The previous owner of my Vantage had the passenger side headlight assembly replaced, but the driver's side unit appears to be original. All of the LEDs work, as well as the HIDs and the auto-leveling function, but the outer lens has the scratches, crazing, and clouding that is typical of a 10-year-old car with polycarbonate lenses.

I'm wondering if it's safe to use one of those headlight restoration kits on these cars. Have other owners had good results with them? The headlamp assembly is $1800, so I do NOT want to damage it.

 

contrary to what some other folks may say, my 2009 vantage has a coating on it. it's not as simple as the polishing kit.

 

I've done this to a number of cars over the years.

The original coating goes yellow. Most of the polishing kits include a rub on/spray coat.

I use Spraymax 2K Clearcoat on mine... Works great.

 

Agreed. I don't understand why people insist that their lenses aren't clear coated, they are. I've had body shop owners argue with me about it. The better lens restoration kits actually include the sand paper and instructions to remove it. Confusingly, they then don't re-apply a clear coat. An uncoated lense will oxidize and scratch much more easily than a coated one.

Lenses need to be treated just like a paint finish with polish and wax protection. Restoration needs to be treated the same as well. If the clear coat is beyond restoration, it needs to be stripped and reapplied. It's actually not that hard to do.

 

Have you actually tried this on a Vantage headlight?

Once the clearcoat is stripped, and the plastic polished to a scratch-free state, I wonder if a headlight-specific coating followed by PPF would be a permanent fix?

https://www.autogeek.net/optimum-opt...t-coating.html

 

I did it on my DB9 headlights. Worked like every other headlight.

I never tried putting PPF on it. Give it a shot and report back!

 

So, I bought some of this stuff to use on an e39 M5 and never did because I ended up swapping out the headlights for an updated set with HIDs and brighter angel eyes. I figured I might as well try it on the Vantage, since it was sitting around the garage collecting dust. It has sanding pads, clarifying compound, lubricant, and a UV-protective base/topcoat sealant.



I wasn't expecting much, to be honest.

I was WRONG. It worked almost as well as the stuff we used on the canopies of the Harriers when I was in the Marines.

Unfortunately I forgot to get a "before" picture. It had micro cracks, swirl marks and slight yellowing on the top of the lens and where the LED strips come down. All that is now 99% gone. You have to put your nose on the lens to tell it ever had any defects now. Here's a photo of the results (and a photo of the brand new passenger-side lens for comparison). Needless to say, I'm happy with it so far. I'll probably put some extra protection over the top later, as well.

 

Looks great. For minor issues, PlastX works great. Each time gets better. Takes 5 minutes.

 

Looks great @Kalepsis. Hopefully the UV treatment will be long lasting.

 

Yes, I've done this. If you treat it just like you would a car body, that is, wet sand the old clear coat off, then wet sand to 1500 grit and then apply SprayMax 2K UV clearcoat, then wet sand up to 2000 grit and polish. They look fantastic and will last for a long time.

There's absolutely nothing special about the Plexiglass that Aston uses. The entire auto industry uses exactly the same material.