Ticktwo
10-11-2015, 10:12 AM
Assume some of you have those annoying plastic light covers on your garage door openers. Mine have turned yellow with spots of deep yellow brown. Annoyed, I started to wonder if the same principles of headlight restoration could be applied.
I understand the plastics may not be the exact same, certainly the clarity is not. Yet, they end up becoming unsightly due to many of the same things that impact headlights.
Decided to buy a headlight restoration kit (Turtle Wax) off the shelf and give it a go.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/watermark.php?file=100651&size=1
The cover on the top is raw and untouched, the one on the bottom is after 2 hours. Ouch! It still has a "brown" spot that appears to be deep as I worked both sides of the plastic. Overall, drastic difference between the two, not sure it was worth 2 hours.
Some benefits of doing this: you really get to see exactly what is happening with the plastic and sanding. Because the plastic is not clear and easy to turn and manipulate to catch the light you can see what your sanding strokes have done. This also allows you to see different techniques of lubrication, preassure, stroke hatch, and grains. Since the plastic can easily and cheaply be replaced trying something different is not expensive if it results in some sort of horrific failure.
This may not be as applicable to headlights as I typically see more uniformity in headlight haze but in the covers you can easily identify where the lightbulb, and heat, sits. These spots are the most difficult to remove and are much deeper.
For my next phase thinking of trying different techniques on the second cover, maybe pure chemical ones. Also, wanting to put different protective sealants on the cover before putting back. Would take a long time to test but might be interesting to see if one protection lasts longer.
Any suggestions?
I understand the plastics may not be the exact same, certainly the clarity is not. Yet, they end up becoming unsightly due to many of the same things that impact headlights.
Decided to buy a headlight restoration kit (Turtle Wax) off the shelf and give it a go.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/watermark.php?file=100651&size=1
The cover on the top is raw and untouched, the one on the bottom is after 2 hours. Ouch! It still has a "brown" spot that appears to be deep as I worked both sides of the plastic. Overall, drastic difference between the two, not sure it was worth 2 hours.
Some benefits of doing this: you really get to see exactly what is happening with the plastic and sanding. Because the plastic is not clear and easy to turn and manipulate to catch the light you can see what your sanding strokes have done. This also allows you to see different techniques of lubrication, preassure, stroke hatch, and grains. Since the plastic can easily and cheaply be replaced trying something different is not expensive if it results in some sort of horrific failure.
This may not be as applicable to headlights as I typically see more uniformity in headlight haze but in the covers you can easily identify where the lightbulb, and heat, sits. These spots are the most difficult to remove and are much deeper.
For my next phase thinking of trying different techniques on the second cover, maybe pure chemical ones. Also, wanting to put different protective sealants on the cover before putting back. Would take a long time to test but might be interesting to see if one protection lasts longer.
Any suggestions?