I have read of ways of polishing headlamp lenses that have become a bit frosted, but is there a way of reducing the risk? Does polish help - or could the solvents in a polish make it more likely to happen? Just starting to see some signs around the edge of one of mine (2008 )
Trying to polish mine has more or less zero effect. They have now been done at least three times, the latest being the best. Not sure what used but I think it might have been the 3M kit on at least one occasion. Certainly not a little gentle polishing.
The revealed surface does seem to fog even more quickly, but the defocussed headlamp had almost no beam pattern - just a general glow! - so something had to be done. And new replacement just isn't on.
New headlights are uv-blocker coated. Remove that by polishing and it'll deteriorate quite a lot faster. Presumably a new coat of something uv blocking could be applied. Toothpaste is the usual polishing paste.
NT
I think it's something to do with ultra violet light. My car has the same problem. Google suggested using toothpaste on the plastic, it did not work too well. Seems that there are kits on sale that may or may not solve the problem. But, my car has passed the MOT since I noticed the fogging - about 5 years ago. I would not worry about it.
Yes - did try toothpaste. Useless.
There are various films and coatings but with the car being quite old, I have not bothered.
Is it just on the surface or through the entire plastic. If the former then I guess there's a chance of polishing it off, but if it's the plastic going milky right through, then no chance. The latter is presumably some form of slow crystallisation within the plastic, a bit like a cataract in the human eye.
I've had success polishing out scratches on e.g. the backs of wing mirror mounts that have become scratched by passing too close to a wall, using a wool fleece bonnet in an electric drill at high speed. One of these
Are you sure this isnot UV related. I seem to recall this issue came to a head with some Citreons of a certain age and there was a substance one soaked them in to take it out, but really the only long term fix was new parts, as once the clouding affects the material too deeply then its not able to be removed. Brian
Its UV, some of it is down to fitting the wrong bulbs as halogens lamps produce UV and need to be filtered to stop it getting to the plastics.
If its fogging on the outside someone has polished away the UV filter layer on the outside and the sun is doing it. Then its probably best to polish them and fit headlamp protectors so they absorb the UV (and stones).
I am seeking a strategy for avoiding the fogging which seems to be a delaminating / crystalising effect on the surface.
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