6 replies to this topic

[magnum360xe]

On my 2001 sebring the previous owner had sprayed the headlight lens with clear coat to prevent them from turning yellow. This worked until the clear coat started to peel. Now the edges of the lens are becoming yellow. I would like to restore the lens to look like new, but with this clear coat still on I am concerned that I might destroy them trying to wet sand the clear coat off. I was told that if I got them off and soaked them in brake fluid the clear coat would come off and I could restore them as you would any lens. I am concerned to try this not knowing if this will stain my lens and make them worst or soften them. Does anyone know if this will work  or have other suggestions?

[Russ90Daytona]

Sounds feasible, but try the fluid on an edge of the lens that does not show first. As for restoring the lens, I have had great success with a high speed buffer, wool pad and 3m rubbing compound.

[ImperialCrown]

Some kits (the Mopar one) come with a water-based acrylic finish coat that contains a UV-blocker. This is to retard any further yellowing/fogging of the lens.
You may need to start over with the lens refinishing.

[peterjon1]

I picked up a bottle of lens coating, I think Meguiars, at Advance auto. I will try it out this spring.

[Sir Moses Wellington]

peterjon1, on February 2, 2012 at 11:13 pm, said:

I picked up a bottle of lens coating, I think Meguiars, at Advance auto. I will try it out this spring.

I used some simple plastic polish on my 01 Sebring coupe headlights and it got rid of all the yellow and really cleared it up with just a few minutes of hand polishing. I don't know about the clear coat though, this would be for later, but it worked great for me, and I just had it laying around.

[valiant67]

My experience was if I simply polished the headlights, they got cloudy again in about 6 months.  When I used a kit (maybe the Mopar one) that also included a clear coat, they stayed clear for about 3 years.

[Sir Moses Wellington]

valiant67, on February 15, 2012 at 06:32 pm, said:

My experience was if I simply polished the headlights, they got cloudy again in about 6 months.  When I used a kit (maybe the Mopar one) that also included a clear coat, they stayed clear for about 3 years.

I guess mine worked a bit better then, my car sits outside no matter what and they're practically the same as when I polished them about 8 months ago when I bought it.  However, I did go over the headlights first with clay, and that got some stuff out of the pores first.