Restoring a foggy headlight with acetone vapor - GIF

[Altair]

Restoring a foggy headlight with acetone vapor.




Previously:

Restoring a foggy headlight - GIF
Clearing a foggy headlight with acetone vapor - GIF
Chandelier headlights - photo
1965 Buick Riviera clamshell headlights - GIF
Car tricks compilation - GIF

[hemmjo]

Does that really work? Or will that fog up again as soon as it drys?

[nova_robotics]

That's very interesting. I wonder if that would preserve the UV coating on the lenses. I've polished a number of these to bring them back from the dead, and that always requires the removal of the UV coating, so they go cloudy very quickly after being repaired.

I've tried acetone vapor polishing 3D printed ABS before. It works well. I have a frog on my desk that was 3D printed probably 7-8 years ago and it still looks like the day it was vapor polished. That doesn't get direct sunlight exposure though.

[odd one]

I have done this, and it works great........as long as it is the right type of plastic. Cut the top off of a soda can and tapered it down to wrap around a piece of conduit and sealed with tape. Poured Acetone down conduit and used a heat gun to heat and cause the Acetone in the can to evaporate. Made my Subaru headlights clearer than any other method that I have ever used before at a fraction of the time and no mess. However, it totally fogged/hazed my Hummer fog lights. My chemistry and laziness prevent me from learning what the compatible plastics are and what type of lenses that I have. Now I get to upgrade my fog lights. This does not restore any UV protection. I seem to have to do it about every 3 months. Takes less that 5 minutes to do both.