Can anyone tell me if the kits for headlight polishing will work on the tail lights? Has anyone been able to polish them? Mine almost look like they were lightly sandblasted.

 

I restore headlights as a side business. When I started out I chose the 3M restoration kit as my base. They're fairly cheap, especially on Amazon. And you probably won't even have to use the 800 grit sanding discs that come with it (and even if you do, I seriously doubt they're bad enough to go all the way down to 500 grit). Taillights are made from acrylic, so they should shine up nice and easy compared to today's polycarbonate headlights. Let us know how it goes.

 

I have a few projects before I get to this but I will take before and after pictures when I do it to post. Thanks for the input.

 

The OEM tail lights actually deteriorate and the plastic wear away. I tried a few things and the best thing was to paint them with clear paint. I ended up getting a pair from the junk yard.

 

I've never had issue with my 850's taillights oxidizing that bad. They've been scratched heavily, but that's nothing that's not an easy fix. I'm just glad the 850's headlights are glass and not polycarbonate.

Polycarbonate is used for newer headlights because it's very shatter resistant. If something hits it it will just deform instead of flying off in a hundred pieces. But polycarbonate is also porous (which is what causes lens crazing) and very susceptible to ultraviolet radiation (which is what causes hazy yellowing and oxidation). A clear coat is applied at the factory but after it's absorbed all the UV is can it begins to degrade and whiten, after which is thins or chips to the point where bare polycarbonate is revealed. That's when the yellowing starts. To fix them you'd need to strip the rest of the clear coat off and sand away the oxidized portions of the lens. Once all the yellowing is off you'd compound and polish it back to glass-like clarity and reseal with a PERMANENT coating (not a lotion-based over-the-counter protectant; they wear off way too soon, leaving bare polycarbonate within weeks).

But with the 850's glass headlights that's not a problem (though glass does pit with road rash).

But side turn signals and taillights are more often than not made from acrylic, which has great UV resistance, isn't nearly as porous, and is much easier to fix swirling and the occasional oxidation (not common with acrylic). But acrylic is ridiculously brittle, so that's why taillights and side lights shatter instead of deform like headlights.

It shouldn't be too hard to repair your taillights.

 

Heck, getting nice fresh tails from a junked V70 for $15 buck each is well worth the trip.

 

I have just used the 3M kit on my tail lights and the difference is amazing. You can still see the fine cracks (brittleness) in the plastic up close, but there is now no fading and the lights actually look glossy and clear again.