# Headlight Restoration BMW E60



## v6-dave (Mar 13, 2008)

Well my milky yellowing lights on my BMW E60 had to be done, tried all the usual crap on youtube and virtually wasted my time and aching arm lol.

Any way I took the plunge and wet sanded it, removed the oxidized layers and re lacquered them and machine polish to a crystal clear finish

Wet sanded from 600 grit to 3000 foam finishing pad. 
Panel wiped
Lacquered 
G3 finishing compound 
Bilt Hamber to finish it off as thats all i had that wasn't rock solid or dried up.

this is also my first time wet sanding and lacquering too.

here is the progress 
1 -









2 - 









3 - 









4 - 









5 - 









6 - 









7 - 









may be better ways to do im unsure but the outcome for first time im impressed, impressed myself lol


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## slim_boy_fat (Jun 23, 2006)

That's very impressive :thumb:- my 'to list' includes just that [also an e60 btw] when the weather warms up a bit.

Which lacquer did you use? I have the Megs Headlight Protectant sitting here to try on mine after the wet sanding and polishing stages :buffer:.


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## DuncanB (Oct 5, 2009)

Is there a reason i'm just getting little square boxes and no photos?


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## v6-dave (Mar 13, 2008)

I used Halfords bodyshop lacquer, i heard raving reviews about it so thought ill go with. it has an adjustable spray but i didn't change it it came out well, laid nice. 

I probs could of g3'd it to finish without lacquer but i used to work in the Yacht industry so high gloss finish is a must so i went the lacquered route then g3 to finish and sort any orange peel. 

As you can see i did most of mine indoors (the kitchen, Mrs wasn't too happy like) sprayed in a heated garage (oil radiator things left on for a good few hours before painting. 

Unsure working fine from my end.


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## TonyHill (Jul 28, 2015)

I'm just getting numbers 1 - 7 and no photo's either!


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## v6-dave (Mar 13, 2008)

I'll check links


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## v6-dave (Mar 13, 2008)

Try it now, links where https rather thank the usual. Http.


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## ibiza55 (Feb 22, 2008)

See a lot of cars with this happening to now as they get older, great work, bet your well happy, can't imagine how much a new BMW headlight would cost.


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## v6-dave (Mar 13, 2008)

Yeah I've impressed myself lol about two hundred for 1 second hand with hid so for little over 30 quid I've. Give them a new life


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## WaxIsForWinners (Feb 2, 2014)

Great job! They look excellent .


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## slim_boy_fat (Jun 23, 2006)

ibiza55 said:


> ..... can't imagine how much a new BMW headlight would cost.


Mine has the Adaptive Xenon units [the ones which shine round corners in response to steering input] - a *single* new replacement unit would cost _*around*_ the £1,000 from independent retailers :doublesho, I dread to think what the cost through a franchise Dealership would be......  And they're not exactly a common item, so to source one from breakers [even specialist BMW ones] would be like sourcing hen's teeth.

You can imagine how I'll be feeling when I embark on wet sanding them.


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## v6-dave (Mar 13, 2008)

I can imagine, just go easy on them lol. i was worried when sanding and it was going nice and milky thinking god i hope this comes back to clear. lol


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## v6-dave (Mar 13, 2008)

Here is a better look, taken with a DSLR


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## wd40 (Jun 20, 2007)

Cracking job there :thumb:


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## v6-dave (Mar 13, 2008)

Cheers dude


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## v6-dave (Mar 13, 2008)

Finished


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## Matt_Nic (Apr 15, 2011)

I always thought you could buy new plastic fascias for all these modern headlights?
I cracked my E46 ones open to fit angel eyes and they were just shells that came off very easily?

I want to do my wifes Puma soon as I'm sure it's affecting the lighting they're so bad. I was just going to use polishing compound on a DA - will that not suffice?


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## Starbuck88 (Nov 12, 2013)

That's great work there! Is that on a real M5 too, do you have a thread up about the car anywhere?


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## woodym3 (Aug 30, 2009)

Great job there mate, its a great sense of satisfaction when you do something like that and save yourself a few ££££££££s.


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## Escort God (Feb 23, 2009)

Great job done this on my corolla headlights. Used pro xl 2k lacquer on mine came up great. Hope they last now


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## slim_boy_fat (Jun 23, 2006)

Well, finally made a start on the lights this morning after putting the job off for ages .

Started with 800 grit and went through the stages, finishing off at 5000 but only got one hit by hand with G3 before rain stopped play 

I won't bore you with pics of all the stages, but I've gone from this......










to this










Next, once the weather cooperates, I'll finish the G3 with a hand applicator and move on to a 2" wool pad on the DA with something finer. Then just a couple of coats of Megs Headlight Protectant and hopefully the job's a good 'un.


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## chongo (Jun 7, 2014)

Bloody hell, that's looking a 110% better, will keep my I on this. Top job.


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## wd40 (Jun 20, 2007)

Thats some transformation there mate :thumb:
Need to do a similar operation to the in laws golf plus


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## slim_boy_fat (Jun 23, 2006)

Thanks, lads.

Got them finished off today - G3 on a mf pad, followed by mid-cut Mernz on a 2" wool pad then Megs Plastic polish. Couple of coats of Megs H/Light Protectant and the job's done.

Might wait a few days then slap some more Protectant on to help protect against the UV.



















Happy chap, me.......:buffer:


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## dogfox (Apr 5, 2009)

Best I have yet seen.

Well done that man !


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## Titanium Htail (Mar 24, 2012)

Bought my wife a Clio, so wet sand 1000,1500,2500 LC/Or 105/205 looking great. Plenty of water uniformity prior to each sanding change, looking good.


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## Ben_W (Feb 15, 2009)

Some cracking correction work.going.on here but i do have a couple of questions. What is it that fails on modern headlights and causes this? Is it just lots of scratching to the plastic through everyday use or failure of coatings applied to the headlights which the sanding process then removes?


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## macca666 (Mar 30, 2010)

As others have said great turnaround and looking so much better.

Curious to know how they get like that in the first place. I'd a 2009 E60 i sold with over 80k on the clock and they were nowhere near in that condition.


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## slim_boy_fat (Jun 23, 2006)

Ben_W said:


> Some cracking correction work.going.on here but i do have a couple of questions. What is it that fails on modern headlights and causes this? Is it just lots of scratching to the plastic through everyday use or failure of coatings applied to the headlights which the sanding process then removes?


To be honest, I have no idea. I've had the car [2003 e60] for three years and while there MIGHT have been some slight 'clouding' it certainly wasn't anything like that - or I would have insisted the garage had them fixed. I've seen other BMWs with less severe 'clouding' but nothing as poor as mine were in such a short time.

Nothing unusual in my cleaning method or products used, and these are the expensive Xenon Adaptive units [they shine round corners in response to steering input.

Go figure...:speechles


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## Titanium Htail (Mar 24, 2012)

The deterioration of the plastic over time plus the impact of UV light. Some start with dry paper first, keep each level of wet paper in individual containers. Knowing when or where that effective point is to start lighter sanding may be part of that learning process. 

You could try just using a pad although insufficient removal may make wet sanding essential, you can buy sanding disc at the correct level which may speed things up, some great work I see the bad one's even more now, plus a guy doing just headlight repair as a business.

Great work, John Tht.


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## steelghost (Aug 20, 2015)

Ben_W said:


> Some cracking correction work.going.on here but i do have a couple of questions. What is it that fails on modern headlights and causes this? Is it just lots of scratching to the plastic through everyday use or failure of coatings applied to the headlights which the sanding process then removes?


The clouding is pretty much all due to UV - whilst the lenses would accumulate washing swirls like any other plastic surface, the swirls would not cause the clouding you commonly see.

The lamp covers are made of polycarbonate and given a UV resistant lacquer. Over time this degrades - it's absorbing the UV but it's damaged in doing so - it's a sacrificial layer. If nothing is done, the UV then starts to damage the polycarbonate of the lens itself. You can remove the clouded lacquer and plastic, but of course you need to protect the new clear plastic underneath or the same thing happens again.


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## v6-dave (Mar 13, 2008)

WaxIsForWinners said:


> Great job! They look excellent .


Thank you they still look good too.

Sent from my WAS-LX1A using Tapatalk


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## das6dan (Dec 18, 2016)

Why do they go milky? 

I've just done a restore on missus' golf. 

Like you I was impressed with the results...and so was she for once!


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

das6dan said:


> Why do they go milky?
> 
> I've just done a restore on missus' golf.
> 
> Like you I was impressed with the results...and so was she for once!


It's due to two factors... The sun can discolour plastics, but TBH, the majority of the damage to due to loads and loads of minor chips/scratches etc that you get from dust and grit on the road.


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## Andyblue (Jun 20, 2017)

Those are some pretty impressive improvements to the headlights :thumb:


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