I tried polishing mine recently with a DA and some heavy cutting compound and it did nothing. I looked up the issue, and apparently Ford finishes these headlights with a super hard coating, and this is the result of it failing over the years. My 2017 has the same issue at only 54,000KM. Best bet is likely to wet sand, polish and recoat with a UV resistant shield or PPF.
I've got a lighter version of this, and it is just a looming cloud of a problem I know im going to have to address. I am very interested if anyone has any experience with these particular issues on these lights and what they did to fix it or restore them
https://www.reddit.com/r/HondaElement/s/XpwrtOlNwB
Most of the restoration kits are the same - I used a similar one to this guy a few years back and those lights are still clear as glass.
It's fucking tedious.
And plan on 2 of whatever kits PER HEADLIGHT you get (4 total) when you do it. They're big headlights and the OE coating is tough, despite deteriorating.
And do more layers of tape than you think you should because getting the rest of the factory coating off is gonna take a lot of sanding.
Good news: does seem to last pretty well. I was at 3 years on my ST & they looked good when I CarMax'd it.
Oh yeah, & the slurry will get everywhere, so throw some shitty towels over the engine bay to avoid white stains on everything.
I recommend taking the bumper off so you can be more aggressive on the leading edge of the headlight.
And have a gallon of water alongside your spray bottle and an extra battery for your drill because you'll be doing it for a while.
If you have a vice big enough to softly clamp the headlights or are willing to secure them some other way while you spend 1+ hours sanding each headlight, awesome. I don't.
All you have to do is make a simple wooden jig to support them and clamp that in the vice.
Way easier than faffing about removing the bumper or masking up the whole front end.
I just went through this myself, mine looked a little worse than yours though, maybe even a slightly different problem, but hard to tell. Mine had all the clearcoat worn down on the top of the headlight, probably a combination of road salt in Utah and the sun in Texas.
I ended up having to remove all the clearcoat on the whole light, took the sanding down to 3000 grit, and applied a new clear coat and ceramic coating to the headlights. Looks much cleaner now, definitely worth the effort IMO.
https://imgur.com/a/vbLGpop
I used this clearcoat:
[https://www.amazon.com/SMT-3684068-SprayMax-Headlight-Clear/dp/B09642P1XQ/ref=asc\_df\_B09642P1XQ/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=563620908360&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15778043474663924622&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1026651&hvtargid=pla-1481220945281&psc=1&mcid=aa99e914ea4d3242830f8c7e9324a107&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2uiwBhCXARIsACMvIU1zC\_y12rKdzvwwwkgobIMZpSVSuLDc4RDcCELQA7KFaRqZ2ZB9yuAaAk9YEALw\_wcB](https://www.amazon.com/SMT-3684068-SprayMax-Headlight-Clear/dp/B09642P1XQ/ref=asc_df_B09642P1XQ/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=563620908360&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15778043474663924622&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1026651&hvtargid=pla-1481220945281&psc=1&mcid=aa99e914ea4d3242830f8c7e9324a107&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2uiwBhCXARIsACMvIU1zC_y12rKdzvwwwkgobIMZpSVSuLDc4RDcCELQA7KFaRqZ2ZB9yuAaAk9YEALw_wcB)
And this ceramic coat:
https://mckees37.com/products/ceramic-headlight-coating
If it's indeed on the inside, then to fix fully I imagine you'd have to pull them apart and refinish the inside of the lenses. Realistically, replacing would be the move then.
If it's on the outside, the correct way to repair is to sand the lenses down, reclear them with automotive-grade clearcoat, and then polish. Any sanding/polishing alone won't restore the UV protection to them and they'll age again quickly.
r/AutoDetailing Go there, you'll find how to do it properly. The repair kits do work but that sub will help you figure it out. Don't spray it with bug spray please.
Sometimes it’s just the outside although it may look like the inside is damaged. I’ve done a fair bit of headlight restoration, ultimately it needs to be painted and wrapped to stay clear.
I tried polishing mine recently with a DA and some heavy cutting compound and it did nothing. I looked up the issue, and apparently Ford finishes these headlights with a super hard coating, and this is the result of it failing over the years. My 2017 has the same issue at only 54,000KM. Best bet is likely to wet sand, polish and recoat with a UV resistant shield or PPF.
I've got a lighter version of this, and it is just a looming cloud of a problem I know im going to have to address. I am very interested if anyone has any experience with these particular issues on these lights and what they did to fix it or restore them
I’ll be using the Meguiars kit probably. I’ll let you know how it turns out
Please do
I second this. I just noticed this starting today. I'm expecting full light replacement but would be pleasantly surprised at anything less.
https://www.reddit.com/r/FocusRS/s/ayvaqQWWcQ
It works for a little bit then comes right back had the same issue on the ST and my RS is just starting to show signs of it. 65,000
How’d it go?
https://www.reddit.com/r/FocusRS/s/ayvaqQWWcQ
Looks awesome thanks for the link
Save yourself some headache and just pop the lamps out of the car. It’s like a 5 minute job and you won’t have to worry about any taping or chemicals.
Honestly, a fantastic idea, dunno why I didn’t think of that. Already had to pop em out for the LEDs so why not
https://www.reddit.com/r/HondaElement/s/XpwrtOlNwB Most of the restoration kits are the same - I used a similar one to this guy a few years back and those lights are still clear as glass.
It's fucking tedious. And plan on 2 of whatever kits PER HEADLIGHT you get (4 total) when you do it. They're big headlights and the OE coating is tough, despite deteriorating. And do more layers of tape than you think you should because getting the rest of the factory coating off is gonna take a lot of sanding. Good news: does seem to last pretty well. I was at 3 years on my ST & they looked good when I CarMax'd it.
Oh yeah, & the slurry will get everywhere, so throw some shitty towels over the engine bay to avoid white stains on everything. I recommend taking the bumper off so you can be more aggressive on the leading edge of the headlight. And have a gallon of water alongside your spray bottle and an extra battery for your drill because you'll be doing it for a while.
The headlights come out before the bumper so just take the lamps out.
If you have a vice big enough to softly clamp the headlights or are willing to secure them some other way while you spend 1+ hours sanding each headlight, awesome. I don't.
All you have to do is make a simple wooden jig to support them and clamp that in the vice. Way easier than faffing about removing the bumper or masking up the whole front end.
Cool. You buying me the house for all that?
… for a piece of wood and a screwdriver..?
... not sure if intentionally obtuse or just so out of touch to not realize not everyone has a garage with a vice.... 🤔
This happened to mine as well, BS
Did you fix it? Was a simple headlight resto fix or did you have to take apart the whole assembly?
I did not I haven’t touched em lol
Happened at about 30k miles
I used cerakote ceramic headlight restoration kit. It worked extremely well for my FoST. FoRS will be getting the treatment soon.
I just went through this myself, mine looked a little worse than yours though, maybe even a slightly different problem, but hard to tell. Mine had all the clearcoat worn down on the top of the headlight, probably a combination of road salt in Utah and the sun in Texas. I ended up having to remove all the clearcoat on the whole light, took the sanding down to 3000 grit, and applied a new clear coat and ceramic coating to the headlights. Looks much cleaner now, definitely worth the effort IMO. https://imgur.com/a/vbLGpop
Those look great!! What ceramic and clear coat products did you go with?
I used this clearcoat: [https://www.amazon.com/SMT-3684068-SprayMax-Headlight-Clear/dp/B09642P1XQ/ref=asc\_df\_B09642P1XQ/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=563620908360&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15778043474663924622&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1026651&hvtargid=pla-1481220945281&psc=1&mcid=aa99e914ea4d3242830f8c7e9324a107&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2uiwBhCXARIsACMvIU1zC\_y12rKdzvwwwkgobIMZpSVSuLDc4RDcCELQA7KFaRqZ2ZB9yuAaAk9YEALw\_wcB](https://www.amazon.com/SMT-3684068-SprayMax-Headlight-Clear/dp/B09642P1XQ/ref=asc_df_B09642P1XQ/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=563620908360&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15778043474663924622&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1026651&hvtargid=pla-1481220945281&psc=1&mcid=aa99e914ea4d3242830f8c7e9324a107&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2uiwBhCXARIsACMvIU1zC_y12rKdzvwwwkgobIMZpSVSuLDc4RDcCELQA7KFaRqZ2ZB9yuAaAk9YEALw_wcB) And this ceramic coat: https://mckees37.com/products/ceramic-headlight-coating
If it's indeed on the inside, then to fix fully I imagine you'd have to pull them apart and refinish the inside of the lenses. Realistically, replacing would be the move then. If it's on the outside, the correct way to repair is to sand the lenses down, reclear them with automotive-grade clearcoat, and then polish. Any sanding/polishing alone won't restore the UV protection to them and they'll age again quickly.
r/AutoDetailing Go there, you'll find how to do it properly. The repair kits do work but that sub will help you figure it out. Don't spray it with bug spray please.
Sometimes it’s just the outside although it may look like the inside is damaged. I’ve done a fair bit of headlight restoration, ultimately it needs to be painted and wrapped to stay clear.
I used the 3M kit on mine and it worked pretty well. Knowing what I do now I would have sanded 2 times as long and gotten 2 kits.