Headlight Restoration-new UV sealant idea

[HotRod]

Wow, this thread has a lot of views, I never guessed it would have been that popular. Not sure if very many people are trying it. If your nervous, get an old set of headlights from a salvage yard and practice. I think this UV method is useful and saves money. And once you get the hang of it, its pretty easy. Hmmmmmm..... Maybe I should teach a class on this method. lol jk

[kaptain_zero]

Just a couple of points.

Helmsman spar varnish is a classic long oil varnish that has some UV protection added to help the varnish last outdoors. Without, it (the varnish) would yellow, crack and craze rather quickly. This varnish (as all oil based varnishes) darkens or yellows as it ages, only the new water based varnishes will remain clear after curing and aging.

Mixing a brush on oil based varnish 50/50 with mineral spirits turns it into a wiping varnish and can be done and then stored for as long as you wish, keeping one thing in mind. Varnish first dries on the surface by evaporation of the solvents (mineral spirits, painters naphta aka white gas aka Coleman fuel etc.) but at this point you'll have a sticky coating, the second part is the cross linking curing that requires oxygen from the air... this secondary curing usually takes anywhere from 12 hrs to a week depending on the exact varnish, the thickness of the uncured film, the ambient temperature and humidity levels. To store a wiping varnish you've made, you need to remember to use a container that is as full as possible to avoid the start of the curing process from excess oxygen in the air above the varnish in the container.... we've all seen this before in a half empty paint can where the product skins over from the large amount of air inside the container. Varnish is also the most difficult to use coating in woodworking as it tends to run, tends to keep bubbles from the application and that it remains sticky for so long... any dust that settles on the surface gets stuck in the varnish before it dries. Once dried and cured, the only way to get another layer of varnish to stick to the first layer is to abrade the cured layer of varnish so the next layer will have something to grab onto... This is unlike traditional lacquers where the next layer's solvent partly softens and melts the previous layer so that the two layers stick together.

This varnish coating, if applied to a clean surface and cured properly will have to be removed by mechanical means when it begins to fail as there is no solvent that can dissolve the cured varnish and about the only chemicals I can think of that will soften and remove it (the various paint strippers), would do even more damage to the plastic lens itself.

As mentioned above, Helmsman is a long oil varnish, there are also mid and short oil varnishes, in short though, long oil varnishes cure to a soft and stretchy film, mid and short oil varnishes cure much harder but are much more susceptible to cracking due to temperature variations, moisture getting into the substrate cause it to swell (I'm thinking wood here) and thus for outdoor use, only long oil varnishes will stand up but they are soft.

Just something to think about before you go ahead and coat your lights with this stuff..... be prepared to wet sand when the coating fails, and it will fail eventually and as the UV protection depends on the thickness of the film, wiping varnish in a single layer is very, very thin.

Regards

Christian

[HotRod]

So, do you not recommend using this method on lights? How long do you think this will last before having to redo it again? Also how long do new headlights last before needing restored? Every UV coating will eventually fail. Nothing lasts forever. I have never been able to remove the factory UV coating without sanding, I use a chemical, which softens it, but does not remove it. All plastic headlights yellow and fade out over time. Not sure what you are trying to say. I never said this would last forever. Do you have a better solution?

[Mustangous]

I've been curious since this thread started, but could you just seal the lights with a sealer like klasse or another sealing instead of the varnish? tread the head light just like the rest of the body.

[HotRod]

I've been curious since this thread started, but could you just seal the lights with a sealer like klasse or another sealing instead of the varnish? tread the head light just like the rest of the body.

Klasse will work, but not for long. Thats the whole idea with this urethane, to see if it lasts. I am going to take pics every 3-6 months. I live in Kansas, so the summers are hot and humid, and the winters can be cold and nasty. So this sealant will get put to the test, as well as other members who have tried this method. The first lights I used this method on are on my sisters car. I did them in June, and I recently detailed her car in August, and she had never even washed her car since I restored the lights, and the lights were covered in bugs. I washed them, and they still looked good. My sister is not obsessed with detailing her car, let alone washing it. So her car will give me the ultimate longevity test, since it never sees a garage and barely ever sees a car wash. The pictures of the restoration are in the first post of this thread. And the paint correction thread is here: My sisters mercury (paint correction)
The pics in the paint correction thread do not show great detail of the lights, but you can see the bug splatter on the bumper, this car was dirty for several months, in Kansas summer sun. I admit, I was leary trying this method too, but if you dont try, you will never know. And I assume people are waiting to see the longevity test.
Also, I am testing it on my work van, all lenses are treated with this UV sealant. But I wash it once or twice every two weeks, and when the paint gets sealed and waxed, so will the lenses. So this test will have two results on an unmaintained vehicle and a maintained one. I would post a link to another website, where I learned about this system, but I don't think I am allowed to post links on Auto Geek. So PM me if you want a link to the original creators thread.

[kaptain_zero]

So, do you not recommend using this method on lights? How long do you think this will last before having to redo it again? Also how long do new headlights last before needing restored? Every UV coating will eventually fail. Nothing lasts forever. I have never been able to remove the factory UV coating without sanding, I use a chemical, which softens it, but does not remove it. All plastic headlights yellow and fade out over time. Not sure what you are trying to say. I never said this would last forever. Do you have a better solution?

I just wanted to point out some details that have not been brought up in this discussion so far. I neither recommend nor will I NOT recommend using varnish to protect plastic. I just want everyone to have *all* the details before they go ahead and use this type of product simply because it's a one way street sort of thing... you can't just wipe it off with some 50/50 IPA and start again once it's cured.

The product we are talking about, "Helmsman Spar Varnish", is a wood finishing product, not a plastic headlight sealer.... that does not mean it can't work in this fashion, just that it was never designed or tested for such use. Who knows... next week we could see that product offered as a sealant for headlights if the Minwax marketing guys find out about this!

As for how long it will last...... I dunno, I've never used it for this sort of thing. I did use it to protect my oak door sill but it faces North, has 3 brushed on coats, each before the previous coat had fully cured so they are chemically linked and after 8 years it's still looking pretty good. Halogen bulbs tend to put out a fair amount of UV, never mind the UV from the sun so it's something each of us who wants to use it will have to be aware of and accept the results we get without saying "If I'd known, I would have never done this". Remember too that the UV component of the Varnish is there to protect the Varnish, not the substrate...... I have no idea how much UV such a varnish would filter out or even if it works the same way as a UV protection coating.

My personal feeling about this sort of thing is that if the headlights were already that bad that they needed wet sanding and polishing, they're already past their best before date and if you can coax them back into service for some more time, it's a bonus no matter how long.

I use and will continue to use regular synthetic sealants or polymer sealants like Mequiars M20, M21 or even a couple of coats of Collinite wax. If they get badly oxidized, cracked or crazed before I sell the car then I'll do a polish job on them and continue with my usual sealants..... I can wax/seal them on a regular basis, I can wipe the product off and replace it whenever, it keeps bugs and whatnot from sticking as long as I do the coating frequently and the lights are so small it's not much of a chore to do every month or so.

Regards

Christian

[HotRod]

I just wanted to point out some details that have not been brought up in this discussion so far. I neither recommend nor will I NOT recommend using varnish to protect plastic. I just want everyone to have *all* the details before they go ahead and use this type of product simply because it's a one way street sort of thing... you can't just wipe it off with some 50/50 IPA and start again once it's cured.

The product we are talking about, "Helmsman Spar Varnish", is a wood finishing product, not a plastic headlight sealer.... that does not mean it can't work in this fashion, just that it was never designed or tested for such use. Who knows... next week we could see that product offered as a sealant for headlights if the Minwax marketing guys find out about this!

As for how long it will last...... I dunno, I've never used it for this sort of thing. I did use it to protect my oak door sill but it faces North, has 3 brushed on coats, each before the previous coat had fully cured so they are chemically linked and after 8 years it's still looking pretty good. Halogen bulbs tend to put out a fair amount of UV, never mind the UV from the sun so it's something each of us who wants to use it will have to be aware of and accept the results we get without saying "If I'd known, I would have never done this". Remember too that the UV component of the Varnish is there to protect the Varnish, not the substrate...... I have no idea how much UV such a varnish would filter out or even if it works the same way as a UV protection coating.

My personal feeling about this sort of thing is that if the headlights were already that bad that they needed wet sanding and polishing, they're already past their best before date and if you can coax them back into service for some more time, it's a bonus no matter how long.

I use and will continue to use regular synthetic sealants or polymer sealants like Mequiars M20, M21 or even a couple of coats of Collinite wax. If they get badly oxidized, cracked or crazed before I sell the car then I'll do a polish job on them and continue with my usual sealants..... I can wax/seal them on a regular basis, I can wipe the product off and replace it whenever, it keeps bugs and whatnot from sticking as long as I do the coating frequently and the lights are so small it's not much of a chore to do every month or so.

Regards

Christian

I appreciate and respect your opinion. You seem to have a good wealth of knowledge for this subject. If you have any recommendations on this method or something that would even replace the spar urethane and still be applied the same way, please suggest it. Thanks, for the information.
This method is still new to me. I only use it on trashed headlights. And I wanted something to last longer than wax to keep them from fading out again. So, I came upon this method. The guy that came up with this mixture, tested it and got the recipe right, and he says the first car he did still looks good several years later. That convinced me to try this method. And I just wanted to introduce it to others. Also, the guy that told me about this has tried pro-headlight restoration kits, and he swears that the stuff they are selling as sealant is the same as the spar urethane/mineral spirits mixture. So, now this is what he has been using on customers cars for quite sometime, and I believe he lives in Alabama, so he deals with heat and humidity a lot.
Anyhow, I am interested to see how long this lasts. If there is proof of longevity and clarity, then I see no harm in using it. Only time will tell.

[BlackSunshine01]

i did my lamps with a rattle can of clear. i sprayed 4 coats and wet sanded and polished them later on after the 7 day cure time. i think they came out not too shabby. they look a bit frosted/matte before sanding but came back very nicely after i wet sanded. the first pic is just with 1 coat of vht and no clear. second is with clear and after wet sand and polish.3rd is tails w/2 coats vht and 4 clear 4th is after wetsand and polish

[keifer75]

ok this may be a dumb question, but is the urethane only cut with the mineral spirits to make it more thin and spreadable? the reason I ask is because when I shopped for supplies I noticed the have the urethane in a spray can form. I was wondering if this would make it easier to give the headlights a more even coat of protection. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

[keifer75]

bumpity bump, anyone have input on my last comment? just wondering as a i bought all supplies except for the urethane, just thinking the spray may be easier?