1st healight restoration

[mleach82]

I have a 2004 Dodge Ram 1500 and i've been wanting to clear up the headlights for some time. After reading through several forums and several how-tos, i decided to give it a shot 2 weeks ago.

Process:
Sand 1000 grit
Sand 2000 grit
UC on orange pad
Plastix on black pad
2 coats DP Poli-coat sealant

Here are the headlights before:




Took about 30-45 minutes per light but i think they turned out rather well for my first attempt:







I think on my next attempt i may start with a coarser sandpaper and finish with a higher grit paper, somthing like 800, 1000, 2000, 3000 and then finish with 50/50 of urethane and mineral spirits.

The reaosn for wanting to go coarser is that some spots required a lot of elbow grease with the 1000 that may have come out better with 800 or 500.

[greg0303]

Re: 1st healight restoration

Very nice restoration, the headlights look like new again.


Did you think about doing damp-sanding? You could use your DA polisher for it and 3" Unigrit discs. It works pretty fast. If you go left to right with your first sanding grade then go up and down when you refine it.

For sanding mark removal I use my rotary buffer with 3" W4003 wool pad and M105 followed by 4" W8204 foam polishing pad and M205.

Just a time saving thought.

[mleach82]

Re: 1st healight restoration

Very nice restoration, the headlights look like new again.


Did you think about doing damp-sanding? You could use your DA polisher for it and 3" Unigrit discs. It works pretty fast. If you go left to right with your first sanding grade then go up and down when you refine it.

For sanding mark removal I use my rotary buffer with 3" W4003 wool pad and M105 followed by 4" W8204 foam polishing pad and M205.

Just a time saving thought.

I had thought about using the unigrit discs but i wasnt sure if they were ok to use since the headlights aren't flat like most. They have 2 "bubbles" in them for each lamp.

When sanding i went left to right with the 1000 grit and then went up and down with the 2000 grit until i no longer sall lines going from left to right.

[Jumper09]

Re: 1st healight restoration

Looks great for a first timer. And yeah, I always start with 800, then move on to 1000 then 2000. I have had a couple of lights that required me to drop to 400. I always wet sand, polish with PlastX, then coat with 50/50 mix urethane and mineral spirits. Works perfect everytime for me.

[roushstage2]

Re: 1st healight restoration

They look great! Nice job!

[Andrew C.]

Re: 1st healight restoration

Nice Job!