Your Porsche Boxster Headlights may be ready for headlight restoration. The Porsche Boxster has a timeless design. One of the first questions I am asked is “What year is your car?”, followed by “It looks brand new!”
Clear headlight lenses increase your safety and improve the overall appearance of your vehicle. If your headlights have oxidized or starting to “yellow”, your car will really show its age.
[amazon bestseller=”headlight restoration kit” items=”5″ description_items=”2″]
Safety Issue
Your Porsche Boxster headlights make use of polycarbonate lenses, which are a clear plastic material that resists cracking from impact. This is vastly superior to glass lenses. The downside of polycarbonate is that it has a tendency to yellow and become cloudy because of UV (ultraviolet, or sunshine) and exposure to the elements.
If you do not polish your headlights regularly, your headlight lenses will become oxidized. This will cause the sub-standard performance of your lens and diminish the performance of your headlights overall. It reduces what you can see at night and equally impacts being seen by other drivers on the road.
Your headlights don’t get the credit they deserve for keeping you safe.
General Maintenance: Polish Your Headlight Lens
The good news is that with proper maintenance, your Porsche headlight lenses can be cleaned and fully reconditioned. You can keep your headlights performing optimally by ensuring that they are not faded, clouded, or turning yellow. You do this by polishing your headlights each year and sealing them.
It will become routine, like changing your oil.
Polish the Headlight Lenses
To begin any simple Headlight Lens restoration, you need a good electric polisher.
We do not recommend doing this by hand and definitely not using any of the drill bit polisher solutions. You need a good polisher and chances are you already have one for detailing, waxing, and polishing your car.
If you do not have a polisher, we recommend the [amazon link=”B010U0LH4M” title=”Griot’s Garage Polisher”], or the [amazon link=”B01BKT63XM” title=”Chemical Guys TORQ Polisher”]. Also, see our comparison below. These polishers are great for your headlights but phenomenal for detailing your car.
Keep In Mind
Please don’t waste your time or money with the “wipe on – wipe off” kits that are available on the market today. The only way to clean and recondition your headlight lenses is to actually remove the outer layer of the lens and polish it back to its original shine.
This process is very much the same as waxing the paint on the body of your Porsche. When waxing your Porsche or having it professionally detailed, the detailer will remove the outermost layer of the paint (paint correction) and return the paint to a fresh shine through a multi-stage polishing process. The same process is used on the headlight lenses to return your Porsche Boxster lenses to their original state.
Step One for Porsche Headlight Restoration
If your headlight lenses are heavily oxidized, skip to step two.
- Thoroughly wash, clean, and dry your headlights and surrounding areas.
- Heavily tape off the area surrounding your headlight lens.
Porsche Purists Recommend the removal of the headlight assembly to ensure no damage to paint and body surrounding headlights. - Consider covering the majority of your car using your car cover (especially if you will be sanding)
Pro Tip: When applying polish simply apply polisher compound on the headlight (rather than the pad.) And then without turning on your polisher, work the polish into the pad and around the lens. Otherwise, when you start the polisher, you will get the compound everywhere.
- Apply some polisher compound on the headlight (rather than the pad.) Using a simple wool pad with compound polish, your lens for 1-2 minutes.
- Repeat this 1-2 more times to achieve a clear lens.
This should improve the clarity of your headlight lens.
Step Two (Only for severe oxidation)
If your headlight lens is still cloudy, faded or Yellow then you need to consider a full water polish (or wet sanding) of your headlight lens. If you opt for the water sanding of your headlight lens, then be prepared to seal your headlight lens once finished.
We do not recommend using a 5 or 6-inch (150mm) backing plate, it is best to apply the water sanding polish using a 3-inch (75mm) backing plate (wheel.) You will also need multiple grit water sandpaper 1000,2000,3000 and 4000 grit.
- Start by applying soapy water to the lens
- Use a Wet 1000-grit sanding polish pad. Rinse the lens.
- Apply soapy water to the lens and use a Wet 2000-grit sanding polish pad. Rinse the lens.
- Apply soapy water to the lens and use a Wet 3000-grit sanding polish pad. Rinse the lens.
- Apply soapy water to the lens and use a Wet 4000-grit sanding polish pad. Rinse the lens.
- Clean or original wool buffing pad
- Finally, apply some polisher compound on the headlight (rather than the pad.) Using a simple wool pad with compound, polish your lens for 1-2 minutes.
- Repeat the process of the first step using the polisher compound. All haze should now be eliminated and you are ready for the final stage.
Step Three (Sealing your Headlight Lens)
Now that you have thoroughly polished your Porsche Boxster headlight lenses, you are ready to seal them. This is the easiest part of the process but still requires your attention to apply an even not streaky finish.
[amazon box=”B06ZYGJ4W8,B001DKJU8Y,B0051PJWQW,B079R1K2RX,B0000AY3SR” grid=”3″ template=widget-small]Picking a Polisher
[amazon table=”3598″]Other Polishers on Amazon
[amazon bestseller=”car random polisher kit dual action” items=”5″ description_items=”2″]Internet Research
Every Porsche Boxster Forum site and detailing forum site has many dedicated threads on Porsche Headlight Restoration.
From YouTube
We suggest you take the time to review all 3 variations on the steps above on the Porsche Boxster Headlight Restoration:
Other Articles of Interest
