# Headlight Restoration: BMW 520



## fishbonezken

A very common sight on many older cars in Malaysia is the yellowing of headlights. We have an equatorial climate here and the heat is at its maximum all year round, this prolonged exposure to heat and UV rays from the sun accelerates the oxidation of plastic headlights. Causing them to yellow, fade, and when looked closely, the plastic is actually cracking.




























On the headlights of this BMW 520, it appeared that one of the headlights has been sanded, I guess the technician didn't know how to follow up properly to restore them. So the sanding marks were left behind, and actually looked worse than parts that were not sanded.










When looked up close, the plastic has what I like to call 'Micro-Cracks', from afar they appear to be a yellow film, up close, the plastic is cracking on the surface. When left for too long, the cracks will spread and eventually become deeper, leaving a permanent line on the plastic that even sanding, cannot fully remove.





































Most of the time, polishing with a wool/foam pad with a rotating polisher(drill/rotary buffer), can make most lenses clear. Unfortunately, that was not to be in this case.



















As seen from the photos above, polishing definitely cleared up the lens, but the results are still not optimal as the micro-cracks are still there and the wool pad is not skimming the surface of the plastic deep enough. Hence, it has to be sanded down.

I expected this job to be done in 3 hours but it took me 6 hours in total. I don't have any process shots as I was pressed for time and the owner is waiting for me to get it done. I also had to redo some portions as I noticed there was still some micro-cracks after final polishing with the foam pad.

Process as below:

(1) Two to three layers of tape around the headlights. This is because the out-most layer will start to lose its adhesiveness and peel when soapy water touches it during the wet-sanding process.

(2) Hand sanded with 400 grit > 600 grit > 800 grit > 1000 grit > 1200 grit > 1500 grit > 2000 grit.

(3) Machine polished with 4" Surbuf Pad and Meguiar's #105 Ultra Cut Compound via rotary @ 1200-1500 RPM

(4) Machine polished with 4" Lake Country CCS Orange pad and Meguiar's #105 Ultra Cut Compound via rotary @ 1200-1500 RPM

(5) Machine polished with 4" Lake Country CCS White pad and Meguiar's #205 Ultra Finishing Polish via rotary @ 1200-1500 RPM

(6) Wiped down with Isopropyl Alcohol (diluted 1:1)

(7) Surface dried with hairdryer to remove moisture.

(8) GTechniq C1 Crystal Lacquer is used to coat the surface to prevent re-yellowing.

(9) Dried again with hairdryer to accelerate curing.

Results on the edges is still a little compromised but way better compared to before.










On the larger areas, looks perfect from far and even 10 cm away. When looked closely, some gouges in the plastic is still there. I think a more uniform finish can be achieved with machine sanding compared to hand sanding.


















Finally, some before and afters.

Without flash:


















With flash:


















After shots:













































Thanks for looking at my humble work.


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## DampDog

Astonished by that, superb work....


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## Matt_Nic

Oh my word, thats fantastic!

Are they plastic on the 5? My E46's could do with a tidy up and are plastic - is it safe to use a DA and Menz polish, they're no where near as bad as yours were.


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## fishbonezken

Matt_Nic said:


> Oh my word, thats fantastic!
> 
> Are they plastic on the 5? My E46's could do with a tidy up and are plastic - is it safe to use a DA and Menz polish, they're no where near as bad as yours were.


Hi Matt,

Yep these are plastic lenses, I think most lenses are nowadays. I'm not too sure about the surface material of the E46, I do know that the E36 models still used glass.

DA and Menz polish is safe, just be cautious and not let the sides of the backing plate hit the paint as your are polishing. You can tape them up just to be safe.


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## BRUNBERG

Matt_Nic said:


> Oh my word, thats fantastic!
> 
> Are they plastic on the 5? My E46's could do with a tidy up and are plastic - is it safe to use a DA and Menz polish, they're no where near as bad as yours were.


E46 ones are plastic but you can buy replacement lenses from GSF for 20 quid each so prob not worth the effort as they take less than 5 mins to change

BTW OP excellent transformation


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## cheffi

now that was one interesting post, thank you very much!


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## Jesse74

Holy crap, nice work mate!!


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## prokopas

Fantastic turnaround


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## uzi-blue

Amazing work, great write up too.


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## OrangePeel

Amazing turnaround... Great work dude!


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## DMH-01

Wow, stunning work there mate.


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## fishbonezken

Thanks for all the compliments guys, very much appreciated.


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## Demetrios72

Fantastic job there matey :thumb:


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## aarondenney

nice work, now thats serious. don't fancy trying to persuade the mrs that I need a microscope now though!! lol


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## Eurogloss

Excellent work there mate :thumb:

Mario


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## The_Bouncer

Wow - Great Micro pics - superb outcome. Great job :thumb:


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## Mad Ad

lovely finish really sharp, when headlights and rear lights are machined polished it really does finish it off nicely:thumb:


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## dhiren_motilal

wow, good work mate, love the pics


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## peugeot106

Impressive man. Well done


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## David Proctor

amazing transformation


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## maesal

Great work and pics, congratulations !!


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## Cadillacman

Excellent work....

Exactly what equipment did you use to get the micro images ?

:wave:


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## 500tie

Good work i could really do with doing this myself as my headlights have done exactly the same out here


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## siscobmw

did the same for my ptcruiser front lenses, using your procedure,now they look like new....Thank you!
Francesco


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## VenomUK

Can this only be done on plastic lenses or can you restore glass headlights too?


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## Rowan83

Wow!! That is very impressive.


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## jlw41

wow what a turn around


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## mumby

How long does it last before yellowing again? I once used a 3m restoration kit (not a 3m but similar style) and it seemed like 6 months later they were needing to be done again. Initial results were good just not long term. 

Thanks


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## craigeh123

Amazing work !


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## Socal Brian

Awesome work on those headlights Ken! :thumb:


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## [email protected]

Nice work dude :thumb:


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## Neilb1

now that is a turn around fro the dead to alive


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## r500srh

That's what I call a work of art headlight restore.
The depth and clarity is simply amazing.
Well done for that job m8. it was a pleasure to read this and see the pictures on how to achieve it.


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## Steve

Amazing :thumB:


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## Graham225

Awesome


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## slim_boy_fat

VenomUK said:


> Can this only be done on plastic lenses or can you restore glass headlights too?


You can polish glass, but would need to use something like cerium oxide [jeweller's rouge] - just be careful not to generate too much heat.






Available here https://www.amazon.co.uk/100ml-Glass-Polishing-Compound-CERIUM/dp/B005NHQBKI

or on the 'Bay.


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