Headlight restoration

[Fech]

It got dark before I could do the other ones, but the first headlight is a success.
Hand wet sanded, then finished off with a microfiber pad on the Bigfoot.
Before:


After:


Will post the full finished front tomorrow. Thanks as always for looking.

 

[Fech]

Thank you Mike for the tutorial!

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Did you have to sand the coating off? Pad/polish on the Bigfoot? Looks perfect, BTW.

 

[Fech]

Did you have to sand the coating off? Pad/polish on the Bigfoot? Looks perfect, BTW.

I lightly sanded. The coating I’m sure has been gone for a while. I usually do the headlights once a year. The pad was a microfiber one. (Sorry I don’t remember the brand) And the polish was hd polish.
Thank you, I appreciate it.

 

[Setec Astronomy]

The headlights I've had to sand the factory coating off of developed a horizontal line of bubbled opaque coating, I guess at the interface of where the coating had worn off and where it was still there, so I had to sand everything off. But after that, they never got hazy again like yours, only yellowed, which was removed by polishing. That was on two different cars.

I wonder if yours still have the coating and you are just removing the top oxidized layer with the sanding. It takes quite a lot to sand through the factory coating, I didn't watch Mike's video but on the ones I did I sanded by machine (my early-version GG 3") and I went down to at least 800 grit, maybe coarser. I think I was following a guide at MOL from...I can't remember the gentleman's name.

 

[Fech]

Maybe you’re right. I didn’t realize they didn’t have after the coat is gone. Thanks for the info.

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Maybe you’re right. I didn’t realize they didn’t haze after the coat is gone. Thanks for the info.

Well, that's just been my experience, don't take that as 100% true/correct.

 

[Fech]

As promised, the finished headlights.



Thanks for looking

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Did you have to do the inner set of lights too?

 

[Fech]

Did you have to do the inner set of lights too?

Yep, all were yellowing

 

[Setec Astronomy]

Looks like new!

 

[Fech]

Looks like new!

Thank you!

 

[Mike Phillips]

Looks great!

And just to note, not all headlights come with an OEM clearcoat. You basically have to wait until the coating FAILS before you can even see that there was a coating - at least at one time.


Here's a picture of an old Ford F150 Pickup with faded headlights.

Here's a close-up I took to show the OEM coating disintigrating. If you have headlights with an OEM clearcoat and the clearcoat is failing or disintegrating, then the only honest fix is to completely sand off 100% of the OEM coating and get the entire headlights down to just pure plastic.

And the above pictures plus more are all in this article.

How to Restore Headlights by Hand Sanding



Mike

 

[Mike Phillips]

Thank you Mike for the tutorial!

For those reading this into the future, here's the tutorial he's talking about. There's both a video and a full photo article.


How to Restore Headlights by Hand Sanding


Hand sanding headlights

Mike

 

[Setec Astronomy]

For those reading this into the future, here's the tutorial he's talking about. There's both a video and a full photo article.

Oh, I DID watch that video, or the machine sanding one you did with it.

 

[Fech]

Thanks Mike! Much appreciated

 

[Mike Phillips]

Oh, I DID watch that video, or the machine sanding one you did with it.

Thank you, I'm always honored anytime someone reads or watches anything I create.

For others that may be reading this thread into the future, there are 2 articles and 2 videos, one for hand sanding headlights (to restore them), and one for machine sanding using a rotary polisher, also as a part of the restoration process.


How to Restore Headlights by Machine Sanding using a Rotary Polisher

And I've already shared the article and video on how to do this type of headlight correction if sanding by hand, but to have both links in one reply, I'm including it below.

How to Restore Headlights by Hand Sanding


Hand sanding headlights

Mike