Well I just got done putting on the 1st coat of urethane on. I had previously sanded my headlights down to 3000 grit and then polished them out with a buffer. That lasted about a year and then started seeing hazing coming back even with using meguir's PlastX and their UV headlight "wax" on a regular basis.

I wiped everything down 3 times with denatured alcohol (problably 1 times too many, but you have to get every last trace of wax / polish off).

Took the little imperfections out with 800 grit, 1000, 2000.

Wiped down again with alcohol.

Applying with the folded blue scott's shop towel was surprisingly easy. Surface is a amazingly glossy. Used a 60/40 mix.

I'll be sanding with 2k again next weekend, reapplying urethane, and repeating once more the following weekend (3 coats total).








Depending on the 3rd coats final appearance i may leave it or sand with 2k, and 3k then buff.

 

Pics

 

2000 grit wet sanding before urethane (Photo from a year ago)



Finished Product in the sun.

 

Love those '06 headlights

 

Good job ian - looks great.
Just an update on mine.
Did mine Jan. 08, 12
https://my350z.com/forum/9583783-post8.html
Updated all was well as of May 23, 12
https://my350z.com/forum/9747808-post47.html
About two weeks ago I noticed the UV coating dulled a little bit and then we had some heavy rains (Isaac). Now I can see the coating wearing away.
All in all, I can't complain on how long they lasted as it was just one thin coat and been a really hot summer along with washing the car about 2-3 times a week. Getting my hood along with some other things painted in a couple weeks so I will be redoing the headlights (same method) following ian's method with two coats. I am sure they will last till I can get some 06+ headlights.
Pics on how they are now.

 

Do you by chance use any wax on your headlights? Even a thin coat of spar usually lasts about a year. Did you make sure you use an exact amount of each?

I noticed you used mirror glaze that is technically an oil used to hide swirls. If you didn't wipe if off thorough enough with the iso that might cause a loss in durability. I recommend after wet sand get either megs ultimate compound or plastic-x as neither of those have any real oils in them. Some detailers don't even compound or polish it just stop at 2000 or 2500 because the spar will cover the scuffs. I like to get the lens as shiny as possible without the spar so even when it the coating starts to fail the lens is still pretty smooth.

 

Could be I wasn't thorough enough and didn't remove the mirror glaze properly. Good info there, did not know that. Noted for the future
Only other products that come into contact with the headlights are
Meguiars NXT Car Wash
Meguiars Ulitimate Quik Detailer (maybe twice a month)
Dodo Juice Time To Dry Detailer (once a month)

First time round - I did a good polish after wet sanding to get it as smooth and clear as possible before applying the coating. Had some plastic polishing compound that came with a Euorlight headlight color coating kit I tried a while back. Don't know what kind of polish it is but its is the best I have come across yet. Looks like a polish they repackage into their kit.
I will update once I get around to redoing them.

 

This stuff is still holding like i did it yesterday...considering trying to sand it off and doing it over again just because i know i can do a better job. Been a few months now

 

Here are a few I have done. Thankfully my Z doesn't need it.

Another way to protect it is get a good sealant. There aren't many over the counter ones but Jetseal, Blackfire wet diamond are few that come to mind. For those that don't know sealant is like a synthetic wax that last much longer. I'd say every couple months throw a new coat of sealant you could probably get years out of it by doing that (as long as it doesn't have abrasives in it).

On the ford windstar below all I have used is Jetseal I want to see how long it last with no urethane.

 

I did mine about 3 weeks ago. I just notice today that one of headlights has spots that I guess I missed when applying the sealant. Should I repeat the process or just add another coat?

 

You might be able to get away with applying some but it's easy enough might as well just sand it and start over.

If you do just apply more you should apply a whole second coat to keep it even.

 

Thanks,, yeah I only applied one coat and the other one came out awesome so yeah I'll just redo that one.

 

great info

 

Only skimmed through this thread but my headlight is hazing but also has some stress cracks will sanding help take these away or am I kinda of eff'd there.

 

^ I'm wondering the same thing. I don't have stress cracks, but I have light scratch marks which are probably from snow/ice removal back when I used to drive the car year-round. This sounds like a project I want to tackle this coming weekend, if it will remove those fine scratches. I gotta say though, scuffing my headlights up completely with sandpaper does give me the *******..

 

Stress cracks won't go away but they will look better when you seal them.

Just follow the instructions and you have nothing to worry about. I'm on maybe my 20th headlight by now only issue I ever had was really neglected headlights were faded on the inside.

I just did these last week. I smoked the inside and restored the outside.

 

Guess I'll go ahead and paint mine Friday and do this as well. Wish I could get rid of those stress cracks though.

 

Ok, so its been about 8 months since I last did mine. They were starting to fade just a little bit and this time I decided to take them off and sand them with a sander. I took a good bit of time to sand the entire lens very well and they turned out twice as better then the first time.

If you are planning on doing this I would suggest taking the extra 15 minutes to take the headlights off and use an electric sander.

 

What are your thoughts on removing these 'spider cracks'? I've tried sanding once and it did help but I don't know if these spider cracks we affected at all with the sanding. I sanded with 2000wet, 3000.

 

That's called crazing and is permanent.. can't be manually fixed.. replace the lenses.