anybody experienced with restoring headlights back from an ugly tarnished yellow their original crystal clear look? wanted to learn this using my makital rotary buffer.

thanks

marcus

 

It works.

However it doesn't last forever after that.

 

I do not understand what you mean by this....

my understanding is that when you restore headlights, it would take a few years to again dull the clarity on the headlight.

are you saying that if you restore it, it will would only change back to yellow shortly after done?

marcus

 

Exactly.
Perhaps by polishing them one actually removes the original clearcoat/protectant/sealant (whatever we want to call it) from the factory, making them more vulnerable after that ...
It lasts a several months, just not several years. Or maybe there's a miraculous sealant/protectant that I should have used ... not sure.
Have you checked Autopia? There are several posts on the subject with people more educated on the subject than I am ...

 

Once the headlights are in the "yellowed" and "faded" state, the factory UV protective layer is no good anyway. Headlights usually have about an 8-10 micron layer of protection on them so really it's not much to begin with. A little wet sanding, 1,500 (sometimes 1,000 or even 800 is necessary) worked up to 2,500 or 3,000, then polished out with a series of polishes and pads can have them looking brand new again. After that you should apply a sealant to them regularly (every 2-3 months). I'd suggest Collinite 885 (476 is the same stuff), OptiSeal or Liquid Glass to seal it up. Or you could use PoliSeal as the finishing polish and that'll seal it up nice!