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We just completed a couple days of advanced training here at Meguiar's and wanted to share some of these processes with everyone here on MOL. These training sessions included a number of Meguiar's personnel from around the world so it was a very interesting couple of days, not only learning these new products but interacting with people from the UK, Latin America, Korea and China.
Here we're going to use our new Professional Headlight & Spot Repair Kit to restore clarity to a badly oxidized and scratched headlight lens.
The process is made up of multiple steps involving both dry and damp sanding as well as final polishing of the polycarbonate lens. The severity of the surface oxidation/degradation is going to determine if you need to start with 500 grit or drop all the way down to 320 grit dry sandpaper. For only very lightly scuffed or scratched lenses you may find 800 grit or even finer is sufficient. Regardless which grit you start with, you must always use the foam interface pad that comes with the kit. Failure to do so may result in overly aggressive cutting, uneven cutting, excessive cutting on an edge, or the creation of pigtails that can be very difficult to remove.
For this particular headlight we used the following pieces from the kit -
For initial cutting of the heavy oxidation and subsequent refining of the initial cutting process, all via pneumatic mini D/A buffer supplied with the kit, the following items were put to use:
(1) S3320 3" Sanding Disc - dry, 320 grit
(2) S3500 3" Sanding Disc - dry, 500 grit
(2) S3800 3" Sanding Disc - dry, 800 grit
(1) S3F1000 3" Foam Finishing Disc - damp, 1000 grit
(1) S3F3000 3" Foam Finishing Disc - damp, 3000 grit
(1) S3FIS Foam Interface Pad
It should be noted that the dry sanding discs were basically used up on this lens and were thrown away when finished. The two grits of foam finishing discs, however, were easily good for use on 3 or 4 more lenses, perhaps even more, and were simply cleaned and stored away for future use. And again, it is important we emphasize that the S3FIS Foam Interface Pad was used for every one of the steps outlined above. Do NOT omit use of this interface pad from this process!!
To bring up maximum clarity we followed the above steps with the pneumatic mini rotary polisher also supplied with the kit:
(1) W4003 - 3" "Easy Buff" Knitted Wool Cutting Pad used with M105 Ultra Cut Compound
(1) W8204 - 4" Soft Buff™ Foam Polishing Pad used with M205 Ultra Finishing Polish
In all cases above, whether mini D/A or mini rotary, we used the S3BP 3” Backing Plate
Lastly, as you can see we did this headlight off the vehicle and clamped into a work bench. If you are going to do this process with the headlight still on the vehicle, and this is certainly the most common scenario, it is critically important that you mask off the surrounding paint and trim with two or three layers of masking tape. The edge of the sanding discs can easily and quickly cut into surrounding material, so exercise caution (and common sense) when doing this process. Meguiar's new Professional Masking Tape (T18MM 3/4", T36MM 1-1/2" and T50MM 2") is perfect for adding this necessary level of protection to the surrounding areas.
With that out of the way, here's how we went about the process:
This is the target - one yellow, crusty, rough and generally nasty headlight.
Here's the first touch of the 320 grit dry sanding disc against the surface. You can see the interface pad conforming to the contours of the lens.
A quick peek at what the 320 grit dry sanding disc is doing to the surface. You're going to get a fair bit of dust during these dry sanding steps, so it is important to wipe the surface clean from time to time with a Meguiar’s Ultimate Wipe Detailing Cloth- M9910, as well as clean your sanding disc by running the sanding disc against a clean towel, or a light brush over with a White ScotchBrite pad will do wonders. Do NOT substitute another color of ScotchBrite pad here, ONLY the white pad will accomplish a safe and gentle cleaning of the sanding disc. Other pads will begin to remove the mineral cutting media from the surface of the sanding disc - all you want to do is clean the dust from the surface.
Another view of the foam interface pad doing its job - you can see how critically important this piece is.
When the 500 grit dry sanding disc began to show signs of losing cutting ability, we switched to a fresh pad. Generally you will use two of these pads on a single lens. We then stepped up to 800 grit dry sanding discs, with the process again requiring use of two such discs to refine the earlier marks. Once a uniform frosted appearance is obtained, step up to an 800 grit dry sanding disc to refine the 500 grit marks.
Then proceed to a S3F1000 - 1000 grit damp foam finishing disc. This disc has a thin foam backing built into it, but we still continue to use the S3FIS Foam Interface Pad with it.
Another shot showing use of a damp finishing disc. Here we've switched to the 3000 grit damp finishing disc and you can clearly (pun intended
) see the improvement in clarity.
You can see that there is not much water at all on the surface, and that is by design. We refer to this as damp sanding, NOT wet sanding, so as you might guess the techniques are a bit different. Proper damp sanding techniques include the following:
Those of you used to wet sanding by hand or D/A will find this process takes a bit of getting used to. You will really need to back down on the amount of water you use here or you'll flood the surface, cause the disc to hydroplane and you will see a reduction in the amount of cut achieved.
At this point you're done sanding, meaning you're also done with the D/A mini tool. Switch over to the mini rotary for final polishing.
Here we have the W4003 - 3" "Easy Buff" Knitted Wool Cutting Pad mounted on the rotary mini tool and have begun buffing with M105 Ultra Cut Compound to remove our finest 3000 grit marks. A small amount of M105 goes a very long way here; just a few drops is all you need.
We then finish up by changing to the W8204 - 4" Soft Buff™ Foam Polishing Pad and just a few drops of M205. Again, this is on the mini rotary tool.
And here's the finished product!
Here is not only the finished headlight, once again clear and able to shine light far down the road, but also all the tools, sanding discs, finishing discs, and pads we used to achieve this.
In theory you could use a G110v2 polisher for the same process. You would need a 3" backing plate for the sanding steps and best results from the polishing steps would still be achieved with a rotary buffer. Limitations would of course include the size of the G110v2 and whether or not that would prevent you from reaching all areas of the lens. Nonetheless, it can be done using this tool.
The process can be summarized as shown below (although in this case we did use a 320 grit dry sanding disc to start):
Here we're going to use our new Professional Headlight & Spot Repair Kit to restore clarity to a badly oxidized and scratched headlight lens.
The process is made up of multiple steps involving both dry and damp sanding as well as final polishing of the polycarbonate lens. The severity of the surface oxidation/degradation is going to determine if you need to start with 500 grit or drop all the way down to 320 grit dry sandpaper. For only very lightly scuffed or scratched lenses you may find 800 grit or even finer is sufficient. Regardless which grit you start with, you must always use the foam interface pad that comes with the kit. Failure to do so may result in overly aggressive cutting, uneven cutting, excessive cutting on an edge, or the creation of pigtails that can be very difficult to remove.
For this particular headlight we used the following pieces from the kit -
For initial cutting of the heavy oxidation and subsequent refining of the initial cutting process, all via pneumatic mini D/A buffer supplied with the kit, the following items were put to use:
(1) S3320 3" Sanding Disc - dry, 320 grit
(2) S3500 3" Sanding Disc - dry, 500 grit
(2) S3800 3" Sanding Disc - dry, 800 grit
(1) S3F1000 3" Foam Finishing Disc - damp, 1000 grit
(1) S3F3000 3" Foam Finishing Disc - damp, 3000 grit
(1) S3FIS Foam Interface Pad
It should be noted that the dry sanding discs were basically used up on this lens and were thrown away when finished. The two grits of foam finishing discs, however, were easily good for use on 3 or 4 more lenses, perhaps even more, and were simply cleaned and stored away for future use. And again, it is important we emphasize that the S3FIS Foam Interface Pad was used for every one of the steps outlined above. Do NOT omit use of this interface pad from this process!!
To bring up maximum clarity we followed the above steps with the pneumatic mini rotary polisher also supplied with the kit:
(1) W4003 - 3" "Easy Buff" Knitted Wool Cutting Pad used with M105 Ultra Cut Compound
(1) W8204 - 4" Soft Buff™ Foam Polishing Pad used with M205 Ultra Finishing Polish
In all cases above, whether mini D/A or mini rotary, we used the S3BP 3” Backing Plate
Lastly, as you can see we did this headlight off the vehicle and clamped into a work bench. If you are going to do this process with the headlight still on the vehicle, and this is certainly the most common scenario, it is critically important that you mask off the surrounding paint and trim with two or three layers of masking tape. The edge of the sanding discs can easily and quickly cut into surrounding material, so exercise caution (and common sense) when doing this process. Meguiar's new Professional Masking Tape (T18MM 3/4", T36MM 1-1/2" and T50MM 2") is perfect for adding this necessary level of protection to the surrounding areas.
With that out of the way, here's how we went about the process:
This is the target - one yellow, crusty, rough and generally nasty headlight.
Here's the first touch of the 320 grit dry sanding disc against the surface. You can see the interface pad conforming to the contours of the lens.
A quick peek at what the 320 grit dry sanding disc is doing to the surface. You're going to get a fair bit of dust during these dry sanding steps, so it is important to wipe the surface clean from time to time with a Meguiar’s Ultimate Wipe Detailing Cloth- M9910, as well as clean your sanding disc by running the sanding disc against a clean towel, or a light brush over with a White ScotchBrite pad will do wonders. Do NOT substitute another color of ScotchBrite pad here, ONLY the white pad will accomplish a safe and gentle cleaning of the sanding disc. Other pads will begin to remove the mineral cutting media from the surface of the sanding disc - all you want to do is clean the dust from the surface.
Another view of the foam interface pad doing its job - you can see how critically important this piece is.
When the 500 grit dry sanding disc began to show signs of losing cutting ability, we switched to a fresh pad. Generally you will use two of these pads on a single lens. We then stepped up to 800 grit dry sanding discs, with the process again requiring use of two such discs to refine the earlier marks. Once a uniform frosted appearance is obtained, step up to an 800 grit dry sanding disc to refine the 500 grit marks.
Then proceed to a S3F1000 - 1000 grit damp foam finishing disc. This disc has a thin foam backing built into it, but we still continue to use the S3FIS Foam Interface Pad with it.
Another shot showing use of a damp finishing disc. Here we've switched to the 3000 grit damp finishing disc and you can clearly (pun intended
) see the improvement in clarity. You can see that there is not much water at all on the surface, and that is by design. We refer to this as damp sanding, NOT wet sanding, so as you might guess the techniques are a bit different. Proper damp sanding techniques include the following:
- Just a single, light spritz of water onto the finishing disc
- A single light misting of the surface is all that's needed - do NOT soak the surface!!
- In very dry climates you may need a second spritz of water to compensate for rapid evaporation
- Over wetting the surface will quickly lead to hydroplaning of the disc and a reduction in cutting power
- Use only plain water - do NOT add any lubrication of any kind; no soap, etc. Just plain water.
Those of you used to wet sanding by hand or D/A will find this process takes a bit of getting used to. You will really need to back down on the amount of water you use here or you'll flood the surface, cause the disc to hydroplane and you will see a reduction in the amount of cut achieved.
At this point you're done sanding, meaning you're also done with the D/A mini tool. Switch over to the mini rotary for final polishing.
Here we have the W4003 - 3" "Easy Buff" Knitted Wool Cutting Pad mounted on the rotary mini tool and have begun buffing with M105 Ultra Cut Compound to remove our finest 3000 grit marks. A small amount of M105 goes a very long way here; just a few drops is all you need.
We then finish up by changing to the W8204 - 4" Soft Buff™ Foam Polishing Pad and just a few drops of M205. Again, this is on the mini rotary tool.
And here's the finished product!
Here is not only the finished headlight, once again clear and able to shine light far down the road, but also all the tools, sanding discs, finishing discs, and pads we used to achieve this.
In theory you could use a G110v2 polisher for the same process. You would need a 3" backing plate for the sanding steps and best results from the polishing steps would still be achieved with a rotary buffer. Limitations would of course include the size of the G110v2 and whether or not that would prevent you from reaching all areas of the lens. Nonetheless, it can be done using this tool.
The process can be summarized as shown below (although in this case we did use a 320 grit dry sanding disc to start):
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