Opaque Headlights - Polished

[richunters]

The headlight lens on my W210 had deteriorated so that it looks cloudy and yellowed, with the lens surface very rough to the touch. Besides looking bad, it was also a safty concern.

Thanks to aTOMic's suggestion to use Micro-surface Abrasive , I bought their new Lens Restoration kit , $10 plus another $10 for shipping. It arrived last week.

The kit contains a number of padded abrasive cloths from coarse to very fine. I started with the 400 pad and cleaned it according to their instructions. Now it looks 100% better! It still can't compare to the "glassy clear" quality of a new lens, but it looks "plastic clear" with just a touch of milkiness if you know what I mean. The surface is very smooth. I'll post the pictures after I have time to reduce the image size.

[richunters]

Here's the clouded lens

[richunters]

Here's after polishing

[Limited Edition]

Very Nice!

[deuce]

The '96 E300 I just bought has the same problem. Was the application difficult?

[richunters]

Not difficult to do. Masking tape around the lens, then just hand polish using material supplied with the Headlight Lens Polishing Kit. Takes 40 minutes per side.

By the way, they are running a special on the kit for April, so get it quick.

[deuce]

Ordered it today.

Now if I can figure out how to get the condensation from forming in my parking lens.

Thanks for the great info!

Munsey

[mosquera]

Deuce, how did it work out for you?

[placo1]

I assume this is a glass polishing kit? Does it repair pitted glass?

I'm trying to find a way to repair my glass fog light lenses rather than replacing them.

[richunters]

I know it polishes plastic lens, not sure about real glass lens. You might visit their website and ask them questions. They can tell you for sure.

[deuce]

I haven't been able to use it yet . We haven't had two consectutive sunny days in 3 months and any weekend that was good was spent in yard work. I'm hoping for the first of next week.

[manny]

Originally posted by placo1
Does it repair pitted glass?

I'm trying to find a way to repair my glass fog light lenses rather than replacing them.

Why don't you try one of these places that repairs windshield stone chips ?
Just a thought.

[placo1]

Manny,

That is definitely a possibility but IMO I can replaced them for nearly the same cost they would probably charge to polish them.

I can get the lenses for about $52ea.

I want to look at DIY alternatives before shelling out the $$ for new ones.

A crafty fellow can use 400 - 600 grit carborundom sand paper ( black gray ) wet sand it ,till it looks clear when wet, finish with 600 ,,,, any fine chrome polish " mothers mag " will make them look far better,,,, as you sanding away the UV damaged layer ,,, about 30 minutes a side ,for a strong car waxer ,,, weak hands & a few beers may double this time.

[deuce]

Well, instead of me telling you how good the stuff is, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Here's the before: