will headlight restoration work with this?

[dansgt]

after it rained yesterday, thats what my lights look like. uv clear coating is flaking off really bad. not really oxidized, just the coating is coming off...
will the headlight restoration kit work for this?

[Alex C.]

Re: will headlight restoration work with this?

You can try. You'll have plenty of PlastX in the kit to work with. But honestly it looks like a bit of wetsanding is in order.

[CieraSL]

Re: will headlight restoration work with this?

I should think the Headlight Restoration kit would work very well. PlastX is some great stuff. Try using the kit first before you try anything more aggressive. Remember: use the least aggressive method first!

[dansgt]

Re: will headlight restoration work with this?

that what i was thinking, just hoping someone's had some experience with that and knows weather it'll work or not. pisses me off though, one day their perfect, rains and now this.

[Murr1525]

Re: will headlight restoration work with this?

Could even try the PlastX by hand first, might need a little extra pressure to wear off the coating.

[the_invisible]

Re: will headlight restoration work with this?

Other than the PlastX, Meguiars has two other types of Plastic Polisher that work together with a DA or buffer. Those two plastic polisher work best when when you do a wetsand to the headlights first.

Mirror Glaze Clear Plastic Cleaner


Clear Plastic Polish


If you don't want to use chemical and restore them the oldfashioned way, you can start wetsanding with 600 and work down to 2000 incrementally. Done without any polishing agents.

[Eddie6th]

Re: will headlight restoration work with this?

First try plastx and see what it can do here.If you have the headlight restoration kit,you can try that aswell,if it didn't work by hand.

'IF' you decide that you have to do wetsanding,that is somrthing that can be adressed seperatley.So try the above first.They won't do any harm.

I wouldn't agree with the above thread,about using 600grit.

DO NOT start with 600g in this case.That is not necessary.

See how you get on with plastx first.

[Lasthope05]

Re: will headlight restoration work with this?

Looks to me that the factory headlight coating is cracking away. Ive seen this many times. The only way to fix this is to wetsand the coating away and to polish it back up.

When I get headlights in like that my process is sand dry with 800, 1000, and 1500 grit(hookit disks) on air DA sander. (No need to go higher than 1500 since plastic is fairly soft and easy to correct.) After sanding I go to compound/wool then plastx/foam polishing pad.

If your doing this by hand I'd recommend doing 1000-1500grit wet sanding. Sanding with a DA sander gives you a much smoother and uniform cut which allows the 800grit but hand sanding varying pressures make it inconsistent.

But by now im pretty sure you have the problem fixed.

[seth1066]

Re: will headlight restoration work with this?

Looks to me that the factory headlight coating is cracking away. Ive seen this many times. The only way to fix this is to wetsand the coating away and to polish it back up.

When I get headlights in like that my process is sand dry with 800, 1000, and 1500 grit(hookit disks) on air DA sander. (No need to go higher than 1500 since plastic is fairly soft and easy to correct.) After sanding I go to compound/wool then plastx/foam polishing pad.

If your doing this by hand I'd recommend doing 1000-1500 grit wet sanding. Sanding with a DA sander gives you a much smoother and uniform cut which allows the 800 grit but hand sanding varying pressures make it inconsistent.

But by now im pretty sure you have the problem fixed.

I found a Columbia International Air 310 6" air DA in the shop this week. The finest grit adhesive paper I could find locally was 220 and 400. It went through the coating on a pair of nasty Jeep Grand Cherokee headlights like butter and saved me about 3 hours of doing it by hand. I finished out with the 800/1200/2500 by hand. I'm looking for some finer paper, that 800 disc would definitely help; I haven't been able to find any wet versions in any grit. This is the only way to go.

[Lasthope05]

Re: will headlight restoration work with this?

I go dry when im doing sanding by DA. The only ones I know are..

1000, 2000, and 4000 grit. Mirka Abralon
1500, 3000 grit. - 3m Trizact

I dont know anything lower than listed.

[seth1066]

Re: will headlight restoration work with this?

I go dry when im doing sanding by DA. The only ones I know are..

1000, 2000, and 4000 grit. Mirka Abralon
1500, 3000 grit. - 3m Trizact

I dont know anything lower than listed.

Yeah, I just discovered the Abralon product in the web while at work today; haven't found it locally yet. The 4000 must be one step grittier than notebook paper.

Do you know if a 3" plate will fit on this sander? It has a Mirka on it now (which is how I found the Abralon abrasive). Would definitely help on smaller lenses, like a BMW 3 Series.