Clearing a foggy headlight with acetone vapor - GIF

[Jon]

Clearing a foggy headlight with acetone vapor.

[mbshop]

No other info on this ?

[Walkman]

Like to try this on my Vibe. How???

[ednja]

I haven't seen that method yet but I see there are some posts about it already on youtube. I will give this a try. https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...+acetone+vapor

Here's one of those tools being sold on ebay coming from China of course. China has too much of the work.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Restoration...wAAOSw40Zb2m6L

[ranald]

My son used some product to renew headlights that were aged and opaque whereas this is clearing the internal mist it would seem: pretty cool but wouldn't want to breathe it & must be dangerous to paint work, going by the tape.

[neilbourjaily]

I'll try it. Acetone is very volatile. It's an organic solvent. Used in a well ventilated setting, like outdoors, it should be safe to use. Maybe my wife's perfume atomizer. Ooooh, danger from within.

[ranald]

I'll try it. Acetone is very volatile. It's an organic solvent. Used in a well ventilated setting, like outdoors, it should be safe to use. Maybe my wife's perfume atomizer. Ooooh, danger from within.

Are yours aged opaque? If so , can you let me know how it goes? I have one good & one poor on my old grand vitara..

[JTG]

This is called vapor polishing -- when a plastic surface is exposed to the vapor of a solvent in which it is soluble, the surface will flow and small irregularities get smoothed out, which often brings the plastic back to optical quality. The solvent must be matched to the plastic for best results, and it is possible to overdo it and deform/craze the surface, though generally it's a pretty forgiving technique.

Acetone works well for polycarbonate, hence its use on headlights. This will only affect the outer surface of the plastic, and can give a surface roughness down to 10-15 microns; you can get the same or better results with mechanical sanding/polishing, which is what most of the headlight restoration kits involve, but it takes a lot longer. However, acetone vapor can wreck your paint, so masking the surrounding area is a good idea.

The technique here is to tape a (polypropylene/hdpe) funnel over the top of an aluminum can with a small amount of acetone in it, and then hold a heat source under the can to increase the vapor pressure of the acetone. If you're going to try this, it is critical that your heat source is not capable of igniting the vapor, and it should go without saying that you need very good ventilation.

[EnginePaul]

Acetone is finger nail polish remover.

[ranald]

It's a shame we cant see the whole setup. The can has a handle (like a pewter mug), obviously to avoid burns, if being heated.
Very interesting despite not seeing all.

Is a flameless heat gun being used like the heat shrink type? Pardon my ignorance.