Hey all,
Just finished restoring the headlights and fog lights on my 05 RX330. I did this about 3 years ago on one of the headlights and it had completely failed again by now. The first time I used a Sylvania branded kit from Amazon (basically was just the final coating) with a sanding/polishing kit from O'Reilly's. It looked amazing at first but it's not the right way to do it.

This time, I just went to the hardware store and got 600, 1000, 2000 grit sandpaper, and got SprayMax 2K Headlight Clear Coat from Amazon. First step is to mask off the whole area - put painter's tape all around the headlight, put a garbage bag over the headlight and surrounding area, then use scissors to pierce the bag and cut out a headlight shaped piece from it. Then more painter's tape to seal the gap between the bag and the car body. I did 5 passes with each kind of sandpaper, you definitely want to wet sand as well. Circular motions for all passes and then one or two passes at the end with the 2000 in a horizontal motion so the clear coat grabs on to the plastic and doesn't run. Then the scary part, clear coating. SprayMax 2K has to be activated and then has a pot life of 8 hours. One light coat, I waited about 7-8 minutes between coats, then a heavier coat. I think I did a third coat on one headlight and just two on the other. Let it cure for 24 hours and run it. Can wet sand and polish afterwards if you have orange peel/if desired. Also did the fog lights, same process but I did it after taking them out of the car (kind of a PITA but another thread on this forum helped me out!)

This should last a LONG time, the 2k clear coat is fancy stuff, reflects UV rays and cures really hard, so protection from stone chips. I'm going to wax everything in about 2 weeks and will probably wax them yearly.

 

SprayMax 2K is a great product, I've never used the headlight version wonder if it differs from their regular 2K.

 

I think I was reading that it's specially made to bond to headlight plastic. Probably some other things too.

 

@91cruiser — Okay, you are in my area — how much do you charge and can I recommend folks to you in the area?!

JUST KIDDING — Amazing Job on the headlights

 

There is a guy in my area that wet sands and then adds a coat to it for $50. He does it better than I can with a kit so I take it to him.

 

1 can of 2K cost $30, sandpaper at least $5 either that guy likes to barely make money or is using very low quality clear coat.

 

he’s a bumper repair but does headlights too. All I know is it’s cheaper for me to have him do whenever it needs a touch up than myself.

 

Yes, it has adhesion promoter mixed into soften the plastic for bonding. Without that, the normal clear would not get good adhesion to the polished plastic - same as with painting bumpers, or other ABS material. You could use the normal stuff, usually works ok, or use it with adhesion promoter separately applied. If you’re just using the can for headlights, the headlight special product makes the most sense.

 

Funny you should ask, I actually do have a little car detailing gig I run out of my driveway. Although I charge more than $50 for this headlight resto
^I'm with LeX2K

 

Hah — really?! Okay, PM me your area if you don’t want to share on this thread and I’ll see if I’m even close to take you up on your little detailing gig, that is if you’re offering…

Give me the list of services you provide and the cost, please. Thanks much

 

Cerakote works Wonders on Headlights and is Easy to Use!

 

Ditto on Cerakote. I did a write up a couple months ago mines going on over a year still looks like brand new cost me $17 took less than 20 mins no tools. I tried 3M years ago headlights for yellow and foggy quickly afterwards

 

Any feedback on this product?

 

I follow the ammonyc guy on youtube's headlight restoration process to a T, and then finish it off not with clearcoat but with the meguairs headlight spray. much safer to use. I then apply a PPF on top of that. 3 years and counting on my acura TSX.