2004 Honda Accord EX 2.4L I did a headlight restoration on this, the headlights were pretty awful. But they seem to have cleared up well. However, I think I may have messed up when I did the final part of the process… it just doesn’t look like the clear coat was done right. I was expecting them to …

Hard to tell from the photos is the solvents in the clear coat reacted badly to the plastic lens causing “crazing” or if the clear just wasn’t sprayed heavy enough to flow out and form a smooth surface. The last coat should be a little heavier so it looks “wet” and smooth when you are finished. Try…

What Rustoleum calls their “hammered finish” clear coat would leave the surface looking like yours, I didn’t realize they had 3 different clear coats in spray at first but the dead flat would give you the result you want. This is the line that i find at Home Depot [image] Universal® Clear…

I can’t tell what happened but it looks textured. Try buffing a small area, see what happens. You might have to redo the whole thing. I did a pair of lenses last year and didn’t put any clear coat on them. They still look good after a year.

I guess I have not heard of clear coating the lenses. At this point I’d sand it off again and start over and forget the clear. Just polish them from time to time so they don’t cloud up.

What you have there is called orange peel. This occurs if the paint gun/spray can is held too far away from the surface to be painted. When this happens, the carrier in the paint/clear coat flashes off on it’s way to the surface. So instead of the paint/clear coat flowing together to create a smoo…

[image] Zarathuztra: alcohol on the light to clean and dry it up for the clear coat I believe the alcohol was the culprit. I would not put alcohol on plastic. I offer images of two different vehicles that I did, the first a Lexus of uncertain year (I believe it to be mid-2000s), the second o…

When you consider that new replacement headlight assemblies can be had for around $80 a pair for that specific car. I don’t think I’d bother fooling around with trying to restore them.

Agreed. I had a rear taillight that was seriously cloudy. My attempts to clear it up went nowhere. I ended up getting a used taillight from a junked car for $30 shipped. Replaced it in 5 mins. I’m going that route from now on.

Let me share pictures from “paint clouded headlights with clear coat” project as of today: My daughter’s 10-year Altima before: [IMG_20170930_103526] [IMG_20170930_103518] Sanded down and prepared for painting: [IMG_20170930_125549] Final product: [IMG_20170930_182859] [IMG_20170930_182907] T…

DIY Headlight Restore using clear coat

Maintenance/Repairs

COROLLAGUY1 September 28, 2017, 2:03pm 8

. Most polycarbonate headlights use some type of protective coating on them. You don’t want to remove this coating by sanding it away or using any abrasive paste on them. Replacing both headlights is the way to go.

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DIY Headlight Restore using clear coat

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