More Information About Headlight Restoration

Oxidisation

Cars that spend the majority of their time outside (not stored in a garage) will be exposed to a large amount of UV from the Sun. The headlamp units when new will have a UV protectant layer to stop oxidisation from happening. However over time this layer degrades and the plastic lenses become increasingly exposed to the UV rays. This causes an oxidisation to occur which results in a yellowish cloudy film across the headlamp lens.

Road Grime And Chemicals

Clearly as headlights are at the front of the vehicle, it stands to reason that they get hit with a lot of road grime thrown up by other cars. Equally there will be various chemicals on the road from a variety of activities (e.g. road works, acid rain, screenwash from other cars, spills from accidents etc.). All of this increases the amount of crud that sticks and fuses with your headlight over time. It will also aid the degradation of the UV protection layers.

Scratches

As with road grime, there are naturally a lot of harder objects such as grit and stones on the road. These constantly get thrown up and impact your headlight lens causing multiple small scratches. These scratches are the hardest thing to remove but can have a significant impact on visibility.

Poor Headlights an MOT Failure

You may or may not be aware, but a heavily scratched and oxidised headlight will result in an MOT failure. This is simply due to the huge safety impact it can have on visibility at night.

Quite often the garage that fails your headlights in an MOT will do a quick restoration to just about bring it up to standard to pass the MOT. However this usually doesn’t last long and your headlights will be back to the hazy mess within a few months.

It’s important to restore the headlights properly so the clarity lasts a decent amount of time.

Headlight Restoration Services

Here at ABD, we practice what we preach and therefore offer a full headlight restoration service that will bring full clarity back to your headlights. We have 3 levels of restoration, dependant on the level and type of damage that needs fixing.

Level 1 - Oxidisation Removal

Oxidisation is actually one of the easier ones to remove. We have market leading products such as the Twenty20 Crystalite which will remove this in no time. This also includes the restoration of the UV protectant layer.

Level 2 - 2 Stage Sand and Polish

For lightly scratched headlights, we would perform a 2 stage sand process to remove the scratches and then restore the brilliant clarity with a polishing compound. As before, we finish the job of with a UV protectant layer.

Level 3 - 4 Stage Sand and Polish

For heavily scratched headlights, we would perform a 4 stage sand process to remove the deeper and larger scratches, working up to the finer scratches. The polishing stage is then done to restore clarity and the UV protectant layer completes the process.

More Information: Booking A Restoration

How Do I Book?

To book a headlight restoration in Southampton, simply call 02380 706 548 and speak to one of our team members. We'll go through your vehicle requirements and suggest the right service for your headlights.

Appointments can be booked in between 9am - 5pm Tuesday - Friday and usually takes up to 3 hours.

Can I Travel To You?

Absolutely.

We have customers travel from all over Hampshire including Hedge End, Eastleigh, Romsey, Marchwood, Lyndhurst, Winchester, Fareham, Portsmouth and even as far as London!

How Long Will It Take To Restore My Headlights?

This completely depends on what type of service you require. It also depends on the amount of oxidisation, scratches and chips that your headlights have been subjected to. However the restoration stage usually takes between 30 minutes to 1 hour. After this we must cure the UV protectant which we suggest should be left at least 1 hour (more if it's cold and wet). We do have a waiting area that you are more than welcome to stay in while it's being done, but if you can leave your car with us for a few hours, that is ideal.

Call 02380 706548 To Book