)

Lukas99GS

So far it's been about a week and I've had the car washed, still crystal clear with no negative effects, however this method won't remove scratches, so they look virtually new during the day, but at night with the lights on, you can still see all the scratches, but for something that literally took one minute, if they end up re oxidizing I could just wipe them again

DnJ90

Have done this myself with Deep woods Off and it works.May not be the best way but it does work.

rhyle07

Interesting though the best method still is wetsanding the headlight and applying clear coat.

97-SC300

iTrader: (17)

Two years ago I would have said the same thing. I had my SC headlights profesionally re-cleared by a bodyshop.

I've sanded and polished three sets of headlights on family vehicles and installed clearbra on them (Xpel Ultimate and SunTek).... Been several months and they look brand new still. No yellowing whatsoever.

We had a guy come to the shop with a 07 IS350 to remove and re-apply clearbra to his headlights that's 8 years old...the film was starting to show haze and a bit of discoloration but that's after 8 years of hard use in California and other states without real proper car (no waxing or coating). Underneath the fil, the headlights looked brand new, not a single chip and to reinstall the film took out guy about 10-15 minutes.

Mocchan

Oh wow, this never really crossed my mind. I think I'll invest the time to install a clearbra after a polish (or onto new headlights) to protect them, definitely seems like a great investment for such a HUGE interval between maintenance/reinstallation.

UDel

Is this the product you are referring too?
http://www.spraymax.de/index.php?id=620&L=1
That is a not a 2 part clear or even a clearcoat, it is a actually a kind of "primer" so I don't know about the durability or resistance to some chemicals like gasoline, a 1 K clear would not provide very good durability/resistance to gasoline nor is it likely to adhere properly on a smooth polycarbonate headlight. It says apply the 2K clear over this primer for re coating which makes sense and that should provide durability and resistance to gasoline so it is a 2 step process with the primer then 2K clear. This could be a very good product/process.

I have a can of Spraymax 2K clear for a paint project and was thinking of spraying it on my headlights but I am afraid it may not work very well for 2 reasons, to bond properly automotive CC needs to be applied to either a freshly painted surface within a certain time frame or at least be applied to a scuffed rougher surface at least from my reading/experience. I don't know if it will bond properly or grab onto to a polished polycarbonate headlight. Maybe I am wrong but those are the things I would be concerned about, I would like to know of any experience with the above product process or just using 2K clear on headlights.

97-SC300

iTrader: (17)

When I had my SC headlights clearcoated, all I did was sand the lenses with 1000 grit sandpaper and gave it to my dad so his painter can clearcoat them. You don't polish them to a high gloss.

The clearcoat will fill in any sanding marks and they will look crystal clear. I think the guy used some sort of adhesion promoter prior to clearcoating them, but honestly if you don't have that, I think it's still worth it going straight to clearcoat. Worst case scenario is it peels in a couple of years and you perform the process again.

UDel

That is one thing I am a little confused in how something already clear with sanding scratches could be filled in by a clear spray to where they come out crystal clear but I have read it generally works. When I wet sand headlights If I keep them very wet just after sanding they are clear so maybe it is similar, when they dry they look terrible and opaque with tons of micro scratches that need to be sanded with 1500 to 2000 and polished out.

I may give the headlights a shot with the Spraymax 2K if I have any left from my paint project.

zmcgovern4

iTrader: (2)

The paint fills in the very fine voids (scratches) in the surface to create a uniform/flat layer of paint which is then clear.

When if you do not clear the lenses, but instead proceed with compounding and polishing after sanding, you are essentially doing the same thing except instead of adding material (paint) to create a level surface, you are using the abrasives in the compound and polish to remove material (plastic lens surface) to produce a flat surface. When you simply sand, compound, and polish, you then need to add a layer of protection or else the lenses will fade again very quickly.

Hope that helps clear things up.

-Zach

Debonair

Well done.