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It turned out to be a pretty cool evening, temperature wise, but that didn't keep people from coming out to learn a thing or two about finish care at last night's TNOG.
Henry brought his Toyota truck in with headlights in serious need of restoration. We decided to break out the mini air tools and have at it. The main lenses are looking pretty yellow and dull.
After taping off the surrounding body work we started with 1000 grit sanding disc on the mini DA air tool.
A nice, even appearance after damp sanding with the 1000 grit media.
We did the same on the other lens.
Since the 1000 grit media was removing all that oxidized material, it's important to flush it clean with water from time to time.
We followed the 1000 grit media with 3000 grit. This refines the surface and makes final buff out that much faster and easier.
There is more gloss (or transparency, as the case may be) after a thorough 3000 grit sanding.
We then switched over to the mini rotary air tool and applied some M105 with a foam cutting pad.
This was then followed with M205 on a foam polishing pad.
The end result - headlight lenses that look as good as new!
While those headlights were being restored we had plenty of other action going on.
The rocker panels on this Acura are looking pretty scraped up!
Since we had the mini air tools out, we just swapped over to a small microfiber cutting disc and some D300 on the DA
An initial run with the DA showed that some of the scratches were pretty deep, so we did a bit of damp sanding with 3000 grit to more quickly level them down.
If you don't have a lift, it's just easiest to reach the rocker panels by laying on the garage floor!
Done!
Is there anything you can't do with these mini tools?
Kelly puts some M07 Show Car Glaze on the roof of his Prius while Bob helps with the wipe off. This is a follow up to a pass of D151 with the yellow foam pad to remove some light swirls on this very soft paint.
After wiping off the M07 we applied a coat of Ultimate Wax paste by hand. The roof of the car is now a mirror!
Henry brought his Toyota truck in with headlights in serious need of restoration. We decided to break out the mini air tools and have at it. The main lenses are looking pretty yellow and dull.
After taping off the surrounding body work we started with 1000 grit sanding disc on the mini DA air tool.
A nice, even appearance after damp sanding with the 1000 grit media.
We did the same on the other lens.
Since the 1000 grit media was removing all that oxidized material, it's important to flush it clean with water from time to time.
We followed the 1000 grit media with 3000 grit. This refines the surface and makes final buff out that much faster and easier.
There is more gloss (or transparency, as the case may be) after a thorough 3000 grit sanding.
We then switched over to the mini rotary air tool and applied some M105 with a foam cutting pad.
This was then followed with M205 on a foam polishing pad.
The end result - headlight lenses that look as good as new!
While those headlights were being restored we had plenty of other action going on.
The rocker panels on this Acura are looking pretty scraped up!
Since we had the mini air tools out, we just swapped over to a small microfiber cutting disc and some D300 on the DA
An initial run with the DA showed that some of the scratches were pretty deep, so we did a bit of damp sanding with 3000 grit to more quickly level them down.
If you don't have a lift, it's just easiest to reach the rocker panels by laying on the garage floor!
Done!
Is there anything you can't do with these mini tools?
Kelly puts some M07 Show Car Glaze on the roof of his Prius while Bob helps with the wipe off. This is a follow up to a pass of D151 with the yellow foam pad to remove some light swirls on this very soft paint.
After wiping off the M07 we applied a coat of Ultimate Wax paste by hand. The roof of the car is now a mirror!
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