headlight restoration

[01SOMSS!]

what are the steps to restoring headlights? I've got a DA 7424 and a few 4'' meg pads. red,yellow,blk along with some plast X. thanks

[Ryan_Bihun89]

Re: headlight restoration

To do that, just go ahead with the plastX and a Yellow 4" pad. Turn the polisher on speed 3-4 and go over the headlight making sure that you dont touch the paint.

How yellowish are the headlights?

A picture would come in handy.

[01SOMSS!]

Re: headlight restoration

its on my gf car. I'd say they're about 60% yellow out of 100%. I was wondering because I want to offer that service to my customers.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: headlight restoration

Wet sanding can do wonders for badly oxidized headlights, and our new for 2011 Heavy Duty Headlight Restoration Kit comes with a hand pad, 1000 grit and 3000 grit discs plus a wool pad that attaches to any drill.

But you've already got a D/A so you can make great use of that tool on a regular basis (the kit is designed for someone who just needs to take care of a single car, maybe two, and doesn't own all the specialized tools other wise expected of a pro or semi-pro). What you'd want to do is get, at the minimum, a 3" hand pad as seen here and then some 3" discs as seen here. Depending on how bad the lights are you might start with 1000 grit, or you may have to go even coarser than that. But where ever you start, just work up in steps to the 3000 grit before final polishing. Using a 4" polishing pad on your D/A you can buff out the 3000 grit marks with M105, then do a final polish with M205 and you're done.

You'd be amazed how bad a set of lights can be and still be brought back to virtually new just with 1000 grit and 3000 grit. Here's a little tip - sand the 1000 grit side to side, then the 3000 grit up and down. That way, when you buff it out you can look for any sanding mark remnants - if remnants are side to side then they are from your 1000 grit sanding and you should redo your 3000 grit step before buffing out again. If the remnants are up and down strokes then they're from your 3000 grit step and further M105 buffing should correct them.

It's a good idea to mask off surrounding painted panels before doing all this too, just to play it safe.

[01SOMSS!]

Re: headlight restoration

My gf's mom went to tj a while a few months ago. she said someone came up to her and asked if they wanted a headlight restro. She said they did her vans headlights on the spot. took about 10 mins. they look brand new now. I wonder what they used. My Gf's mom said they used a machine that looked like a DA.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: headlight restoration

They probably did something similar to what we described. That process really doesn't take long at all and the results are usually fantastic.

[deej0121]

Re: headlight restoration

I tried to help a friend with his Mercedes (2 door convertible, don't know the model #...) glazed headlights--used my D/A 7424 with the orange pad & PLAST-X. Didn't really make any significant difference. I would say his headlights are something like 50-70% glazed. Not my car so I can only recommend--should I recommend Meguiar's heavy duty restoration kit? I have never done any wet sanding and would hate to make his headlights worse. Would it be a reasonable thought to use Scotch-Brite pads? Or would taht just put scratches in the plastic? Thanks in advance for your replies.

[ARCStig]

Re: headlight restoration

I did mine with the Meguiar's regular restoration kit, I guess that's before the Heavy Duty one came out, and it got them most of the way there, they actually look fine untill the sun shines on them, then they have a light yellowish hue to them...should I do it again with a Heavy Duty kit?