For polishing, use special abrasive polishing pastes for old or weathered paintwork. If you use non-abrasive pastes, the polishing effect of which is based on filling micro-scratches with natural and synthetic waxes or polyurethane, the effect will be very short-lived. After one to three months, the wax and its analogues will wash out of the micro scratches and the headlight caps will become cloudy again.
Polishing can be done either by hand or with a polishing machine or a drill with a polishing wheel. The drill must be with a speed controller.
Execution sequence
1. Washing headlights (see above).
2. In order not to damage the paintwork, during polishing, we seal the body parts around the headlights with masking tape.
3. We apply the polish on a special napkin or a clean cloth...
... and evenly, without strong pressure, in a circular motion, apply polish to the headlight cap.
4. After the applied composition is completely dry, with a special polishing cloth or a clean soft cloth folded in several layers, polish the surface in a circular motion until the polish is completely depleted and the surface shines.
Headlight caps are made of durable wear-resistant material and it will take a lot of time and effort to polish heavily scratched headlights by hand. Therefore, it is advisable to use a polishing machine or a drill for polishing.
Comment. We remove scratches on the surface of the headlight cap with a polishing disc installed in the drill chuck at a low speed of no more than 800 min-1 and adding water. In this case, you need to be prepared for the fact that splashes will fly in all directions. Anything that can get dirty should be covered, and the car should be washed after polishing.
Also use special cleaning and polishing products to clean plastic tail light lenses. But since these lights are made of a much softer plastic, it makes sense to polish them by hand.
Recommendation. When using an electromechanical polisher to polish the rear lights, to avoid overheating and damaging the soft plastic, slow down the RPM, don't press the wheel too hard, and add more water.