I've done this on 2 previous cars. I´m done! From now on ... I just replace them. It doesn´t last much under UV, you will spend your time re-polishing them, later they will end up needing replacement and in the end you will sell the car with new headlights. I just assembled a new original Valeo in my Volvo V60, by 180€ on Auto-Doc.
Hi, thanks for watching and the great comment! I totally agree! Even with the ceramic coating it is nowhere as nice as a new headlamp after 6 months. I haven't seen anyone else have any better success, even with spray on UV protective paint.
Is it very difficult to take off the headlight before doing something with it? On my car it's 1 minute job and you won't have problems with headlight edges polishing
Does the ceramic coating provide UV protection? It is UV that discolours the plastic, spraying the covers with 2/3 coats of vehicle clear coat gives the UV protection.
Hi, normal spray-can clearcoat hasn't worked too well for other folk, so I thought about testing some 2 component coatings, but I haven't felt the need yet as the ceramic coating is still holding out. The ceramic layer is like a thin layer of glass, so there is every chance that it provides UV protection in the same way that glass does.
It would be a pain but you could take of the front bumper to get to that corner if you don’t have the smaller one but you do hence my edit lol good content 🤙🏽
Hi, thanks for watching and commenting! Yes, taking off the bumper would take a bit of time - but you would make up most of that time because you can use the larger pad without having to be careful.
Hi, thanks for watching! It has been almost a year and a half since I did the video, and the headlamps are still looking good - I re-apply the ceramic coating every 6 months.
I dont want to ruin the fun but youtube if full with headlight restoration. You did half of the job. Just polishing removes the UV protection layer. Either you add back the clearcoat and polish again or apply UV foil. They recommend the foil because that is like 15minutes to exchange.
Hi, thanks for watching! What most headlamp restoration videos are missing is a longer term review, and when there is one, it is not showing the clear coatings in a favorable light. We as regular consumers don't have access to OEM quality plastic coatings, and even the coatings used by most aftermarket headlamp manufacturers aren't even close to OEM standard. That is why I have gone for the ceramic coating that is re-applied every 3 months - it is not perfect, but it beats scraping off a sub-standard clear-coating every year and re-applying it. The foils have potential though, and I will definitely check out long-term tests if I ever need to do a similar job in the future.
