Results- Meguiars Plastx Corolla Headlights

[panthermike]

A friend of mine let me borrow this to give it a try, so I used it on my MIL's '05 Corolla. Pretty pleased with the product. Some oxidation towards the bottom wouldn't come out, but I'd say 95% better, finished off with a coat of wax on them.

The first after picture has alot of reflection on it, doesn't do it any justice.

Before:

After:

 

[HTSS_TR]

Looks very nice. I used 3M headlight restore on E430 and Tracer and very please with it too. Took about 1 hour from start to finish.

Now if you drive the Corolla at night you will see much better.

 

[Mr Nice]

I use the PlastX on our cars, takes about 10 minutes per head light.

I want to try Colgate tooth paste next time.

 

[dparm]

Not bad for an off-the-shelf product.

Next time try it with a good orbital buffer -- you can probably get even better results.

 

[panthermike]

dparm, thanks for the tip. I'm just getting into detailing, etc. An orbital buffer is on my list to buy!

Will any orbital work? The Dual action ones are pretty expensive.

 

[Artem]

I wanna play...

Here's my neighbors BMW Z4. The passenger side gets hit by the sprinkler system every day which causes the headlight to oxidize.

I used Meg's PlastX with Mothers Red powerball connected to my drill exactly as shown in this pic...

Mothers Powerball polishing foam


20 minutes of polishing with a few stops in order to let the plastic cool for a few minutes and i got these results.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

It would have never looked this good had i done it by hand. It would have taken 4 hours of non stop rubbing to MAYBE achieve these results.

Sorry to thread jack.

 

[chubbs1]

Looks very good panthermike. Thanks for jackin the thread Artem Looks like new.

 

[panthermike]

Haha, threadjack away

Yours look VERY good. Did you finish off with a wax? Or is the Plastx supposed to seal it as well?

 

[Artem]

Originally Posted By: chubbs1
Looks very good panthermike. Thanks for jackin the thread Artem Looks like new.


It really depends how bad the headlight is damaged prior to polishing. If it's really bad, no polish in the world will truly fix it and make it look like new. You must catch it before it gets bad and keep polishing every so often as maintenance.

Originally Posted By: panthermike
Haha, threadjack away

Yours look VERY good. Did you finish off with a wax? Or is the Plastx supposed to seal it as well?


Wax wears off too quick, esp in the front where it gets hit with road conditions the most. I used a polymer sealant as the sealant. It lasts longer but PlastX has sealing properties in it as well.

 

[Donald]

If you can feel the oxidation with your fingers you need to use multiple levels of abrasive material. Many use the Turtle Wax product. It has 2 or 3 blocks with abrasive and a liquid with fine polishing material.

Meguiars Plastx can do some very mild oxidation, but you need to start with a heavy duty abrasive material for the spots you can feel.

As for using a drill, the Turtle Wax kit is by hand which lets a novice get the feel of doing it. Its not tiring nor does it take a long time. I think using a drill with an abrasive pad might be best left to someone who has done it by hand a few times. I could see someone damaging the plastic with drill power, pretty hard to do it by hand.

3M sells a headlight sealant which I will try soon.

 

[panthermike]

That's a good point Donald. You can actually see in the first pic, driver side lower portion(strip of heavy oxidation); that's what lightened up but I couldn't get it off.

I actually went and bought an orbital buffer tonight, so I'm going to give it another go round tomorrow. I'm also going to tackle the headlights on our Corolla.

I'll post pics after orbital polishing and of our Corolla tomorrow.

 

[panthermike]

On an unrelated note, if you look closely, you can see all of these little brown spots, those are paint spots!

I'm going to have to ask her what happened(guessing she was driving behind a truck when it lost some paint).

 

[panthermike]

Ok, went ahead and hit the lights again with the orbital buffer. Used a coat of Plastx and also a coat of Nufinish on them.

Turned out even better, thanks for the suggestion dparm. Spent about 20-25 minutes total. Still a little oxidation in one area, but 90% gone. I'm satisfied, should turn out even better on our Corolla.

 

[mikered30]

Looks good. I have the same issue on my corolla, but I cannot find a wax or sealant that lasts any reasonable amount of time, even with high temp waxes such as FK1000p and collinite. After a couple of months, the yellowing gradually returns. It isnt hard to clean. The UV coating is just shot. I am thinking about trying to add a clear coat, but I dont want to mess up the optics.

 

[panthermike]

Yes, I've heard the same thing. I also believe someone mentioned using the 3M clear bra stuff, sounds reasonable.

I'm going to try and apply a coat of wax every 1-2 months and see how that does. If it doesn't work, I'll explore other options.

 

[Artem]

I personally don't mind buffing the headlights every few months to keep em sparkling new. This is also the time for me to touch up any paint markings or scratches / stubborn bug guts that don't come out with regular washes.

 

[panthermike]

Did our Corolla today. Used Plastx, Nufinish, then topped off with Meguiars Headlight protectant.

Before:

After:

 

[dparm]

Get the LaminX film put on afterwards. They won't yellow or pit anymore.

 

[buster]

Meguiars makes a new Headlight Protectant that you apply after using the PlastX. I just started using it last week.

Last summer I used the 3M kit you attach to your drill. Worked well, but I notice that the lights get a slight yellow/haziness soon after a few weeks. So I've been using the PlastX and now the Protectant from Meguiars.

 

[CharBaby]

I've been using Meguiar's Plasti-X for some time now!
I started out by using Chrome Polish instead of a full rubbing compound and the chrome polish got me to where I can now use the Meguiar's Plasti-X...Oh, once a month or so, all by hand!

A friend of mine used 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper with some dish soap/water and his too came our brilliant. Although, like any headlight assembly, they need periodic finishing again and again.

Now, I just do our vehicles headlight lenses on a regular basis with the Plasti-X, only because I bought it on sale. I am sure that any similar brand product will work well.