Clear Coat for Headlights

I watched a detailing video and an AI search and both said that clear coat damages polycarbonate and reduces clarity.
Has new info come out? Sealant was the recommended top coat.
 
I have a lot out there that are fine. Best results are with slow clear, imo. Fast clears can contain acetone which does damage polycarbonate and can make the lamps appear slightly milky.
 
I have cleared my BMW headlights many years ago with Nasons..They still look perfect outside of some small rock dings/chips. I have also cleared my Ford headlights with Spi Production...Cant give any conclusive results as the insides of lens also had some cloudiness...... I see no degradation on the outside of lens...I would not hesitate to clearcoat headlights..I do Not know what type of plastic i was dealing with
 
crashtech said:
I have a lot out there that are fine. Best results are with slow clear, imo. Fast clears can contain acetone which does damage polycarbonate and can make the lamps appear slightly milky.
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Does this apply to any of the SPI clears? I don't do many but I did call the guy out for making his claim up. I may have to eat crow.... again.
 
AAE said:
Does this apply to any of the SPI clears? I don't do many but I did call the guy out for making his claim up. I may have to eat crow.... again.
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I don't claim to be an expert, but there are certainly dozens of headlamps out there that I've shot with SPI clear. The only comebacks I've ever had are from not completely removing the optical coating that the lenses ship with. Clear won't stick to at least some kinds of that coating. We observed slow clear having superior clarity many years ago, so that's what we use. I found out later about the acetone and it made sense.
 
I had no idea about the acetone being in the clear. The latest technology is using liquid acetone that gets atomized and smoked onto the lens. But, you can't have a whisper of a breeze or it will dissipate and look really bad.
 
Never heard of the lens smoking thing. In fact, where I am I have never been approached about smoked or blacked out lenses...
 
I've blacked out quite a few sets. I used to do a little black in intercoat clear so I could monitor the level of darkness, but on the new lenses it seems to react badly so I just add the black to the clear and it is what it is!
 
OJ86 said:
o I just add the black to the clear and it is what it is!
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This is the same thing i do. We have a lot of cleared headlights running around locally, as well as some of my own that were done almost 10 years ago that still look great; no peeling, no clouding. we have played with multiple clears and activator combos along the way as well, including the speed clear, no discernible difference. The acetone treatment looks interesting, but just melting the plastic smooth again is not going to provide any long term holdout against UV.
 
BrianK said:
This is the same thing i do. We have a lot of cleared headlights running around locally, as well as some of my own that were done almost 10 years ago that still look great; no peeling, no clouding. we have played with multiple clears and activator combos along the way as well, including the speed clear, no discernible difference. The acetone treatment looks interesting, but just melting the plastic smooth again is not going to provide any long term holdout against UV.
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It's a short term fix for sure. Claim a 6 month longevity.
 
When I clear lamps, I just tell my customers they'll never need to worry about them again. Aside from a few exceptions, it's been true. Zero comebacks for anything but the couple that peeled because of the coating removal issue.
 
Ive restored sooo many headlights over the years. By the far the best way to do it is to re-clear them. 800Grit and clear. nothing fancy. Not a single come back re-clearing them. I recleared my truck headlights and it did start to flake off on a place where a rock hit it. If your soo picky about it being milky , or it failing or some other problem ive never heard of, u might aswell just buy a new headlights.
 
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