I just finished powder coating my driving light housings and need to take care of the lenses. I'd like to clean mine up a bit if its possible, rather than spending $80 on a new set. Does anyone have experience polishing glass like this? After 30 years, these lenses have lots of little pits, they might be too deep for tranditional polishing..

Any thoughts?

-Tony

NOVUS make's a proffesional grade windshield polish. Parts 1 and 2. Also Eastwood has a kit for this. I used it on (NOVUS) mine and it helped quite a bit. You can also use some of the finer buffing compounds at lower speeds, and a light touch.

absolutely. i got a nice euro tail light lens from ebay awhile back, for a good price. it was a little pitted though, so i took it in to a friend of mine who runs a detail shop. in about five minutes with a buffer and some liquidy white compound stuff, it looked new. no joke, i was amazed. he does it all the time to headlights, taillights, etc. it's magic i tell ya!

~a

Plastic parts like tail lights, bug shields, head lights, all polish real easy with almost any polishing compound.
just use a soft rag and polish away, my wife's Outback has plastic all across the back and it gets dull after its been washed a few times so I use my blue clear coat polish to shine it up...it works sweet.........

Polishing plastic and urethane parts is done easily with great results in a two part process. You'll need two compounds, a lower or variable speed buffer and a foam compound pad. 3M makes great compounds that work well together for a complete buffing system. You'll only need the final two (medium cut and a swirl remover). Put a dime size amount on the plastic at a time and mist the pad with a little water. With very little pressure and at about 1000 rpm, go at it until a slight haze still remains, but don't dry buff. Add more compound as needed and mist the pad again. Wipe the lense clean, rinse the pad under water and repeat the process again with the swirl remover. Finally, wipe down with a soft cloth. You'll be amazed. They'll look better than new.

Hey new guy! Welcome!

Thanks for posting today!

-Rusty

Yup been there done that.....BPITA...I much perfer the KISS system, it works just as good without the PITA factor....

Thanks for all the hints! The driving light lenses are made from glass, so I'm not sure which if the plastic polishing ideas would work or not. I may just take them to an auto detailing shop and maybe for a few bucks they will polish them up for me. If not I'll have a good excuse to buy a couple more tools.

I'm planning on using plastic lens protection films after I get these cleaned up. It seems like a cheap and easy way to prolong the life of lenses.

-Tony

You could switch to the Pilot driving lites for $45 and have real bright driving lites. See the classic thread


Geoff