New Use For Ultimate Compound?

[SuburbanGuy20]

Ok, one thing I have seen a lot of, is when your headlights get yellowed out and oxodized, the first thing I know most people reach for is the 3 wet sandpaper's, and the bottle of PlastiX wax/ polish to see if it can clean it all off.

Rather than break my back with all that scrubbing and sanding, I have found that a thin ribbon of the Ultimate Compound either hand applied, or buffed at a low speed, can clear away pretty much any rather harsh oxidation and yellowing from the clear plastic on your headlights.

The headlights on my mom's 2001 Mazda Tribute suffered from that same problem and I actually learned the hard way, what all that sanding and buffing can do to your hands, should you slip (sliced my hand with the paper). The Ultimate Compound cuts right through the oxidation and doesn't leave any nasty residues on the plastic.

Hope this works for yall. TTYL

[Shawn T.]

Re: New Use For Ultimate Compound?

I have alos tried this and this works beautifully on headlights that are not completely yellow. For almost all headlights, I could get away with a UC or M105 ribbon followed by something else but for the really bad headlights I have the sandpaper and Plastx combo.

[JoeDirt]

Re: New Use For Ultimate Compound?

I've always used Finish Restore (3M) and/or PlastX on headlights, never been a fan of the tedious process of sandpaper unless they're completely trashed. Pointless in my book when you get very, very good results with compound.

[DetailFreak517]

Re: New Use For Ultimate Compound?

Considering you can get effective results using toothpaste, I would imagine any sort of polish should do fine.

[Jossy92]

Re: New Use For Ultimate Compound?

Considering you can get effective results using toothpaste, I would imagine any sort of polish should do fine.

Never thought that. What's you technique?

[Cole Ziegler]

Re: New Use For Ultimate Compound?

Toothpaste works.

You can also use UC for light polishing on car bras that have gotten contaminated.

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: New Use For Ultimate Compound?

Toothpaste works.

You can also use UC for light polishing on car bras that have gotten contaminated.

Never tried this. Thanks for the tip.

[Cole Ziegler]

Re: New Use For Ultimate Compound?

No problem. Ive had best luck using it with a microfiber towel and applying light pressure moving in circle motions. It gets the job done, (plus car bras are usually 8 mil plastic so thats roughly 200 microns thick), and can immensely improve the clarity of the plastic.

[Imperiex]

Re: New Use For Ultimate Compound?

Just a note for people to be aware of. I'm not sure of the credibility of this source, so if anybody knows for sure, that would be great. But I have heard that sanding headlights can lead to further damage.

From what this source claims, there are UV protectants on the surface of the headlight, so when you sand that, it gets rid of them. Immediately it looks better, but it will yellow faster in the future.

Perhaps the oxidizing has a limit on how fast it can happen and the difference wouldn't be very noticeable (time wise). But, until I know for sure, I guess I'm going to be careful with it. Anybody know for sure on this?

[Murr1525]

Re: New Use For Ultimate Compound?

Many lights have a thin film on the surface of them. Sort of like reading glasses.

But if the film is already failing, not really losing a whole lot. But regular maintenance may be needed.

[Megafast13]

Re: New Use For Ultimate Compound?

M105 is also recommended for headlights. It's very similar to UC

[David32]

Re: New Use For Ultimate Compound?

I know this is way off topic and dumb in a way, but I tested UC on my vision glasses.. their old and have a bunch of scratches which is really why I don't use em anymore, but it didnt make a difference. I was once told that toothpaste works, but not really.

[zbestwun2001]

Re: New Use For Ultimate Compound?

Toothpaste works.

.

It did "help" mine a bit, but mine were not yellow or really really cloudy. I wanted them clearer though. I am still going to buy some compound I think and rub them out.
It shouldn't take too much elbow grease on mine. Being that it's 103 outside right now and was 75 at 6a.m. I might wait for this heatwave to pass.

[ethereal45]

Re: New Use For Ultimate Compound?

Someone here posted a review of D151 PRC and it did a great job on the headlights.

[GhOsT1321]

Re: New Use For Ultimate Compound?

I know this is way off topic and dumb in a way, but I tested UC on my vision glasses.. their old and have a bunch of scratches which is really why I don't use em anymore, but it didnt make a difference. I was once told that toothpaste works, but not really.

UC can scratch plastic and clear coat, but the abrasives in it are not harder than glass. There will be very minimal, if any, true scratch removal from glass using UC. Essentially, anything that makes something shinier/clearer via abrasives, is just putting many, finer scratches in the surface that are less visible.