I'm looking for tips on cleaning the headlight lenses of my 2000 e39. They are looking dull and cloudy. Thx Rob CCA 286995
a 3M polishing kit with mild auto polish worked for mine I used various levels of polish finishing up with Griot's machine polish 2 and 3. I started with more aggressive rubbing compounds from 3M and Turtle Wax. This all depends are how cloudy yours are... The 3" pad attaches to a drill. You will need to be patient and don't heat up the plastic too fast because it causes gas bubbles in the laminate layers. If you see them, back off. They will go away as it cools. I spent 3 hours polishing to get it where I wanted it... It will eventually come clear though. Mine were very 'sandblasted'. After you are done put some 3M hood film on them and they will stay clear and clean up at the car wash effortlessly too. I had to cut out a template with paper for the film. I could not find any ready-to-go (precut) headlight shields but I did this about a year ago. Maybe some are out there now. Hope this helps.
We have used Novus plastic cleaner with moderate results. It is a three step process with different liquids that I learned about from a person who repairs pinball games. It probably is not as thorough as hitting them with sand paper, but there is less of a chance or damaging any surrounding area and is readily availabe at auto parts stores.
one reason I did not want to do the wet sanding was if it was too severe, to get it clear again would be another step. With either approach it's a good idea to mask off the area... but the polish approach is a bit more conservative, and time consuming.
Bavarian Autosport also has a kit that is made for machine polishing. The kit info is below: Part Number Description Price Qty. PH-DIY PolyClear Plastic Refinishing Kit $34.95
