Headlight Restoration - Superglass

[makeshiftUK]

Something that's bugged me for the last few years was the appearance of the headlights on my QPV; they'd let down an otherwise gorgeous front-end and the time had come for me to do something about it... I'd had a go several times myself with off-the-shelf kits (Meguiars Headlight Restoration Plus) but with sub-standard results. Following an article I read in a magazine a few years back and having looked at some reviews online, I opted to give Chris Vagg at Superglass a go - based fairly local to me in Epsom, Surrey (https://headlightrestorationinepsom.co.uk/).

The results, as you can see below, are very impressive - Superglass is a US-headquartered franchise who own the IP of the compounds/chemicals of the substances used. Chris came to my driveway and worked on these for around 3 hours, and the sealing finish comes with a 2 year guarantee. At a cost of £50 + VAT per headlamp it's a mere drop in the ocean relative to the price of replacing the entire headlamp. Fortunately for me, the lens clouding was solely on the outside - I couldn't comment on how you'd go about taking the unit apart and dealing with internal defects. Chris is a brilliant chap and I'd highly recommend him for anyone else considering restoration of their headlamps.

 

[Scaf]

As you say, the results are fantastic and well worth the money.

 

[Bebs]

I’m seriously considering doing both my 360 & the GT

 

[conaero]

I assume he sprayed a UV coating on them and polished them up?

Looks fab,

 

[Andyk]

Looks brilliant. Certainly worth doing.

 

[lozcb]

looks a good job well done , true tradesman , the bit that impresses me and would have reassured me is the initial prep cover up of the whole car , nice one

 

[Zep]

Looks really good. I watched a video on a technique for this - fine sandpaper, UV resistant lacquer and a buff, the results are epic.

 

[ChrisQP09]

Something that's bugged me for the last few years was the appearance of the headlights on my QPV; they'd let down an otherwise gorgeous front-end and the time had come for me to do something about it... I'd had a go several times myself with off-the-shelf kits (Meguiars Headlight Restoration Plus) but with sub-standard results. Following an article I read in a magazine a few years back and having looked at some reviews online, I opted to give Chris Vagg at Superglass a go - based fairly local to me in Epsom, Surrey (https://headlightrestorationinepsom.co.uk/).

The results, as you can see below, are very impressive - Superglass is a US-headquartered franchise who own the IP of the compounds/chemicals of the substances used. Chris came to my driveway and worked on these for around 3 hours, and the sealing finish comes with a 2 year guarantee. At a cost of £50 + VAT per headlamp it's a mere drop in the ocean relative to the price of replacing the entire headlamp. Fortunately for me, the lens clouding was solely on the outside - I couldn't comment on how you'd go about taking the unit apart and dealing with internal defects. Chris is a brilliant chap and I'd highly recommend him for anyone else considering restoration of their headlamps.

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Bonkers difference!

 

[Delmonte]

Interesting, looks great. I too have been restoring the headlights on the mini. As it was the mini and not the Maserati I experimented with cheap options. Looked at reviews of expensive meguiars, auto glym kits, etc and results looked mixed - and requiring skill to get right. That I may not have had...
So I turned to Internet hacks... and couldn't believe the result with Autosol (metal cleaner, that I happened to have lying around in the garage) and a bit of elbow grease. The mini lights were extremely discoloured, yellowed and rough. But as they're xenon and £500 each didn't want to buy new ones...
Autosol got em like new again. The 'before' picture here doesn't quite do justice to how bad they looked in real life...

(To protect after, I used armor all headlight restorer wipes kit. The cleaning wipes in those are ****, the solvent evaporates in seconds, bin those, but the #2 wipe the UV protector one, is fine. One protector wipe easily does 2 lights and the kit is only a tenner.)

 

[CatmanV2]

Be interested to see how long it lasts. All these kits are basically the same, a fine abrasive. Guess what's in Autosol?

Toothpaste would probably work as well. Was great on CDs

C

 

[Delmonte]

Be interested to see how long it lasts. All these kits are basically the same, a fine abrasive. Guess what's in Autosol?

Toothpaste would probably work as well. Was great on CDs

C

Yes I also heard the toothpaste rumour. But as I happened to own more autosol than toothpaste at the time, I steamed straight into the former. (Being from Yorkshire I do like a zero-cost option).
What surprised me was using an abrasive on a smooth, relatively soft surface, to get rid of abrasions . Lol. And only using it on a bit of cloth. And me being quite ham fisted. And it working!

 

[cheshiremaserati]

I recently restored the headlamps on my daily Mercedes E220. I used a DA Sander with Menzerna cutting compounds. I started with medium cut, then very fine 3500 and finally superguard top coat. Finally, two foatings of UV resistant lacquer.

I'd never attempt this on the Porsche or the Gransport. Two years ago, a bodyshop did the Porsche headlamps and coated with UV resistant lacquer. Still look brand new.

Any competent bodyshop can restore headlights. Mine told me to leave the car as I'd wince when the buffing makes the lights completely opaque like milk and successively finer and finer cutting pastes takes out the opaqueness to a crystal clear shiny finish!

Price was around £120. But worth it. I showed him the car and he took one look and said "they'll polish out fine".

 

[CatmanV2]

I happened to own more autosol than toothpaste at the time

Probably not best to swap the other way.

abrasive on a smooth, relatively soft surface, to get rid of abrasions

Yeah, took me ages to get my head around it. You're wearing away the big scratches with smaller scratches.....

C

 

[HTAFC4200]

I did the lights on my old lexus, came up like new.

Will be doing my 4200's at some point.

 

[Scaf]

Interesting, looks great. I too have been restoring the headlights on the mini. As it was the mini and not the Maserati I experimented with cheap options. Looked at reviews of expensive meguiars, auto glym kits, etc and results looked mixed - and requiring skill to get right. That I may not have had...
So I turned to Internet hacks... and couldn't believe the result with Autosol (metal cleaner, that I happened to have lying around in the garage) and a bit of elbow grease. The mini lights were extremely discoloured, yellowed and rough. But as they're xenon and £500 each didn't want to buy new ones...
Autosol got em like new again. The 'before' picture here doesn't quite do justice to how bad they looked in real life...

(To protect after, I used armor all headlight restorer wipes kit. The cleaning wipes in those are ****, the solvent evaporates in seconds, bin those, but the #2 wipe the UV protector one, is fine. One protector wipe easily does 2 lights and the kit is only a tenner.)
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Great result, I used an autoglym cutting compound to get similar results on my daughters old mini

 

[HTAFC4200]

Great result, I used an autoglym cutting compound to get similar results on my daughters old mini

That's the kit I used.

 

[Delmonte]

Probably not best to swap the other

Tbf I do have 3 gold crowns. Maybe I should give it a go..

 

[CatmanV2]

Tbf I do have 3 gold crowns. Maybe I should give it a go..

You might wear them away!

C

 

[DLax69]

There's a dude (Daniel Stern) who is all about headlights/bulbs who recommended a kit https://www.kbs-coatings.com/headlight-restore-kit.html that Courtney actually applied to both the Spyder and the Coupe. Results were fantastic. Having been down this road with other cars in the past, the one thing I always recommended is continued waxing of the lenses each time you wax the car...went 5 years on an MB that way without any further discoloration/clouding (sold the car so no clue how it looks now)...

 

[rs48635]

Something that's bugged me for the last few years was the appearance of the headlights on my QPV; they'd let down an otherwise gorgeous front-end and the time had come for me to do something about it... I'd had a go several times myself with off-the-shelf kits (Meguiars Headlight Restoration Plus) but with sub-standard results. Following an article I read in a magazine a few years back and having looked at some reviews online, I opted to give Chris Vagg at Superglass a go - based fairly local to me in Epsom, Surrey (https://headlightrestorationinepsom.co.uk/).

The results, as you can see below, are very impressive - Superglass is a US-headquartered franchise who own the IP of the compounds/chemicals of the substances used. Chris came to my driveway and worked on these for around 3 hours, and the sealing finish comes with a 2 year guarantee. At a cost of £50 + VAT per headlamp it's a mere drop in the ocean relative to the price of replacing the entire headlamp. Fortunately for me, the lens clouding was solely on the outside - I couldn't comment on how you'd go about taking the unit apart and dealing with internal defects. Chris is a brilliant chap and I'd highly recommend him for anyone else considering restoration of their headlamps.

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that does look great. Will take mine to a bodyshop, unless strong recommendations for do at home kit.
long way from this fella up in N . Yorks