Headlight Restoration

[McMo]

I took a go at restoring the headlights on my '02 300. These things were pretty trashed. Following are the steps I took:

 

Washed and clayed,  then numerous passes with the paint correcting polish and 4" orange pad, followed up with a couple of passes of paint finishing polish and 4" white pad. I was using a pretty decent Makita cordless that can achieve the recommended 1500 rpm's.

 

Although greatly improved, they still have a long way to go. Is there a more aggressive step I can take before redoing the polish?

[gencoupe3dot8]

Pics or it never happened.  What is the complaint? Yellowing?  Scratches?  Foggy?  Need more details...

 

[my gen coupe drivers side headlight has some scratches I will need to sand out... that's gonna be a little fun.]

Edited July 15, 2013 by gencoupe3dot8

[Team Adam's]

Depending on how bad they are you may need to start with sandpaper before going to polish... if you have pictures to share that would be a HUGE help since the degree of haze can vary so much from one car to the next. 

[JHL88]

Depending on how bad they are you may need to start with sandpaper before going to polish... if you have pictures to share that would be a HUGE help since the degree of haze can vary so much from one car to the next. 

 

agreed.  I did my mom's headlights on her '02 Accord and I wet sanded them using 2k & 3k grit followed by SHR + FMP.  Came out pretty good

[McMo]

Thanks, everyone. I will get some pics.

[McMo]

Here is a pic of what I am dealing with. The surface still feels rough, too.

 

 

[ArmyAcadia09]

My brothers did that. Just wet sanded and did the polishing steps

[gencoupe3dot8]

Here is a pic of what I am dealing with. The surface still feels rough, too.

Looks like you will need to wet sand then polish.  Grit will depend on how rough the lens is.  Might want to start with 1000 grit but might have to go to 800 or even 600...

[teamcrossworks]

What kind of "homemade" sanding block should we use when sanding?

[gencoupe3dot8]

I actually bought one from the M people... can't remember what it's made of but i think it's rubber.

[Kustom_FX]

E-7200 is the part # from the M company.. I sell them at the store and use it at home. I never start more aggressive than 1500, and always cross hatch your grits. Hope that helps

[KKJ]

I have worked on a few headlights. Some require more aggressive correction than others. The worst ones I worked on I started with 1000 grit, but it wasn't doing the trick. I ended up wet sanding with 600, then 800, then 1000, then last 2000. I then polished them as I would paint. They all turned out great, but some headlights had some crazing (cracking in the plastic) which could not be sanded out.

[DonJuan692006]

Sorry to dig up an old post but what do you guys recommend protecting the car with? I tried just taping the area off on my girls Focus but even the 2000 grit I was using tore through the tape.

[Baron_Von_Awesome]

Sorry to dig up an old post but what do you guys recommend protecting the car with? I tried just taping the area off on my girls Focus but even the 2000 grit I was using tore through the tape.

Use more tape and adjust your technique...this ain't shop class .  I cut the sandpaper into pieces about the size of a folded dollar bill - nice and small so I have more control and can see where I'm going. I don't use sanding blocks because they kill my sense of touch by not letting me feel spots where the coating isn't quite sanded off all the way...there's a slight drag on the sandpaper that can only be felt by hand.  Also notice how instead of taping the leading edge of the hood I just opened it up to get it out of my way...look for shortcuts like that if you can.

 

 

 

[DonJuan692006]

Use more tape and adjust your technique...this ain't shop class . I cut the sandpaper into pieces about the size of a folded dollar bill - nice and small so I have more control and can see where I'm going. I don't use sanding blocks because they kill my sense of touch by not letting me feel spots where the coating isn't quite sanded off all the way...there's a slight drag on the sandpaper that can only be felt by hand. Also notice how instead of taping the leading edge of the hood I just opened it up to get it out of my way...look for shortcuts like that if you can.

I have no idea why I never thought to pop the hood. Thank you very much for the tip. I got my girls headlight looking much better but there is still a little bit of hazing and you can still see some of the sanding lines. The unfortunate part is I'm waiting for my 4" orange pads to use the paint correcting polish. I did two passes each with the white pad and finishing polish but it wasn't cutting quite enough and I ran out of time.