Toothpaste to clean plastic headlamps - Yay or Nay?

[stockhausen]

I seem to recall reading somewhere that toothpaste is a very effective mild abrasive suitable for cleaning the opaque film off plastic headlamps.

Has anyone tried this and is it effective?

If not, what is a suitable alternative?

 

[Fr0dders]

You can do.

But you'd be better off using this:

http://www.theultimatefinish.co.uk/...tion-kit.aspx?source=google-base&variant=4835

Previous results here :

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18165669&highlight=plast-x

Using a drill with the attachment provided in the kit makes it much, much less work. If you fancy polishing by hand for hours, you can just buy the plast-x polish on its own.

 

[daveydave]

Or just some T-Cut....

 

[stockhausen]

Or just some T-Cut....

Interesting . . . I have a bottle of T-Cut Original but had assumed that it would be just too abrasive?

 

[Muffin`]

I find the blood of a Tory much better at getting the crap off anything.

 

[lordrobs]

Plast-X is the stuff to use but don't bother if you don't have a machine to apply it, by hand it does pretty much nothing IME.

 

[Mud]

It took me about 10-15 mins to sort out the original headlight on my wife's 307 using T-cut for metallic finishes (which I believe is less abrasive than standard T-cut) and an electric buffer. Wouldn't want to do it by hand unless very patient!

 

[stockhausen]

Many thanks to all for their replies

I have just ordered a Meguiar's Headlight & Plastic Restoration Kit at £29.99 from Monzacare.com and will try that out. It is to try and sort out a neighbour's car which failed its MOT on Friday. She is an OAP and was told that she needed to replace both headlamp units for a pass

 

[lordrobs]

If they are MOT failure bad then I would be looking for some from a scrapper.

 

[Dale V]

Or just some T-Cut....

.

 

[Phil W]

I've been reading up on this and the best solution by hand seems to be...

1000>1500>2000 Wet & Dry followed by a cutting compound (G3 for example) and then Polish/Wax to finish off.

 

[loltim]

Interesting . . . I have a bottle of T-Cut Original but had assumed that it would be just too abrasive?

use polish then, they're all abrasives. Just don't fall into the trap of buying a product designed specifically for restoring headlights as you'll get ripped off.

 

[Dr Who]

I find the blood of a Tory much better at getting the crap off anything.

Tory blood is good for that, it got the crap out of number 10

 

[Irish_Tom]

I gave mine a bit of a blast with Menzerna 85RE and a finishing compound when I was doing my car the other weekend.

Got the minor scratches out but hasn't done anything for the little pits and stone-chips. I could probably get them spotless with more time / effort but I was pleased with the results considering it was just a couple of passes.

 

[red eye]

I've been reading up on this and the best solution by hand seems to be...

1000>1500>2000 Wet & Dry followed by a cutting compound (G3 for example) and then Polish/Wax to finish off.

G3 all the way i had to do this to a toyota soarer took less then 5min for both

 

[daveydave]

I've used T-cut on my rear light clusters...by hand...5 mins...it was fine.