Just got back from touring scotland with poppa tyke and my bike is stone chipped to death, the paint I can't really do anything about but wondered if any of you kind people know anyway to remove chips from the headlights??
I've previously just used T cut on plastic lenses and they've come up a treat, if you're gonna wet dry them you'd need a really fine paper, 1200 or 1500 even, but the t cut should be enough on its own.
The problem with the plastic lenses is there is a uv coating applied to them in order to limit degradation to the lens, basically it goes cloudy without the coating! Your only option to limit the damage/loss of bikes looks is like your mate said wet sand them or replace for new! U can't always totally remove the stone chips as they can dig out too much plastic but wet sanding can remove the rough edges, scratches and smaller chips. I have done this on my bikes and on many many cars before! You would require an electic polisher in order to remove the sanding marks tho! Or an arm like popeye. Then once the finish was brought back to a nice clear finish a regular application of a uv resistant wax would then be required in order to take the place of the previously applied manufacturer coating or it will in time turn white and cloudy requiring yet more polishing to make right again. The thing to remember with stone chips is you will always have to compromise on what can safely be removed, remember the plastic is only a few millimetres thick and remove too much plastic and the next stone could go through the light or crack it beyond repair! I recently applied 3m's venture shield (full bike kit inc front light) to my bike and wet sanded stone chips on my nose cone and while I had all the stuff out I done the headlight too so I knew I had best finish possible, there a some pictures of it in the scotland tour thread, once I was happy with what I achieved and got the clarity of the headlight back I applied the venture shield which has uv protective properties replacing what I removed and also stops any more chips appearing! Link to my post with pics, you can make out a part of the light I sanded at the top of light. http://1000rr.co.uk/events-meetings-ride-outs/7216-87.htm#post170202 Hope some of that helps.
I would go even finer than that mate, those grits would be really hard to polish out by hand! I went for 2000 grit but I also have a few electric polishers to remove all the scratches left by the wet n dry.
Also worth a mention is meguires has a headlight restore kit on sale, it comes with a drill attachment and polishes to bring the light back after you have done your sanding. There are loads of videos on YouTube with regards to headlight restoring!
+1 I have done loads of plastic headlights. If you can get them removed it makes it So much easier. But as said check out Youtube and then buy a kit on ebay.rem Slow speed, no pressure and loads of water. Oh and there is kits that come with a new Uv protection spray . failing that you can Give it a quick clean with toothpaste if You get the kit without the uv spray.
If that's for a new OEM headlight then it's a little expensive as my local Suzuki/Ducati dealer can beat that price.....
