Headlight cracks

[Calendyr]

Ok, so this is message 2 for problems I ran into this week.

So I had to correct the headlights on a Volvo today.

There is no yellowing and very little hazing.

But the lens are covered in hundreds of tiny cracks.

It's maybe the third time I see headlights with this appearance.

So I am thinking the clear has cracked so it should be fixable.

As I am sanding with 500 grit paper, I realise that the plastic itsef is cracked. As I sand, it gets better but progress is really slow. after spending 4 time my normal 500 grit sanding step, I decide to move on to 800 grit. I have reduced the cracks apperance by maybe 70% but they are still visible. I am thinking this might be all the way through the plastic and I either won't be able to remove them or it would take an insane amount of time the get them all.

So I did the rest of the steps : 800, 1500, 3000 then compound and polish and finished with Opti-Coat 2.0. Showed the owner and asked him if he wanted to do the other one. He decided the improvement was worth doing the other one. Unfortunatelly the other one was even worst and did not came out as good. Maybe 50% improvement on that one. Spent 3 hours doing both, which is 2-3 times what it normally takes me...

So my questions:

1. Ever seen an issue like that?

2. Did you manage to restore it completelly?

3. What method did you use?

I am thinking that doing an even coarser 1st step with 320 or 400 grit might have gotten a better result. But I don't carry sand paper that coarse in my arsenal for detailing.

Any suggestion welcome.

[GSKR]

You should know before you invest time to fix it.But you got paid and customer happy is all that matters.

[GSKR]

Maybe 320 would of improved it a little better.Seams club does headlightsvfor 30.00 with a warranty, I can't compete with that.

[GSKR]

Meant sams club.

[Mad Wax]

Volvos are the worst....I've never had great results restoring those.

[supercharged75]

Always set expectations with the customer ahead of time. I did a 2007 CRV recently and the inside of the lens was based from heat. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170827/29efd07dd62a0918f93e9364de10db39.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170827/2e26b3c75e2ed5b2604692840ff55be0.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170827/45cd3b96e3602e3f707dd6eec173eb84.jpg

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[Calendyr]

Volvos are the worst....I've never had great results restoring those.

Good to know. Have you done a lot of them?

[Mike@ShineStruck]

The tiny cracks are called crazing..it's failed UV coating..

320grit is sure way to remove it(all the coating ) work your way back to 3k(don't compound nor polish) panel prep then apply a UV coating back on..don't bother with a wax/sealant nor ceramic coating at this point

[DaveT435]

The tiny cracks are called crazing..it's failed UV coating..

320grit is sure way to remove it(all the coating ) work your way back to 3k(don't compound nor polish) panel prep then apply a UV coating back on..don't bother with a wax/sealant nor ceramic coating at this point

I've always had great luck with Opti-lens, on everything but Toyotas anyway, it sounds like your talking about more of a professional spray on product that will also fill in sanding marks, is that correct??

[PurpleTowel]

I've seen a few Audis with crazing in the actual lens plastic, not in any clearcoat. Manufacturing defect. You can find a lot of discussions on Audi forums about issues with some factory lenses, and the manufacturer not covering the damage under warranty. In my experience, it isn't fixable.

[Calendyr]

The tiny cracks are called crazing..it's failed UV coating..

320grit is sure way to remove it(all the coating ) work your way back to 3k(don't compound nor polish) panel prep then apply a UV coating back on..don't bother with a wax/sealant nor ceramic coating at this point

That was my iniatial thought as well. But after sanding for 30 minutes with 500 grit, I can't imagine any clearcoat remaining. It really felt like the actual plastic was cracked.

I will certainly add 320 grit to my arsenal, I never had to use it before doing these, but if lens are really bad, it would speed up the process, so it's a good thing to have it on hand anyway.

[Calendyr]

I've seen a few Audis with crazing in the actual lens plastic, not in any clearcoat. Manufacturing defect. You can find a lot of discussions on Audi forums about issues with some factory lenses, and the manufacturer not covering the damage under warranty. In my experience, it isn't fixable.

Ok, thank you. If I ever come across this again, I will explain to the owner it can be improved but not fixed. I wasn't sure if it was fixable or not. It did make a major improvement, so that will be the owner's decision to proceed or not. In this particular case, I charged him 100$ to do the job. He asked Volvo the price to replace them and it was 700$, so it's still a major saving even if they did not get back to a 100%.

[Mike@ShineStruck]

That was my iniatial thought as well. But after sanding for 30 minutes with 500 grit, I can't imagine any clearcoat remaining. It really felt like the actual plastic was cracked.

I will certainly add 320 grit to my arsenal, I never had to use it before doing these, but if lens are really bad, it would speed up the process, so it's a good thing to have it on hand anyway.

Some coatings are hard where only 320 will do it..Dave so sometimes has to make 3 passes with 320 and he's the headlight master

[Mad Wax]

Good to know. Have you done a lot of them?

Only a handful...I too lost money at first as I wasn't aware how much of a pain in the ass they are, but now I definitely set the customers expectations low when I get hit with a Volvo.

[dmayer]

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