406oc.co.uk

My headlights have been looking sorry for themselves for ages and although I'd used the 3M Restoration kit last year I was never really satisfied with the results.

At the weekend I wet sanded them using 600 grit, then 1500, then 2500 wet and dry sand paper and finished off with compound and polish using a foam pad on a drill attachment.

At first lots of yellow coloured crud leaves the surface and then becomes white (this is showing you've removed the clear coat on the surface of the polycarbonate), I sanded strictly in order and by hand using a soft rubber sanding block and lots of water sprayage. The first stage was horizontally sanded, then vertical and finally horizontal again with the finest 2500 grade paper.

I purchased some UV film to apply at the end to protect the plastic from sun damage but despite 3 of us holding, wet spraying and heating with a hair drier I found it impossible to avoid wrinkles where the lens curves at the end so I had to scrap that idea. I think I'll have to apply some spray UV clear coat very soon.

Before:



After the final stage 2500 sanding, scary stuff!:


And the end result, they're not perfect but a huge improvement and really freshen up the front end, took years off the car.



The whole process was easy to DIY and the final polish with the drill attachment pad quickly polished the haze back into a clear finish. The whole process only cost me the wet and dry paper which came as an 'assorted' grade kit including the sanding block for about £8.00 on Amazon.

Ohh, nicely done sir! Definitely worth the effort. I didn't know you could get a UV spray (except from Boots...)

Pah, damn plastic lights, bring back glass and stuff the pedestrians

Nice work there Mr W.

Is it just me, or does anyone else think PSA headlights suffer at lot less than most cars from this problem?

French motors definitely seem to have better protected headlamps, both our Frenchies are 10 years old and have perfect clear polycarbonate

Worst offenders seem to be Vauxhall, Ford, VW and Jap stuff it seems.

I dunno, the old Ravs had a reputation for it but this one, at 12 years, seems fine still resists urge to check

Nice job Welly. That's a problem I have never had with a 406, the lights seem to stay brilliantly clear, in fact I would say they are the best lights I have ever had on a car. Don't know if that's the norm but certainly has been on my cars.

Peter

My old 406 had the best headlamps of any car I've had, very rarely needed "full beam".

The Volvo's are terrible by comparison.

I paid a grown-up £30 to do mine.

I'm told it's important to apply a good UV sealant or else they'll quickly go yellow and you'll be locked in to a never ending cycle of polishing.

I've been asking around for ages and he was the first guy that didn't look at me like I'm stupid (which, it's a fair cop, I am) when I asked about UV sealant.

Your grown up did well, £30.00 is a steal, it took me at least 3 hours.