Headlight Restoration

[Mrheisenburg]

Hello all…… The xenon headlights on my A4 are in dire need of smartening up a bit…. I have just replaced the bulbs with a pair of Osram Nightbreakers which are a vast improvement but when you look close at the lights they are covered in loads of tiny little chips which don’t look great. I have watched a few videos of people sanding them down and polishing the chips out…. Anyone done this..?… How did it turn out..?… a new pair of lights are out of my price range at the moment..!..

[Stevey Y]

Hi, you can sand the majority of it out but you will require a kit to re coat the lenses when you have finished, as I say it won't all go but will be a vast improvement, the only other route is to buy some replacement lenses and fit them, this will involve removing the bumper to get the lights out plenty of vids on youtube but this method requires a lot of time and patience to obtain the required results.

Steve.

[coupe4]

hi phil,i dont know if this helps but i bought a few headlight resto kits for my 2002 tt and none were much good but i then tried meguairs compound on them and they really came up well,you need to work it in and let it dry and repeat it again,its worth a shot.greg

[Mrheisenburg]

2 minutes ago, Stevey Y said:

Hi, you can sand the majority of it out but you will require a kit to re coat the lenses when you have finished, as I say it won't all go but will be a vast improvement, the only other route is to buy some replacement lenses and fit them, this will involve removing the bumper to get the lights out plenty of vids on youtube but this method requires a lot of time and patience to obtain the required results.

Steve.

Cheers Steve , yeah I read that I would need a UV clear coat to stop the sun from messing them up. I was gonna start sanding with 600 wet and dry and work up to 3000. I have seen some 3M UV clear coat on Amazon for around 11 quid.  No need to remove the bumper though to remove the lights, I took both lights out to put the new bulbs in. You only need to undo 4 torx bolts and the headlights slide right out..

Cheers

[Mrheisenburg]

7 minutes ago, coupe4 said:

hi phil,i dont know if this helps but i bought a few headlight resto kits for my 2002 tt and none were much good but i then tried meguairs compound on them and they really came up well,you need to work it in and let it dry and repeat it again,its worth a shot.greg

Thanks Greg…. I think from looking at them they need more work than just a polishing compound…I may try that once I have sanded them down to polish them up….

 

cheers

[Stevey Y]

3 minutes ago, Mrheisenburg said:

Cheers Steve , yeah I read that I would need a UV clear coat to stop the sun from messing them up. I was gonna start sanding with 600 wet and dry and work up to 3000. I have seen some 3M UV clear coat on Amazon for around 11 quid.  No need to remove the bumper though to remove the lights, I took both lights out to put the new bulbs in. You only need to undo 4 torx bolts and the headlights slide right out..

Cheers

Hi was not sure about the headlight removal on your model but if you can remove them without disturbing anything else, HAPPY DAYS, they are much easier to work on when out, personally I would start with 800 grit and plenty of soap as that way you won't spend hours trying to get the 600 marks out, I agree with the finish at 3000 but you can get a better finish by going to 1200 and then if you can get your hands on a small random orbital polisher 4inch you can finish wth a light cutting compound alcohol degrease  and then coat them, just don't go mad with the pressure or you will burn the plastic keep the paper moving, the orbital mp might seem extravagant but mine has saved me fortunes in paint repairs when I have just polished scratches out.

Steve.

[Mrheisenburg]

Cheers Steve…..I think I will in invest in a small orbital…. A good tool to add to my toolbox….. I just want to do the job right as they are to expensive to replace if I !Removed! it up..!….….thanks for the advice..👍🏻

[audia4b5kev]

I USE  G3 AND MACHIEN POLISHER  THEN FIN  WITH G6  THEN POLISH  SEAL THEM 

[Mrheisenburg]

Cheers Kev , I did try a bit of G3 when I first got the car but it didn’t take out the heavily pitted parts of the light….

 

cheers

[audia4b5kev]

this what i use when  g3   not best   > jewelers rouge that is  mint  plus  use on my windscreen    kev

[Mrheisenburg]

Well I took the plunge today…… pulled out my headlights and attacked them with various grades of sand paper….. took me around 3 hours to do both lights…. I started with 600 wet and dry and worked up to 5000….. polished them up with turtle wax polish and scratch remover and finished them off with some 3M uv protection. I am very happy with how they came out…..

[Mrheisenburg]

The new bulbs and the polished lights have made an amazing difference….

[audia4b5kev]

30 minutes ago, Mrheisenburg said:

Well I took the plunge today…… pulled out my headlights and attacked them with various grades of sand paper….. took me around 3 hours to do both lights…. I started with 600 wet and dry and worked up to 5000….. polished them up with turtle wax polish and scratch remover and finished them off with some 3M uv protection. I am very happy with how they came out…..

nice job

[Wazza]

On 10/16/2021 at 6:53 PM, Mrheisenburg said:

The new bulbs and the polished lights have made an amazing difference….

That looks like an awesome job. Well done!

[Mrheisenburg]

Thanks for the comments….👍🏻

[jdragon]

Nice work