Headlight Restoration

[ChrisRS6]

Has anybody used a headlight restoration kit (think 3M do one, as do Meguiars)?

Any experiences good/bad?
Any tips on what to do / avoid doing?

The top of the lights on my 03 RS 6 are starting to go yellow/crazed and are starting to let the rest of the car down.
I would rather not shell out for new lights without trying to bring them back to beign clear myself first.

Perhaps I should try polishing by hand first, using something abrasive (like Autosol?) and then something less abrasive to see if that helps?

[RossDagley]

I've tried the 3M system and it's very aggressive and left fine sanding marks that took a lifetime to remove.

In the end, the best option I've discovered is a machine polish with a DA and some cutting compound, then polishing compound - not dissimilar to how you'd do paint, but with a bit more aggression.

[MikeFish]

A guy at work used the Meguiars on his old BM and said he was really impressed with it.

[ChrisRS6]

I think I might work-up to the Megs or 3M kit slowly.

Will start trying to do it by hand, then use my DA before resorting to one of the kits.

Always a bit scared of using anything too agressive.

[Reflect Russ]

They are an easy fix to be fair, the kits you can buy off the shelf are not really the best you can get but are good enough to do a fine job, if you are scared of doing some damage to them ask your local detailer to do them for you, about £45-£65 a light but they would be insured and if they do manage to mess it up, highly unlikely, you get a new light.

[neilparf]

For me, on my RS4 B7 I tried the polish route and the Meguirs and 3M and it's pads are pants. £20 in the bin. The Plastrx has the strength to do a RNSE screen but nothing more or very minor scratches.

So, a friend of mine has a 1.9 A4 as a daily, and he gave the 3M headlamp kit (Meguirs is pants) a go to refurb his, bizarrely at the same time as me thinking I was going to do mine (his units were bad) and the results were awful. The Automotive Lighting/Audi lens is hard. The kit just wouldn't remove the coating. This is the route I was going to take. So, binning that idea, I purchased these - made by Tyco:

Right hand: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221442539621? ... 1439.l2649
Left hand: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321341569927? ... 1439.l2649

Now, these are complete units. But, at £64 each they are a little costly, but they do come with the chrome 'eyelid inner' as you only have to look at the vacuum plastic coated chrome on the inside of the lights and the coating can come off. Word of warning here if you haven't had to de-tango - that vacuum plastic chrome is delicate to say the least.

So, I ordered these - the back of the unit is pretty crap and the wrong configuration of course, but the lenses are SAE/BS or alike and they are just as good as the OEM. So, switched them and was very careful to blow out with compressed air the interior unit and literally switched lenses. The glue on the new units is slightly harder (and white) than the black OEM glue on the Audi units, but gently heating it was fine.

I cleaned up the side rubber strips on the OEM units and re-used these - the AL/Audi ones are way better than the Tyco ones.

The sealant will protect from UV, but after the coating has come off I know the unit faces can be a bit soft. The sealed unit will help though.

I was lucky; I re-built the new back unit with my old lenses and my mate had the pair off me for £60. He was happy as the electrics had gone on both. So, all told the switch in my situation cost me £34 per side.

I figured a detailer would charge much the same and if I could get new lenses I reckon they would be at least more each...

If you do it you could ebay the hashed new back and old front lens unit to re-coup?

I applied two coats of this - it was worth it - the label and bottle looks a little amateur hour but I read it does work:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00A3S1RGU/r ... 51_TE_dp_1
http://www.glasspolishshop.com/compounds/Glass_sealant

Was it worth it? Hell yeah, the front looks brand new and it gave me opportunity to tighten the shut line between the bumper and bonnet a touch more...

Real pain was removing the 'torx head bolt through the wing and into the lamp unit'. A real Farker...

I suspect the same can be done for the RS6...

Good luck.

[neilparf]

I think I might work-up to the Megs or 3M kit slowly.

Will start trying to do it by hand, then use my DA before resorting to one of the kits.

Always a bit scared of using anything too agressive.

The problem is, the coating on the top layer of the headlamp is the UV protection - hereafter without that it has the potential to 'yellow' faster...