Headlight Restoration 2009 X5 35d
 

These are the before and after photos of the headlight restoration on our 2009 X5 35d — done by Walmart for $25!

Funf Dreisig

do they protect it with anything after polishing? Id toss on a xpel film or similar.

No. But the mechanic strongly advised me to apply one of the film UV protectors or I’d be back soon :)

For those interested…
They removed the worst of the degraded plastic using a series of different grit sanding/polishing disks on a 3”-ish pneumatic grinder/buffer. At that point they looked pretty good but were still a little “foggy”. Then they wiped on two coats of a “sealer” on a toilette from a small sealed pouch, letting them dry 10-15 min before the 2nd coat. It was amazing to see the headlight go from foggy to clear as the first coat of the sealer went on.

Funf Dreisig

Those look great!

$25?? Well worth it. I took a 1/2 day to do mine.

I've done this before, but after I sanded them down to 'full foggy', I then began the 'repolishing'.... Many stages from 400 back up to 2400 grit. Then 3 steps of super fine liquid polish


This process seems to be a stong solvent to convert the rough-but-uniform surface into a liquid which then 'flows' and re-cures into a smooth surface....

I did mine using toothpaste and polish, they turned out good but not great as these, I want to know what sealer Walmart applied after sanding them down.

I wish I had asked the Walmart mechanics what they were using. The sealer was in a saturated towelette that came in a plain white, square packet about 1.5in on a side. They simply wiped it on from top to bottom in overlapping slow strokes using the folded towelette as a pad. The result on the first coat was instantaneous. We joked that this was the real magic :)

I didn’t see the application of the 2nd coat. But they had carefully put the towelette back in the packet after the first application. So I ‘m guessing that they used the same towelette just folded to expose fresh sealer.

Funf Dreisig

I suspect they used Wipe New- Comes in the pouch on a white towellete saturated in it. I've used wipe new extensively, and with good prep work your lights can come out look brand spankin new. I've got to redo my headlights sometime, I pushed too hard with the Wipe New and let streaks/ drips on my headlight. I might try to just wetsand and polish the wipe new coating itself to try to level it out.
This is an example of wetsanding +wipenew. This is my 1984 Honda V65 Sabre- stored outdoors in the sun for the most part. I realized after winter storage (4 motnhs of which were outdoors) I couldnt see my gauges at all. The RIGHT side has NOT been sanded yet, that's the "before" picture.
https://i.imgur.com/YLlpaHu.jpg

And after wet sanding 1000, 2000, and 3000 grit, plus wiping wiht the Wipe New cloth.
https://i.imgur.com/V9v90X7.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/6mCg3ws.jpg

Taking the gauges apart was too risky, as the clusters in decent shape are SUPER rare, and the trim to it is very fragile. I decided to go for it, because it was so bad that I simply couldnt have made it worse. I needed to be able to see my gauges!

They still look brand new, shiny and smooth, 5 months after treatment, and it's been stored uncovered in the sun 100% of the time.

The 3M kit comes with a towelette as well for the final coating on the lenses. It recommended careful application with slight overlapping of passes and minimal pressure to prevent runs.