Headlight Restoration

[spazzyfry123]

Hey all. Has anyone here had a professional restore their headlight lenses? I've done it to other vehicles before and they turned out "okay", but I'd like for someone that really knows what they're doing this go round. My E90 M3 has some slight hazing on the upper "brow" of both headlights, so I was hoping for a refresh. You honestly need to get up on the car to really see it, so minor comparative to many others I've seen. I reached out to a local body shop that does this and plan to reach out to some of the detailers in the area as well, but I was really surprised at the cost to get this done. I don't know what I was expecting to see, but ~$700 wasn't the number.

Are they way off mark? Or am I unrealistic in thinking this can be done for much cheaper? For not that much more, I can get a set of upgraded Bayoptiks. Or for even less than this quote I can send them into Bayoptiks and they can replace and ship back with brand new lenses...

[tcphoto]

I refuse to pay that much to have it done, I've tried many "headlight restoration kits" and have had marginal success. The last time I cleaned them up, I used my DA Polisher with a compound followed up with a polish and then a ceramic coating that I used on my new paint and wheels. It's been about eight months and they still look great. It's too bad BMW stopped allowing us to simply swap out the lenses like I did with my old Pre-LCI E46, now it's required to bake the headlight, clean out the black sticky sealant, reseal and then hop on one leg while singing an Octoberfest tone. Don't ask to see a video, it wasn't pretty or entertaining or instructional.

[ryansbmw]

Don’t pay a professional to do this. The key to lasting results is how you seal the light at the end.

Work your way up wet sanding starting at 600 or 800 and go up to at least 2000 grit. Alternate sanding in different directions with each grit so you can easily tell when you have removed all previous sanding marks. Then polish with your random orbital or polishing pad with drill attachment. After sanding and polishing, you need to either spray clear coat, apply PPF or ceramic coat them. If you spray clear coat, it will probably be multiple coats with some light sanding in between. Those 3 options will prevent the headlights from yellowing or clouding up again due to UV rays.

[M-technik-3]

Originally Posted by tcphoto

I refuse to pay that much to have it done, I've tried many "headlight restoration kits" and have had marginal success. The last time I cleaned them up, I used my DA Polisher with a compound followed up with a polish and then a ceramic coating that I used on my new paint and wheels. It's been about eight months and they still look great. It's too bad BMW stopped allowing us to simply swap out the lenses like I did with my old Pre-LCI E46, now it's required to bake the headlight, clean out the black sticky sealant, reseal and then hop on one leg while singing an Octoberfest tone. Don't ask to see a video, it wasn't pretty or entertaining or instructional.

How about when BMW offered removable glass lenses aka row E36 lights. now that was convenient.

[V1_ROT8]

Originally Posted by ryansbmw

Don’t pay a professional to do this. The key to lasting results is how you seal the light at the end.

Work your way up wet sanding starting at 600 or 800 and go up to at least 2000 grit. Alternate sanding in different directions with each grit so you can easily tell when you have removed all previous sanding marks. Then polish with your random orbital or polishing pad with drill attachment. After sanding and polishing, you need to either spray clear coat, apply PPF or ceramic coat them. If you spray clear coat, it will probably be multiple coats with some light sanding in between. Those 3 options will prevent the headlights from yellowing or clouding up again due to UV rays.

This, exactly. I’d use PPF, though. If you have an issue with installation you can just pull off the PPF and apply a new piece. If you mess up a spray clear coat, you’re looking at more sanding and another tricky application. You’d also be suprised at the amount of minor scratches PPF can hide, as the adhesive tends to fill in the low spots. There are plenty of options out there for precut PPF headlight films.

[NSXR]

Originally Posted by ryansbmw

After sanding and polishing, you need to either spray clear coat, apply PPF or ceramic coat them. If you spray clear coat, it will probably be multiple coats with some light sanding in between. Those 3 options will prevent the headlights from yellowing or clouding up again due to UV rays.

This is the important part, and the part which most people (including you) get wrong. Spraying clear coat on a polished surface will never last because the clear needs something to adhere to (usually sanding scratches). Having done vehicle paint repair since the late 80's and I can count on one hand how many people I've seen be truly successful at refinishing headlights on their own with lasting (5+ years) results.

I always recommend replacing the housing with a used, low-mile OEM unit when you're talking about a $40K+ car. Now if you're driving a $10K Kia...

[spazzyfry123]

Hey, I get it, you guys want to do it yourself. I don’t. I’ve rebuilt engines, set backlash for differentials, changed out clutches… I’ve got no problem rolling up the sleeves for DIY.

But when it comes to detailing, body work, paint… I’m out. It’s just one of those things I just genuinely have no interest in doing. Sure, I like a clean car as much as the next guy, but I’d be grinding my teeth the whole time I’d be doing this.

It’s cheaper to ship off my lights to Bayoptiks to change out the lens itself. Will likely have a better result.

[zx10guy]

I responded to a similar post on the forum. Here's my reply:

https://www.1addicts.com/forums/show...23&postcount=2

The DIY kit I used was cheap and super easy. You may want to consider trying it out. The results were great. Many months later, the lens of my mom's Jeep are still decent but seems to be not as clear as when I first did the job. But frankly I haven't been closely staring at the lenses when I'm around her car. I'll do it next time if I remember to see if and how bad any hazing/dulling there may be.

But the members that say to use PPF are spot on. I have PPF on two of my cars. My 1er which is garage kept and sees weekend use and my C-HR that sits outside all the time and is my daily. Both of them are still super clear. I suggest whatever you do to restore the clarity of the headlight lens that you follow up with having PPF put on to prevent any possibility of future hazing again.

[co_440i]

$15 cerakote restoration kit

[John in VA]

Originally Posted by spazzyfry123

It’s cheaper to ship off my lights to Bayoptiks to change out the lens itself. Will likely have a better result.

FYI - a post with a warning re: Bayoptiks:
https://www.2addicts.com/forums/show...php?p=31992060

[spazzyfry123]

Originally Posted by John in VA

FYI - a post with a warning re: Bayoptiks:
https://www.2addicts.com/forums/show...php?p=31992060

Yikes! Some of the reading I've been doing has resulted in numerous saying they can't get a hold of them with significant turn around times. I read somewhere that one guy has been without headlights for over two months at this point. May not be worth it after all...

[erickonphoenix]

My F31 was supposed to be used in a photo shoot for RainX back in 2020 and they hired a detailer to refresh the headlights. He said because of the construction of the headlight they couldn't be polished because the deterioration was on the inside of the headlight.

[unluky]

I have used a few on my 2004 E85 with ok results. Last summer I used the Cerakote kits and holy moly - they look brand new. I'm fairly picky so even the ones that got it 95% better were just ok - but this one knocked it out of the park. Almost a year later and still looks perfect. Worked for me anyway.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084RQKLV8...n_title_1&th=1

[tcphoto]

Originally Posted by co_440i

$15 cerakote restoration kit

I've used the kit twice and found that it lasted for about 8-9 months. That's when I used compound, polish and then their ceramic coating and they still look great after eight months.

[cwoodley]

2007 BMW Z4 3.0i with 100K miles that I recently purchased needed headlight lense restoration. I have done this successfully before with the 3M kit on another car. Since they weren't in too bad of shape, I bought the Turtle Wax kit, it worked well on the driver side but still cloudy on the passenger side. Tried the 3M kit using the drill and still the passenger side is cloudy.

I know that I've removed much/all of the oxidation ... you can see the small imperfections are mostly gone. But still cloudy, just on one. As far as I can tell, these are original, both HELLA.

Should I try the 500/800/3000 grit cycle again? At this point I feel like I've definitely sanded enough. Just very odd that one side is OK with minimal work and the other is still cloudy.

thanks for any advice