Car headlight restoration guide

Hi All,

I restored my headlights today and thought i would throw a few pics up..

The before pics do not do justice to how bad they looked, they were way worse.

So the process was masking the car headlights off, i sanded them down using 1500 grit spraying a lot of water the whole time and spend about 15 minutes sanding with 1500 grit.

I wiped them off and did about another 10 minutes using 2000 grit.

Then i washed them down with warm water and fairy liquid and let them dry and put 1 coat of clear coat on. At this stage they looked unbelievable, like glass.

I was tempted to leave them but any videos i have seen and the one i followed they all said use 2 coats and spray the second on after 10 minutes.

Link to video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvWbtZLk01g

I did this and the result is no where near as good as it was with just the one coat, so if anyone is doing this i would recommend only putting on 1 coat.

Or if anyone has any ideas on what I can do to get them back as good as they were with only 1 coat? do they need to be polished now or something?

Before


After sanding


After 1 coat


After 2nd coat

kay 9

Ordered the meguirs headlight restoration kit the other day myself. Trying to get the everything ready for the hard winter everyone's talking about.
Did you use a uv protective coat?

vectra

Id say give them another sand with 2000 and coat them again.

flintash

Am i right saying that second coat has yellowish effect? You could try to sand it down and polish again.

kay 9

kay 9 wrote: »

Ordered the meguirs headlight restoration kit the other day myself. Trying to get the everything ready for the hard winter everyone's talking about.
Did you use a uv protective coat?

It's clear coat that you would use for finishing a car paint job, I haven't checked but I would be very surprised if it's not uv protective

Let us know about the maguirs because I used rubbing compound and a polisher and it did nothingn to these. It's like the plastic is oxydised and you actually have to remove a layer of it that I don't think any polish will remove tbh

flintash wrote: »

Am i right saying that second coat has yellowish effect? You could try to sand it down and polish again.

No it doesn't have a yellowish effect maybe that's just the camera, it looks hazy though it's no where near as clear as when I just had the first coat on. I'm presuming it needs some sort of polishing done to it like a paint shop would do after they spray clear coat . In hindsight I wouldn't have bothered with the second coat at all, it's only a car headlight I doubt it needs it

vectra wrote: »

Id say give them another sand with 2000 and coat them again.

Yeah I might do that because it looked brilliant with just one coat, like factory headlights

blondeonblonde

Looks fantastic. Did you just sand it by hand or use a machine? Was it just a clear lacquer spray you used for the lights after sanding? I've got the same issue with my car. Clear lights make such a difference.

blondeonblonde

blondeonblonde wrote: »

Looks fantastic. Did you just sand it by hand or use a machine? Was it just a clear lacquer spray you used for the lights after sanding? I've got the same issue with my car. Clear lights make such a difference.

I just sanded by hand , yeah it was clear lacquer spray I used you would get in any car shop.

Yeah it makes some difference, I'm just a perfectionist so I'm quite annoyed they aren't as good as when they only had one coat but the difference is brilliant compared to what they originally were like

BohsCeltic

kay 9 wrote: »

Ordered the meguirs headlight restoration kit the other day myself. Trying to get the everything ready for the hard winter everyone's talking about.
Did you use a uv protective coat?

Is that the same one as Halfords have for €26 ?

My Headlights need to be done but they have lots of curves so i'm not sure if a drill would get in everywhere.

BohsCeltic

BohsCeltic wrote: »

Is that the same one as Halfords have for €26 ?

My Headlights need to be done but they have lots of curves so i'm not sure if a drill would get in everywhere.

Man I went to an independent store and it was 8 quid for more sandpaper than I needed and a full can of clear coat, if you only do 1 coat (unlike the 2 I did) you will get a finish far better than any polishing kit will do, if the headlight is severely oxydised I would be fairly sure there is no polish that will take it off at home

I read reviews on the meguirs and they weren't positive for headlights that are pretty badly affected

BohsCeltic

Andres Some Stratosphere wrote: »

Man I went to an independent store and it was 8 quid for more sandpaper than I needed and a full can of clear coat, if you only do 1 coat (unlike the 2 I did) you will get a finish far better than any polishing kit will do, if the headlight is severely oxydised I would be fairly sure there is no polish that will take it off at home

I read reviews on the meguirs and they weren't positive for headlights that are pretty badly affected

Cheers, mine are fairly bad so would more than likely need sanding.
I was just looking for the least time consuming option

BohsCeltic

BohsCeltic wrote: »

Cheers, mine are fairly bad so would more than likely need sanding.
I was just looking for the least time consuming option

Took me about an hour to do 2 headlights including masking them etc

I wouldn't waste you money on a kit tbh, also if you do manage to polish it out (doubtful) the exact same thing will happen again over time.The clear coat method is permanent

5W30

Check my thread here: http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057435988/1/#post95626812

The reason the finish looks matte is because the surface of lacquer is rough and bumpy.

What I did was I applied 4 thick coats of lacquer, then I sanded the lacquer lightly to keep the lacquer there but make it smooth. Then I polished the lights.

In effect you did the restoration backwards. It's much better to clean the headlights, sand them, clean them again with water, dry them and spray 4 coats of lacquer. Then you sand lightly just to smooth the surface and polish the lights.

Job done.

kay 9

BohsCeltic wrote: »

Is that the same one as Halfords have for €26 ?

My Headlights need to be done but they have lots of curves so i'm not sure if a drill would get in everywhere.

Same one Mate. Just collected it today but I've just realised it doesn't come with a protective coating. There's another one available on amazon from meguiars with it included. Halfrauds eh. I'll see how it goes and post back

kay 9

kay 9 wrote: »

Same one Mate. Just collected it today but I've just realised it doesn't come with a protective coating. There's another one available on amazon from meguiars with it included. Halfrauds eh. I'll see how it goes and post back

Going to have to get a can of lacquer though

vectra

Andres Some Stratosphere wrote: »

I just sanded by hand , yeah it was clear lacquer spray I used you would get in any car shop.

Yeah it makes some difference, I'm just a perfectionist so I'm quite annoyed they aren't as good as when they only had one coat but the difference is brilliant compared to what they originally were like

I did read before that 2 pack lacquer is the way to go. Maybe this is your issue?

5W30

5W30 wrote: »

Check my thread here: http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057435988/1/#post95626812

The reason the finish looks matte is because the surface of lacquer is rough and bumpy.

What I did was I applied 4 thick coats of lacquer, then I sanded the lacquer lightly to keep the lacquer there but make it smooth. Then I polished the lights.

In effect you did the restoration backwards. It's much better to clean the headlights, sand them, clean them again with water, dry them and spray 4 coats of lacquer. Then you sand lightly just to smooth the surface and polish the lights.

Job done.

thanks, what did you use to polish the lights after you sanded the lacquer?
Would rubbing compound work?

kay 9

Just in from using the meguairs kit. I'd give it 7/10. I used the sandpaper supplied on the first light and it's pretty difficult to buff out the sanding marks even though they're minute. Got the same results on the other side without sanding.
I wonder could I use the car pro delux coating as a protectant? Have some left over. Forgot to add lights are very near new. If doing it again, I'd remove the lamp unit as it's hard buff the corners. I should also mention my lights weren't too bad to begin with.

I just used a pad and rubbing compound and got mine back as good as they were with 1 coat of lacquer

Would you consider using clear coat over? Or are you happy with the theresults, do you have pics?

5W30

Andres Some Stratosphere wrote: »

thanks, what did you use to polish the lights after you sanded the lacquer?
Would rubbing compound work?

I used normal Autoglym Super Resin Polish, a microfibre cloth and lots of sweating :pac:

blackbox

I tried the lacquer process a while ago and made a complete balls of it. Lacqueur was orange peely and even split in places. I think it was too cold when I was doing it. At some stage I'll have to have another attempt. I may just go for the polishing next time.

rachaell

I just got a new car the weekend and the lights were pretty bad. Someone on here told me to use toothpaste, I tried it and couldn't believe the results, took 5 mins.
Pics of one before and one after.

corks finest

rachaell wrote: »

I just got a new car the weekend and the lights were pretty bad. Someone on here told me to use toothpaste, I tried it and couldn't believe the results, took 5 mins.
Pics of one before and one after.

Wasn't the aldi brand

rachaell

corks finest wrote: »

Wasn't the aldi brand

No it was oral b 3d white, it has a bit of grit in it so I'd say that helped.

biko

Yeah I did a write-up on toothpaste here

corks finest

rachaell wrote: »

No it was oral b 3d white, it has a bit of grit in it so I'd say that helped.

Posh stuff

5W30

Toothpaste is a good substitute for polish on headlights

The problem is that it's not a permanent fix and the lights will get just as yellow, if not worse over time. The UV protection coating is gone and a good way of fixing the headlight is to use clear lacquer.

rachaell

corks finest wrote: »

Posh stuff

Nothing but the best.. None of that cheap stuff from aldi, got this one in the €2 shop.. 3d shine ☺

corks finest

rachaell wrote: »

Nothing but the best.. None of that cheap stuff from aldi, got this one in the €2 shop.. 3d shine ☺

Loads of money

rachaell

5W30 wrote: »

Toothpaste is a good substitute for polish on headlights

The problem is that it's not a permanent fix and the lights will get just as yellow, if not worse over time. The UV protection coating is gone and a good way of fixing the headlight is to use clear lacquer.

When I was finished I polished it with a wax but don't know if it will make any difference. When it starts to come back im going to get one of those kits from Halfords. I didn't really think the toothpaste would work but they were bugging me so much I tried it, good temporary fix.
Think I'll try wax and polish the rest now. Haven't really got a clue what I'm doing but want to keep it nice even if it's only a micra ☺

rachaell

corks finest wrote: »

Loads of money

LOADED

BohsCeltic

Tried Motorfactors and usual DIY shops today and could not get any 1500 or 2000 paper.
Anyone know a place that stocks it in D15 or D22 ?

I see halfords have 1500 but the reviews make it seem rubbish