my headlights seem to have fine chips on them, looks like road debris caused it over the years. Its an '05 that i just got, is there any product out there that works with this?
i have tried bug and tar remover, it looks cleaner but i can still see very fine specks , minute chips on the outside plastic of the headlamp

 

There are several products that can be applied with orbital or rotary polishers that have micro abrasion to refinish headlight covers, check out autogeek.net.............good luck

 

found this on autogeek, http://www.autogeek.net/diamondite-clear-plastic.html
Diamondite Clear Plastic System Kit For plastic headlight lenses, has anyone else used this or refinished your headlights ?

 

Gotta rub them out!

 

Diamondite doesn't do a very good job. Try some of the other detailing websites. I believe Flitz is a good product.

 

same problem here

 

There are many solutions to various degrees of damage to the headlight housings.

First, you'll find hazing - which I doubt has occurred on your 5 series yet. You'll know this when you see it - it looks like the housing has fogged, but on the outside. Usually weather, dust, salt, and acids cause this after a period of time. It's more prevalent in the older, less resilient plastics used in cheaper cars. I still have yet to see it happen on lot with old E39s unless they were really badly teated. Usually this occurs with a combination of all 3 types of wear damage.

Also, there's the mild putting, which just looks like little spots, and sometimes it's ahrd to even identify these as indentations at all, but they still have a noticeable reflection. These usually require more aggressive removal, but not always.

Lastly, is the heavy putting, which is fairly obvious in it's description. Large pits in the surface from rocks.

There are a few ways to remove these.
Chemical, by melting and resurfacing the fixture. This is an older method, utilizing harsh chemicals that will reshape the plastic but have the tendency to create bad distortions, even though they remain clear. Polishing with a rotary is always required after this method. I don't recommend it.

Abrasive methods, which include rotary and compounds or sanding. Sanding is a great option if you know how to wetsand. Of course, proper surface prep is required, and the proper grits should be followed up. Make sure you don't skip anything, otherwise you'll end up with some serious scratches that you'll have to deal with. Always follow up sanding with machine polishing and a heavy compound, and then a medium cut compound.

Lastly, sometimes, but almost never for heavy pitting, you'll want to just machine polish, ad that's all you'll need. This is why the Diamondite system isn't effective in most cases - because most people just have pitting, which will not be removed by rotary polishing alone unless it's almost unnoticeably minor.

When you've repaired it - cover the lenses with Lamin-x - or any type of adhesive laminate protection. I love that stuff, especially the 3m clear bra on paint. It doesn't look 'quite' as good, but it can be polished, waxed, and sure as hell protects your car from damage throughout the years. I really, really wish the PO of my E34 had it put on when they bought the car, but unfortunately it had yet to be availible. Bummer.

 

I did it!!! i fixed my damaged headlight lenses!!! they look so good! want to wait till tomorrow to see them in the daylight! will post up a DIY and the source i got the information from to be able to do it!!!!

 

plz tell us wht product and how. Ill be waitting u DIY.thx.

i need to do this badely

 

I wetsanded my e46 headlight while ago, as you can see in the picture it picked up quite a bit of stone chips after a good 100K mileage
Sorry I didnt take many pictures as i wasnt planned to post on the internet, but here it is and hope this help


1) First of all, wash and clay the area that you going to work (sorry no pic)
See the picture after washed and clayed




2) Tape up all the edges to reduce the chance of sanding the painted area



3) I was used 800, 1500, 2000 grit sanding paper wet/dry sanding the chipped area, and finally 3000 grit wet/dry to refine the sanding. **Sanding paper was soaked in water a night before**




4) I was then hitted it with DA polisher with Menz power gloss and Sonus SFX-1 4" cutting pad
and then followed by Menz intensive polish 3.02 with 4" polishing pad to polish out all the sanding marks, and here are few finished pictures.

After Power gloss x 2hits:


After 3.02



Cheers
Keith