# E46 headlight restoration



## Testor VTS (May 29, 2009)

Just a quick headlight restoration I did this morning on a 2002 E46.

How it looked like before:



















sanded down with 1000 grit:










then with 2000:










and 3000:










other side with 1000:










2000:










3000:










and then the first polishing attempt:










:argie:

50/50 - left side untouched, right polished up (started with the right one, but forgot to take a picture of the original state, hence I started with the left one in this thread:










Then I cleaned the seals above the light clusters, and also polished up the inidcators which looked really good before next to the shagged lights, but now they were looking a tad bit sorry for themselves :lol:

And the finished article:























































It went from this:










to this:










:argie:

It was great fun to turn these headlights back to life, as they made the car look pretty abused, and now the whole lot looks 100% better, weventhough the rest of the car would need a good detailing! :thumb:


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## alan_mcc (Oct 28, 2008)

That's an amazing transformation - wetsanding headlights is still something i need to do, i've only ever polished them


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## Testor VTS (May 29, 2009)

this was the first time I've done something like this, and at the end it's really not that witchcraft like what it seems to be... at first I was afraid I'll destroy the lights, but it's pretty easy to make them look good again!


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## Cosdog (Aug 22, 2011)

excellent result! what did you use to polish the lights?


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## happmadison1978 (Jul 27, 2010)

Lovely job. always thought the plastic lenses were a step backwards, you've totally rescued them!

:thumb:


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## RSTsteve (Jul 28, 2010)

very good results

How long did this take to do?

Also what polish did you finish with?


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## Matt_Nic (Apr 15, 2011)

Good work, how much in the first picture is dirt - or is that post wash pre polish?


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## dooka (Aug 1, 2006)

Nice work and great result :thumb:..


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## DMH-01 (Mar 29, 2011)

Looks much better mate, great job.


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## Testor VTS (May 29, 2009)

Thank you guys! :thumb:



RSTsteve said:


> very good results
> 
> How long did this take to do?
> 
> Also what polish did you finish with?


It took me around 2 hours - this includes bringing out all the needed detailing gear and bringing them back inside the garage, chatting with a few friends, taking ictures, staring at the results etc... I would say you could do this within an hour! EASILY!

I don't know the make of the polish, as it came from Jesse without a label, it only said: foam pad polish on the bottle :lol: - will ask him!



Matt_Nic said:


> Good work, how much in the first picture is dirt - or is that post wash pre polish?


on that picture the light has been washed already :doublesho it really looks like it's dirty with a few fingerprints, but in realyity it's clean - dunno what caused such marks in the light's life!


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## Jesse74 (Jul 19, 2008)

That would be Insta Finish Foam Pad Polish! I used to distribute Insta Finish here before going on to develop Wolf's :thumb:


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## Reverend-Frog (Mar 31, 2009)

Nice work, the wonders of wet sanding are only starting to become apparent to me


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## Testor VTS (May 29, 2009)

btw. I would be very cautious with wetsanding on body panels... plastic is a different story, in reality it's idiotproof when it comes to wetsanding, whereas you can do severe damage to the paint if you don't know what you're doing! I'm saying this after a muppet has destroyed the paint on my 2CV - this was before I knew what detailing was...


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## chch (Jan 2, 2010)

Hello Tibi, very nice work. My wife's headlights on her E46 looks not that bad, but they are not on the level I would love to have them. I was hesitating to polish them just because I would remove the UV protecting layer from them. I'm little bit afraid they will turn yellow after polish soon. Did you protect the plastic with something after ?


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## Testor VTS (May 29, 2009)

Naturally! I've aplied three coats of Wolf's Body Wrap.


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## chch (Jan 2, 2010)

OK, I'm in my garage now to polish my wife's headlights. I can't figure out how to remove the turn signal lamps :-(


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## ITHAQVA (Feb 20, 2011)

Amazing transformation, your Racing Tank can now see with its new eyes :thumb:


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## chch (Jan 2, 2010)

I was tempted to try it aswell, Tibi gave me the motivation. Wifes 2005 BMW E46, one of the last pieces before they stopped to produce them to push E90. Paint is bodywrapped, but before the winter I will give it a complete polish and BW again.










After I stripped the top gasket and the bottom strip, turn light was a challenge to remove, quick howto's I found on the web were unusable, this car has different headlights and turn signals apparently. Even if they are not xenon, they self-adjust after I switch them on. Dustiness is not very visible from the photo.










*Masked, ready to go.*










*Soaked the grit papers in to water for about 20 minutes (just enough time to strip the surroundings and mask). Started with 2000 grit paper, constatly wetting the surface. 2000 grit gave me this.
*









*There are small chips too deep to remove by sanding. Solitaire chips are not my problem anyway, I wanted to get rid of the hazyness. So I continued with 3000 grit to get this.
*









*Next is Makita with Sonus medium spot pad No.2, and Wolf's Medium polish WP-3N.
*









*Getting there.
*


















*Finished with Sonus soft spot pad No.4, and Wolf's Jeweler polish WP-1N.
*









*Are we there ?
*


















*As the supposed UV film was removed, following Tibi I also sealed the headlight cover with Body Wrap.
*









*Sealed (3 layers, will put some more later).
*


















*Completed.
*









*Time spent, cca 2 hours. Thanks for looking *


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## Testor VTS (May 29, 2009)

great work buddy  nice to give you the inspiration 

indicators could be removed easily, if you loosen the cross-headed bolt on the headlight, right next to the wing - it sits in a white plastic thingy


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## R9SH G (Mar 14, 2011)

Looks fantastic. I can't stand hazy headlights


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