ScooterZ

Hi, I am a relatively new 993 owner with a '96 C4. It has relatively high mileage at 120K. The glass headlight lenses are pitted.
Can the glass be polished similar to what can be done to a plastic lens?
Thanks in advance,
Scott

Benton

Scott,

You won't get the same results as plastic, but you can certainly polish glass to a degree. It will polish and round off some of those sharp, minute chipped edges, resulting in a bit clearer lens.

I have had good luck with just a regular old polishing wheel on a drill, coupled with glass polish from Zaino. I'm sure the auto parts stores sell their own brand of glass polish. I wouldn't recommend this setup if one were to go polishing their windows unless you did it by hand or went over it with a finer grit compound afterwards, as it does leave fine polishing marks. For the headlights, those marks would be undetectable.

JimPA

In theory. My plan was to use progressively finer wet sanding paper on the lenses of an older BMW. I intended to follow with a polishing paste made from water and orangish powder (can't recall the name) that I bought at a mirror shop. I gave up after a few hours of sanding by hand. The pits weren't disappearing. Perhaps you'll have better luck. Whether you refinish or get new, cover the lenses with thin protection film such as X-pel or Lamin-x or similar.

IXLR8

Certainly not as easily.

Just get two new ones off eBay. I saw a couple there a day ago for about $75 each. There is a left and a right side.

Headlight DIY on Pcar workshop will show you how to remove the lens.

kilodawg

General rules of thumb:

1. You can't polish out chips.
2. Scratches can be polished out if you can't catch a nail as you run your finger across them

I've had good luck with minor wiper scratches that fit the above criteria but you need a special polish

As far as your headlights go avoid a lot of frustration and replace them.

geolab

The orangish powder is cerium oxide, and to work you need a high speed >4000 rpm polisher. The high speed polisher will heat your glass and bruise it. If you go slower it won't polish. So it's cheaper to get new lenses. Maybe you will have luck, I wasn't lucky.

brad@tirerack.com

I have done several plastic lenses, but never glass. I'm not sure I'd even try it TBO. Glass is pretty hard. If you can't polish out a scratch with a rotary polisher, a heavy cut compound, and a wool pad - pack it in, you are not getting it out. It tales wet sanding with 800, then 2000, then the above just to get most plastic lenses clear.

ssukduang

+1 on replacing. I just did mine two weeks ago. Took a total of 15 minutes and it made the whole front end look so much better.

I found the passenger side for $65.00. The driver side lens for some reason was very hard to find. The best price I could find on one was $120.

I did save the old ones thinking some day I might try to polish them up.

AOW162435

I replaced mine a few months ago and then applied Xpel clear shields.

Trying to polish these will certainly earn you a round-the-world ticket on the Fail Boat.

Besides, the faded & discolored plastic 'lens' at the bottom will always look bad...


Andreas

ScooterZ

Thanks for the replies. I have just completed the headlight cleaning detailed on the p-car.com page and it made a world of difference! I think I'll just buy new lenses before I go to the trouble of glass polishing.
I wonder why the left lenses seem to be in short supply but the right are readily available?
Thanks for the advice,
ScottZ

IXLR8

Maybe because more of them are in bad shape due to stones being flung at them from oncoming traffic?

Stealth 993

You can polish glass with normal polish. However it will not remove pits, just minor scratches & grud in the glass. There are true glass polishes out that that will remove glass, but unless you are really skilled, you will hologram the glass & reduce it light transfer.

Best thing is to either replace the headlight glass. Or polish it out, then put on some protective film, as it will hide a bunch of the imperfections in the glass.