Headlight Coating Removal

[dontibbetts]

Anybody have any experience with removing this plastic coating on headlights? I don't have any idea what specific product it is. It was on the car when I bought it last weekend.


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[dontibbetts]

I'll have to get some better pictures in the daylight tomorrow. The first one above was taken during daylight and the second two were taken after dark with flash and don't show it accurately.


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[rlmccarty2000]

You can try to polish it off using a microfiber pad and a compound. If that does not work it will need to be sanded off.

[Eldorado2k]

I’ve had to deal with this exact problem a few times and more often than not it doesn’t fully remove unless you sand it off. If it’s baked on there good [and it usually is] a buffing pad usually can’t touch it.

[dontibbetts]

Ugh. I was afraid I would hear that. I posted hopefully that someone had a magic bullet but it sounds like it will be nasty and labor intensive. I'll see what I can do and try to remember to take pictures along the way to document the progress and see what works.

This car is great looking from ten feet away but needs some attention to detail to look good up close. It'll get there though. I'm looking forward to working on this one since its tiny. So much quicker than the behemoth Sequoia that's also waiting to get cleaned/clayed/waxed.


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[mmhammer]

It's likely the original coating. If that is a C6, I've heard bad results from other owners (i.e. ended up buying replacements), although I have no idea if they know what they were doing.

[dontibbetts]

It's likely the original coating. If that is a C6, I've heard bad results from other owners (i.e. ended up buying replacements), although I have no idea if they know what they were doing.

It's definitely not original. This is a 2010 Miata and the PO applied this and apparently tried to remove it at some point. He said the process got messy/arduous and he decided to leave it for the next owner because he had decided to sell at that point.


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[Eldorado2k]

Exactly. There’s no way that’s the original coating.

And you’re lucky it’s a Miata and not a Corvette, because if it was the latter and it was the original failing coating your best option would be to run away and run FAST! lol.

[mmhammer]

Start with 400 wet sand, 600 and 1000 maybe higher then switch to a polishing compound. Some of your all in ones will work good after that. Tape off the paint first

[dontibbetts]

Start with 400 wet sand, 600 and 1000 maybe higher then switch to a polishing compound. Some of your all in ones will work good after that. Tape off the paint first

Bout to go through this process with the Sequoia too. Those headlights are awful. I have hope that I can get this plastic coating off of these and that they'll look good underneath. Probably wishful thinking.


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