Which sealer to use after polishing headlight lens?
I've never had a stress issue from lamin-x. i've seen it quite often from clear coatings. Most clear coats are probably done wrong, but a GOOD clear coat will suffice. Problem is that clear still yellows because that factory headlights yellow and they are cleared with UV…Yes its one of the longer lasting, but when its done half the time is half asses by shops no offense to anyone but I spend about an hour preparing the lens before the laminx and use two DA polishers to remove swirls or small sand marks before applying the film.
The sun just simply kills and another problem is most don't fully "sand and clean" before applying the material/clear..which I have seen clear literally "chip" away like a bad paint job.
Its been about a year and a few months and my headlights still look new thanks to laminx. We did my buddies headlights with clear and within a year it started showing signs of aging, ask cazio who he's been through clearing the headlights and even has spider cracks from it and Im getting him a set of laminx'd lens.
Best part about lamin-x is that it repels dirt, grime, helps against pitting and chips plus after years if it needs to be replaced just peel off/polish the headlight and re apply a new sheet. Higher end shops don't clear, they use laminx or 3M.
The sun just simply kills and another problem is most don't fully "sand and clean" before applying the material/clear..which I have seen clear literally "chip" away like a bad paint job.
Its been about a year and a few months and my headlights still look new thanks to laminx. We did my buddies headlights with clear and within a year it started showing signs of aging, ask cazio who he's been through clearing the headlights and even has spider cracks from it and Im getting him a set of laminx'd lens.
Best part about lamin-x is that it repels dirt, grime, helps against pitting and chips plus after years if it needs to be replaced just peel off/polish the headlight and re apply a new sheet. Higher end shops don't clear, they use laminx or 3M.
So I just got my headlights restored and was thinking of putting lamin-x on them. But I'm concerned about possibly getting stress cracks.
Does the 3M clear bra do any better? XPel?
I'm looking for something so I don't have to restore them every year.
Does the 3M clear bra do any better? XPel?
I'm looking for something so I don't have to restore them every year.
Last edited by imj0257; Aug 14, 2015 at 09:50 AM.
Check out Opti-Lens 
About stress cracks, I think it really depends on certain variables.
Maybe how long you park your car in the sun, how long its on for, how quickly the temp drops at night, etc.
I can take a picture of my friend's headlight that got stress cracks only in the area the "blue batmobile" overlay was.
About stress cracks, I think it really depends on certain variables.
Maybe how long you park your car in the sun, how long its on for, how quickly the temp drops at night, etc.
I can take a picture of my friend's headlight that got stress cracks only in the area the "blue batmobile" overlay was.
Last edited by guitarplayer16; Aug 14, 2015 at 11:10 AM.
You need to wet sand, compund, polish than seal it
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I should have clarified, I used Turtle Wax brand headlight restore kit which has all of those steps. Didn't seem to work for me but maybe my headlights were beyond repair.
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Plastx is good for minor scratches and scuffs but it's not going to magically restore very UV yellowed and sand blasted headlights.
Plast-X is great, its whats included in the Meguiars Headlight Restoration kit.
It can be applied right from the bottle. It's not wipe on and wipe off by any means. You'll need to put in some elbow grease and spend a lot of time on it.
It is much faster with a buffing machine.
Sanding basically gets you better results, as you're removing small pitting and removing the layer of oxidized plastic.
The Plast-X will bring it back to life after you're done wetsanding with a high grit.
It can be applied right from the bottle. It's not wipe on and wipe off by any means. You'll need to put in some elbow grease and spend a lot of time on it.
It is much faster with a buffing machine.
Sanding basically gets you better results, as you're removing small pitting and removing the layer of oxidized plastic.
The Plast-X will bring it back to life after you're done wetsanding with a high grit.
I've used plast-X and it does a great job.. I haven't been putting on a UV protectant religiously tho so haze is starting to come back. I may try to clean them again and put some clear laminx film on them.
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