Headlight got scuffed by debris on the highway, buffed out with PlasticX, now "hazy" help to finish?

[jerryn]

Hi, On my way home a dump truck in the traveling lane was dropping asphalt chunks. My front drivers side headlight got scuffed up. I managed to buff out the surface scuff with plasticX. There are only two small pits and a "circular" haze to where I buffed the scuff out. I used a terry towel with platicX.. no microfiber towel yet. Is it possible to finish this job? How can I remove the haze? From the front the haze is barely noticable, from the side it is easily noticeable. I used some aircraft / marine uv protectant and had some decent results so far:Here's what I used.. I had this stuff kicking around for detailing my last vehicle's black bumpers (Honda Element)

[Whelan]

PlastX takes several coats to clean up. Did you do it by hand or machine. With a machine it comes out better and cleaner.If it is scuffed and not hazed then you may have to go to wet sanding. Something like a 2000 grit on the lamp, then to the lighter stuff. Clean then reapply the PlastX. It is made to get rid of very light hazing, so if you have scrapes that your fingernail could get caught in, the PlastX is not a filler and will not clear that up. You need to get it to a very fine haze first.http://www.meguiarsonline.com and check out the forum on clear plastic detailing.

[Sublimewind]

I'm not sure if there is an abrasive in that ,but you could easily get some Novus plastic polish and a mini-powerball and buff that right out... I used to use it on the edges of cut plexi to polish to water clear... just make sure you don't stay in one spot to long and burn anything.. (as with ANY polishing machiene)

[mogulsrule]

You can buy a plastic lense restoration kit for about $12 at an auto parts store it comes with fine sandpapers, a cloth and a cream for buffing and getting the final clear finish

[ned23]

Plastic polishing is an art and it's extremely difficult to do well. I would look at aircraft kits or companies that do aircraft windows. I used to fly airplanes, which have plastic windows, and the place I rented the planes from would have the windows polished out, periodically. At some point it just becomes cheaper to replace the lens.

[hckeynut15]

Ooooo that's bad. Valeo made this headlamp however in the business, I can tell you with a polycarb lens, you have to have a UV protective coating on the lens surface. That's called "hardcoat". Once you tried to buff this out, you essentially removed the hardcoat. That probably removed the hardcoat in the area and allowed the UV rays to damage the polycarb plastic. It doesn't matter what you do from this point on short of re-hardcoating, which I don't think is possible for aftermarket, you'll always have a yellowing lamp. Go to a junkyard, find a replacement lamp and start over. My only suggestion.Sorry...- Jim