The next step is to head down to Lowes and pick up and apply the urethane and mineral spirits as described in the link I provided. It will take a few minutes to apply and 30 or so minutes to dry. Applying it will make your lenses look like brand new and provides some UV protection (the "fading or hazing patch" you referred to in your earlier post is oxidation caused by the sun) to help keep them looking new. You will be amazed at the results.

Here are a couple of lenses I did for friends

Thanks sunny, i will do that today. i just didn't want to apply the finishing coat if i had messed up in somewhere in the restore process like not enough polish etc.
i really think it is missing that "brand new" glass effect look. and your 50/50 might be the fixer.
is it normal that i had only used one packet for both lens? this morning i got this effect when the sun hit it.
will the 50/50 clear up the lens in this photo?

thanks Sunny

I don't have any experience with the 3M polishing product so I can't comment as to whether or not you've polished it enough. I performed the work using the sanding and cutting compound as detailed in the link I provided.

I do know the better you prepare the surface the better it will look post finishing coat. For example in the first set of pictures I had to perform the work in short order as my friend was heading back home (he lives out of state) and I didn't have much time to sand them down to remove the pitting in the plastic. Upon close inspection the small pits are visible. However they're worlds better than when I started.

When I first did the work on my Subaru I wet sanded the lenses with 320 -> 600 -> 1200 -> 2000 grit sand paper. They looked much better than when I started. That is until the lenses dried and then they looked worse (I figured if I messed them up I'd just buy new ones). So I ended up sanding them down all over again with the same result. Then I decided to move on to the next step by applying the cutting polish. That improved the look dramatically. Enough so I wasn't sure I wanted to apply the urethane and mineral spirits finish (I thought this was going to be involved and the lenses looked pretty good at this point).

But I'm glad I did. There's no comparison between a polished but unfinished lens and one that's had the urethane and mineral spirits applied. As soon as I wiped the first swipe of urethane and mineral spirits on I could immediately tell the difference. It went from "looks pretty darn good" to "looks brand new". What it does is fill in the small imperfections from the polishing work and provides a wet look even when dry. It also provides UV protection which should lengthen the time when you'll have to do it again.

The only downside to the method I used is the material cost. I spent approximately $100 on all of the material. However it's enough to do many, many headlights. I've already done four vehicles and I'm using the same pieces of sandpaper as I did on the first (which means I have 4 1/2 out of 5 sheets left). Same with the polishing compound...the bottles are about 2/3rds full. And the urethane and mineral spirits...enough that it'll probably go bad, at least the urethane, before I have a chance to use it all. But $100 was better than $340 (the cost to replace both lights in my Subaru) and even more for a BMW. Now I'm happy to polish the headlights for all my friends...gives me better value for what I've spent.

Let us know what you think after applying the finish. I bet you'll be surprised.

:thumbup:
thanks Sunny for that awesome explanation. I will post pics after the urethane/min spirit later today.
after i used the polishing compound, it looks good to me but like you, i wanted to look "great and brand new"...

thanks again, i will post pics after the application.

Looks great - I need to do mine soon.

Sunny - On the Subaru did you use a drill/buffer with the sandpaper and pads or was the labor all by hand?

It was all by hand. It's easy to do and doesn't take long. Probably takes about 30 minutes to sand the pair. Maybe a little longer if they're really bad.

Mine aren't too bad but enough that it looks 12 years old. Can the light cutting and polishing foam pads be secured at my local Home Depot or are they specific to automotive industry?

You can pick up the polishing compounds at AutoZone. I was unable to find them at O'Reilly Auto Parts. However they only carried the large sizes...I ended up ordering smaller quantities online as these two things alone would have been approximately $70.00 for the sizes they sell at AutoZone.

Hi sunny, i just wanted to confirm this with you before i went ahead and opened it. will this urethane work? the guys at Ace hardware never heard of this for plastics...lol

Ruhroh, I also did the sanding by hand, mine wasn't too bad to begin with. But I did use porter cable with light cutting pad for the rubbing compound, then switched to lighter pad for Meguires Plastix polisher. I can tell the difference after using the potter cable. Unfortunately, the plastix did not give me the result i was looking for. it was just a tad more polished, but i wanted the new plastic effect/look like Sunny's. So now im going to use the urethane.

Will post pics soon.